|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
There are more than 100 boards, commissions and committees for Alameda County – a list that includes both internal to the county government and local or regional entities for which the county has one or more designees.
Some of these groups tackle topics very relevant to Tri-Valley residents. Over the past couple months, public county meetings have broached illegal dumping sites, windmills, Castlewood services, the Wente Summer Concert Series, outdoor hoarding, horse boarding, septic systems and proposed development in East Pleasanton.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg as I’ve looked over recent agendas.
I openly admit this is a blindspot for me and my team, by and large. Both for Alameda County and neighboring Contra Costa County, where we have our DanvilleSanRamon.com news site.
It’s been largely my call, made from a resource deployment perspective. Something has to fall off the scale as we try to balance the breadth of government coverage – and our cities, school districts and courts keep our hardworking journalists way too busy as it is.
It breaks my professional heart because my teeth were cut in this industry at the county level. I would spend at least a half-day (and often closer to a full day) every Tuesday covering the Lake County Board of Supervisors. And then every other Thursday morning for the county Planning Commission. With one or more stories due that afternoon for the next day’s newspaper.
In a community with only two incorporated cities, so much went through the Lake County government. Of course it was a great foundation for me in understanding local public agencies, but more importantly it instilled in me just how important the county can be in the everyday lives of residents and business owners.
So starting this September, I’m vowing to commit more of my time to regularly reviewing agendas for Alameda and Contra Costa counties for Tri-Valley items of interest. We still aren’t going to be able to cover every item of interest; not even close, sorry to say. But we will miss less.
I sort of back-doored into taking this position, even if it is long overdue.
I was honestly a bit lucky to discover before my column last week that the Arroyo Lago housing development proposal for East Pleasanton was on this Monday’s Alameda County Planning Commission agenda.
That same night in Hayward, the commissioners ended up endorsing the idea of the county allowing horse boarding facilities and horse riding academies to have an easier regulatory path to approval when located in agricultural or planned development zoning districts throughout unincorporated Alameda County – a big deal in places like Sunol and rural Pleasanton.
Then our freelancer Tim Hunt offered to cover last Friday’s Board of Supervisors’ Transportation/Planning Committee meeting. We published two of his subsequent stories this week, on Castlewood oversight and Martinelli Center revitalization; the two other agenda items were also intriguing, updates on septic systems and on the status of the entrance kiosk at Del Valle Regional Park.
As you can see I’m talking about more than just each county’s weekly Board of Supervisors agenda, which in and of itself is often dotted with topics, small and large, pertinent to unincorporated Tri-Valley.
Take Alameda County’s East County Board of Zoning Adjustments, a three-person body that hears code enforcement cases, permit renewals and amendments and other minor to moderate planning department matters. The members are recognizable folks in the Tri-Valley: Lori Souza and Derek Eddy of Livermore and Frank Imhof of Pleasanton.
Like a rung below the Planning Commission, the zoning board is imperative to move certain county business along.
At their July 24 meeting, board members approved renewing the permit for Wente Vineyards in Livermore to run its Summer Concert Series, tasting room and other events.
They also authorized fines and further enforcement for illegal dumping at two properties (on Flynn Road South in unincorporated Livermore and on Grant Line Road in unincorporated Mountain House) that have been longstanding problems for neighbors and the county.
“The two properties were ordered to provide an expert analysis and evaluation of the site to determine how much fill/soil was imported and to come up with an abatement plan,” Edward J. Labayog, assistant planning director and code enforcement manager for the county, told me on Tuesday morning.
“They were given 30 days to do this, and they are both past due,” Labayog said. “We will notify them of continuing fines and fees until they comply with the order. The County will also step up enforcement and perhaps pursue legal and abatement action.”
Last month, the board approved Viracocha Wind LLC to repower up to 13 turbines at a dormant wind farm site on the Altamont, and received an update on the ongoing work by a property owner on Lupin Way in Livermore to build a structure to store (and otherwise clean up) inoperable vehicles that have been deemed a public nuisance under the county’s junk vehicle ordinance.
The zoning board has a more mild agenda than originally anticipated for its regular meeting next Thursday (Sept. 25) at 1:30 p.m. in the Bray Community Room at the Dublin Civic Center.
The planned discussion over reupping the permit for the Sunol Super Stop gas station was postponed to a yet-undetermined future date.
That leaves as the only hearing item consideration of the permit renewal for KKIQ Alpha Media LLC to continue operating its radio transmission facility (with no modifications) at 10625 Mendenhall Road in Livermore.
I’ll be tuned in … albeit probably after the fact.
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh is the associate publisher and editorial director for the Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. His “What a Week” column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com.
Pleasanton council shows early support for annexation, downtown plan, other priority projectsMarch 25, 2026 2:36 pm
Nighttime lane closures on I-580 near Pleasanton, I-680 through San Ramon ValleyMarch 25, 2026 2:05 pm