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The city of Pleasanton twice has embarked on efforts to develop an overall plan for the 1,100 acres on the city’s eastern border.
The drought suspended one effort while the pandemic sidelined the second one after it was restarted in 2020. This week, council members were reminded of why an overall plan always made sense.
The land north of Busch Road is in Alameda County and the owners have submitted development plans to the county planning department. It calls for 194 houses and 49 accessory dwelling units on one parcel and 569 units exclusively for seniors — a project similar to the popular Ironwood senior community. The first parcel has been under county review since 2022.
The land can be processed through the county and would be served by its own package sewer plant, a proposal that alarms some people given the proximity to the Zone 7 chain of lakes and the valley’s underground water table. The city also potentially would be on the hook for improvements to Busch Road that is within the city limits and officially not a county responsibility. If annexed, road improvements would be expected with the development.
The council directed city staff to study the matter and bring forward a recommendation about whether to invite the developer to annex the parcels to Pleasanton.
Until so little progress was being made, landowners in the entire area were working on a master plan that was headed up by Ponderosa Homes. It contained 30-day release clauses and owners have walked away. That’s why Amazon is interested in an industrial parcel for a distribution center—a huge traffic generator. The initial master plan also included senior housing, a needed addition to the entire Tri-Valley as long term residents continue to age in their single-family homes.
These piecemeal developments also lack the scale to address the major transportation issue—purchasing privately owned El Charro Road and connecting it to Stanley Boulevard. That improvement would immediately lessen the heavy traffic on Valley and Bernal avenues of eastbound traffic. It’s a key missing link just as is the connection of Dublin Boulevard to North Canyons Parkway north of Interstate 580.The cost of those improvements is steep without accompanying development to pay for them.
It’s unfortunate that the city’s non-action has left the staff and council to try to make the best out of each development instead of one overall plan. Sadly, it is the final large area well suited for development.
Social media posts by the Livermore Rotary Club brought a smile to my face last week. The Rotary welcomed back families and staff to Marylin Avenue School with its annual barbecue. The event started more than 20 years ago when a consortium of community groups banned together to support the elementary school that was the only under-performing school in the valley based on state testing. Much has changed since then, including the demographics of the families living in the neighborhood (initially, it was neither poor enough or ethnic enough to meet standards for more state aid — that changed significantly over the years).
I helped lead the group along with Principal Joe Turnage who had been brought in to lead the turn-around. We became good friends and have maintained that friendship even after he chased his adult kids to the Denver area. I sent him the link and we both enjoyed seeing something we’d help start flourish to this day.
The simple genius of our approach was to ask each group to do what it did, but coordinate. So, the branch library across the May Nissen Park from the school opened special homework help programs on the early release day for teachers to collaborate as well as putting out suitable books.
