February 03, 2006

Back to the Table of Contents Page

Back to the Weekly Home Page

Classifieds

Publication Date: Friday, February 03, 2006

Community divided over how to handle Callippe traffic

The room was split down the middle at last Thursday's meeting held by County Supervisor Scott Haggerty to address the proposed closure of Happy Valley Road. The majority of Happy Valley residents supported the closure. Residents of Alisal Street and Sycamore Road were adamantly opposed--fearing the closure would mean a dramatic increase in traffic in their neighborhood from drivers headed to the city's newly opened Callippe Golf Course.

"I don't want to say this is the biggest issue I've faced since being in office, but it certainly has been in the top five," Haggerty told the audience, trying to speak over shouts from meeting attendants saying "build the bypass road" and "close the 'golf dump.'"

Approximately 70 people attended the meeting at the Veterans Memorial Building. The building's poor acoustics and the lack of a microphone added another challenge to the already heated debate when many of those attending said they could not hear the speakers.

Haggerty said safety was an issue on Happy Valley Road because the road was never meant to handle the amount of traffic generated by the golf course. Daniel Woldesenbet, assistant county public works director and engineer, explained that Happy Valley Road is considered substandard because of the narrow roadway, short driveways, drop offs only a foot away from the road and the close proximity of trees and power poles to the street.

"Folks around here know the road and know how to drive on it carefully," Woldesenbet said. "We're concerned about people from the golf course. Some way of constricting the traffic needs to be in place."

Residents of Alisal and Sycamore questioned the seriousness of the safety issue, asking to see an in-depth traffic study on Happy Valley and pointing out that increased traffic on their roads will also increase the potential for accidents in their neighborhoods. A representative from the Alameda County Sheriff's office presented a study the office conducted on Happy Valley Road over the course of four days when the road was monitored for traffic violations. During that time, officers made 45 stops, issued 12 citations and made one arrest for reckless driving, which was not related to alcohol.

Although Haggerty and Woldesenbet were set to present their recommendation to close Happy Valley Road by setting bollards (metal posts) at the entrance, the discussion moved to Haggerty's preferred plan for closing the road--installation of an electric gate. As Haggerty described it, the gate would be a rail across the entrance and residents of Happy Valley, Alisal Street and Sycamore Road would all have electric cards to open the gate. This method was preferred over the bollards because it would allow residents of the neighborhood to use Happy Valley Road, while keeping out golfers.

Inge Jechart, a resident of Happy Valley Road, asked why the county could not improve the road, installing sidewalks and road barriers, instead of closing it.

"Ma'am, I don't have that kind of money," Haggerty responded, adding that the narrowness of Happy Valley meant a speed bump could not be engineered to adequately slow down traffic on the road.

The next step is to create a design for the gate and present it in a letter to the County Board of Supervisors, Woldesenbet said. If the gate is approved, the city of Pleasanton would pay for it, according to Haggerty. Haggerty also told the residents of Alisal Street and Sycamore Road that he would work with the California Highway Patrol and the city of Pleasanton to put in speed bumps and increase traffic enforcement.

There are still many questions surrounding the implementation of the gate:

* How many passes will each household receive?

* How much will installation cost?

* Who will pay for the passes?

* How will service workers such as UPS delivery trucks, enter the area?

One thing on which everyone in the meeting agreed was the need for a bypass road. Haggerty invited residents to come back for another meeting to figure out how they can work together to force Pleasanton to build the bypass.

"If a private developer built that golf course, the city would have made sure the bypass road was built first," Haggerty said. He described the gate as a temporary solution, saying it would be taken down once the bypass road is built. However, some of those in attendance were pessimistic about the prospects of that ever happening.
The history

The road closure is the latest chapter in the ongoing battle between the Happy Valley community and the city of Pleasanton over the Callippe Golf Course. In a close vote in 2002, Happy Valley voters rejected being annexed by Pleasanton. The vote was 88 to 83. Residents said they did not want a proposed golf course there because it would increase traffic.

Shortly after the vote, the city struck an agreement with the county to annex 576 of Happy Valley's 811 acres to build the Callippe Golf Course. The deal included the city's promise to build a bypass road, according to county supervisor Scott Haggerty's office. The bypass road plan stalled when a planned development--which would have paid for it--fell through.

In 2003, Happy Valley Residents sued the city, insisting traffic from the new golf course would be too much for neighborhood streets to handle. In July 2003, a state appellate court upheld a lower court's ruling that the city and county followed proper procedure when the acreage was annexed for the golf course.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.