"It was time to do something else," said Bach, who said he would have had to make a long-term commitment to the growing company to remain its CEO.
"I’m also taking a greater role on the (Compassoft) board," he added.
Bach is one of the central figures in the fight against a Target store proposed on La Madrona Drive near Highway 17 and Mt. Hermon Road. He is president of the Responsible Local Development Political Action Committee and has pledged to fight the development until the end.
"I believe very strongly that the Target is a terrible thing for Scotts Valley," he said.
Bach’s committee has a comprehensive Web site detailing the problems it envisions with a Target store, and Bach said a list of residents who support his cause will soon be posted on the site.
"This will be a campaign issue," he said.
Although he does not plan to run for a City Council seat in November, Bach knows of "at least three candidates" who are "anti-Target" looking to run for seats.
Bach has made five lengthy public records requests from the city, spending $82.15 for more than three inches worth of copied documents. Each single sided copy is $0.12 and each double-sided copy is $0.15. One request netted Bach about 300 pages, said city clerk Tracy Ferrara.
Bach also thinks the city and representatives of Target and its developer broke the law by sharing e-mails and information about the development while denying the same information to residents who requested it.
City officials have said they have complied with all of Bach’s requests.
Bach has spoken with the district attorney’s office but has yet to take any legal action.
"In my opinion, the city was breaking the law," Bach said.
The action committee has grown, and donations to pay for its activities are rolling in, he said. Recently, a donation for $1,000 and others for $250 and $100 were received.
Bach said he worries about how much money Target has already committed to paying for an environmental impact report and other costs associated with the potential development.
"The more money that Target puts into it, the harder it is for Target to walk away from it," Bach said.
He would not say whether he means to file a suit against the city, but he declared that the situation could escalate.
"At the end of the day, things will probably get more intense," he said.
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