Published on December 25, 2009

Richmond Nurseries Will Make Way for Housing, Shops

By Katherine Tam
Contra Costa Times

Dozens of greenhouses where three Japanese families built a flower-growing business in Richmond starting in the early 1910s that continued after World War II are slated for demolition in March or April.

In their place will rise a mix of affordable and market-rate housing with shops and greenery on 14 acres. Five buildings, including two greenhouses and houses belonging to two of the families, will be preserved.

"When this project first started out, I was very concerned about the restoration of Baxter Creek and the retention of a reasonable vestige of the historic structures," Councilman Tom Butt said. "In the beginning, staff was not very sympathetic to any of that, but they came around."

Six years in the making, the Miraflores development will carry 80 senior housing units and 150 market-rate units. That's 100 fewer units than what was pitched earlier. In addition, 3,600 square feet of retail will provide shopping, and a 4-acre greenbelt will offer recreation and plots for farming. Part of Baxter Creek that's hidden in an underground culvert will be uncovered.

The site is bounded by BART tracks to the north, South 45th Street to the west, Interstate 80 to the east and Wall Avenue to the south.

Demolishing most of the 38 greenhouses and other structures from the Sakai, Oishi and Maida-Endo nurseries would be a "significant" impact and a loss of cultural resources, an environmental impact report found.

The trade-off is worth it, city officials say. The City Council this month certified the environmental report and granted approvals that move Miraflores forward. Council members adopted a formal statement concluding the benefits outweigh the impacts.

The Sakai, Oishi and Maida-Endo nurseries ceased operations around 2003. The trio were among a number of flower-growing businesses in the Bay Area in the early 20th century. Many families bought land before the 1913 Alien Land Law barred Japanese immigrants from owning property, according to local historian Donna Graves. Japanese-Americans were forced into internment camps during World War II. Some were able to keep their nurseries after the war.

An interpretive exhibit at Miraflores will tell the history of the Japanese-American flower-growing community.

The preserved greenhouses won't sit idle. Patrick Lynch, housing director for the city's redevelopment agency, said flowers as well as vegetables will be grown.

Years of pesticides and other substances contaminated the soil and groundwater. A remedial action plan calls for excavating soil, removing underground storage tanks and monitoring groundwater. Abatement begins next month, Lynch said.

Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, who dissented on an otherwise unanimous council vote, disagrees with burying contaminated soil under the street and prefers that it be trucked to a specialized hazardous materials site.

"Richmond is pockmarked with buried toxins," she said, "and sooner or later we have to stop doing that in our community." [emphasis added]

Katherine Tam covers Richmond. Follow her at Twitter.com/katherinetam.