Haggerty remember for long-term service
In six terms, supervisor pushed to bring human services to Livermore Valley
Good call by the Pleasanton school board to move ahead with selling surplus land at the Donlon Elementary School site.
An advisory committee identified 4.7 acres of land on the Donlon site that could be sold. The majority of trustees favored maintaining the single family home zoning, a move that will limit the potential affordability that some trustees wanted to pursue. With the district’s First Street parcels potentially available for higher density affordable housing, that’s where the attention needs to be focused.
The land should be optioned to a developer to process an application and eventually purchase the site assuming the city goes along with the project that would fit within the zoning. It would be a possible site for multi-story affordable units given the location near the shopping center and retail uses, but that likely would draw neighborhood opposition because the surrounding neighborhood is entirely single-family homes.
When it comes back, trustees should move ahead with maximizing the funds to the district. I appreciate the interest in affordable housing, but that’s the responsibility of the city and developers—school trustees have more than enough on their plates.
You have to give Sunset Development Co. credit for the way it has aggressively pursued remaking one of Northern California’s largest business parks into a mixed use development with residential neighborhoods, the showcase City Center and office buildings. This week, the company announced the sale of the site of the Bishop 8 six-story office buildings to national builder Lennar. Lennar plans to build 255 single-family homes there.
Lennar joins KB Homes, another national builder, along with respected Bay Area builders SummerHill Homes and Trumark to build neighborhoods in the 585-acre park. Based on response to SummerHill’s interest list, the builders likely will have plenty of customers lined up when they have homes ready.
There have been homes down Interstate 680 in Hacienda Business Park for years and acres of surface parking are now being redeveloped into multi-family housing as the city strives to meet its state mandate for housing, both market rate and affordable. One key difference is that most of Bishop Ranch is owned by Sunset, in contrast to the many different owners in Hacienda, so Sunset can confidently work with the city of San Ramon to develop a masterplan without having to worry about getting buy-ins from others. UPS and Toyota, two of the original purchasers in Bishop Ranch, still own their facilities.
Scott Haggerty, then living in Fremont, won his seat on the county board of supervisors in 1996, topping former Pleasanton Mayor Ken Mercer. The key—he worked his tail and feet off walking door-to-door. Once he moved into the seat, he held it for six terms until retiring in 2020 and retiring to Tennessee.
Haggerty passed at 68 over the July 4th weekend and was remembered for his commitment to improving transportation in the Tri-Valley and throughout the Bay Area by serving on regional commissions. He and his staff also worked hard to bring county services into the valley that was often overlooked against the needs that were obvious in Oakland and other parts of the county.
That area and transportation were areas of mutual interest where his help and leadership were important to our mutual constituents.
