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A long-belabored affordable housing project is once again up for deliberation by the Livermore City Council at Monday’s regular meeting.
Planned for the southeast corner of Railroad Avenue and L Street, nonprofit developer Eden Housing, Inc. intends to build a 130-unit residential community.
On the table July 28 is a resolution ratifying, reaffirming and readopting the amended and restated disposition, development and loan agreement with Eden Housing, excluding the construction of and improvements to Veterans Park, according to the agenda.
The resolution received prior approval June 24, 2024, but a trial court found its adoption to be “premature” under the California Elections Code since the resolution was “substantially similar” to a 2022 resolution that was repealed less than one year prior, according to the staff report prepared by Livermore assistant planner Shannon Pagan.
The city and Eden Housing disagree that the resolution was premature and disagree that the Elections Code applies to the resolution, according to the staff report. They await a decision by the appellate court, which is scheduled for oral argument Aug. 21.
However, even if the appeals court affirms the trial court’s decision, the required one-year wait period expired as of June 24, 2025.
If passed by council July 28, the developer may proceed in obtaining final construction financing to implement the workforce affordable housing project — pursuant to the terms of the agreement — sans work related to Veterans Park.
This project can be traced back to January 29, 2018, when the city council approved the 2018 Downtown Plan for the development of portions of the Livermore Village Site to include up to 130 units of workforce housing, Stockmen’s Park, a science center, a black box theater, retail space as well as a linear public park that would come to be known as Veterans Park, according to the staff report.
Later that year Nov. 26, council approved a DDLA to sell an approximately 2-acre parcel of the Livermore Village Site to Eden Housing to develop a multi-family affordable rental housing project with up to 130 units of workforce housing, the report states.
The council later approved an amended DDLA with Eden Housing May 24, 2021, to clarify certain terms and conditions, including the property being transferred. This amendment also stated that the Veterans Park parcel would remain under the city’s ownership while Eden Housing would coordinate development with the city for the publicly accessible, community park. Veterans Park was in addition to Stockmen’s Park, which occupies a different portion of the Livermore Village Site.
The amended agreement also gave the city the option to negotiate a future construction and reimbursement agreement with Eden Housing to coordinate the construction of Veterans Park, the staff report states.
On May 24, 2022, the city council approved a resolution authorizing the execution of an amended and restated DDLA with Eden Housing, following the delay caused by a failed lawsuit challenging the project entitlements, according to the staff report. This resolution also included language for the construction of and improvements to Veterans Park by Eden Housing.
By July 2022, community group Move Eden Housing submitted a referendum petition to the city regarding the May resolution. The city did not process the petition at the time, deeming the DDLA’s approval as administrative, rather than legislative and therefore ineligible for a challenge by referendum.
Initially, a trial court upheld the city’s decision. But March 6, 2024, the appellate court ruled that the portions of the amended and restated DDLA approving the construction of and improvements to Veterans Park were subject to referendum. Meanwhile, the housing aspects were not subject to referendum.
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters then processed the referendum and issued a notice of sufficiency after examining the signatures, the report states.
In effect, the city council was required to either repeal the 2022 resolution or call for an election.
City council voted to repeal the resolution during a meeting June 24, 2024. During the same meeting, council adopted a companion resolution to ratify, reaffirm and readopt the amended and restated DDLA with Eden Housing, excluding construction of and improvements to Veterans Park. The resolution also acknowledged that the agreement remains in effect as of the date it was signed.
This companion resolution was found “premature” in trial court, a decision currently being appealed by the city and Eden Housing, according to the staff report.
As for the upcoming decision, the agreement remains unchanged from when it was executed May 24, 2022, except for Veterans Park provisions which remain excluded, in accordance with the appellate court’s decision issued March 6, 2024.
“This action simply affirms the City’s ability to proceed following the expiration of the one-year limitation period under California Elections Code”, the staff report states.
As for Veterans Park, the project remains a key component of the approved Downtown Plan that will be constructed by the city separately from the workforce housing project, the staff report states. The final design of Veterans Park has not yet been approved.
The council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Monday (July 28). The full agenda is available here.
In other business:
The council is also set to host three public hearings at the meeting regarding the placement of delinquent sewer accounts on the property tax roll, the 2025-26 fiscal year sewer service and use charges report and authorization of the sewer service charges to be collected on the tax roll as well as the second amendment to a development agreement for the Lassen Road Townhome Project located at the terminus of Lassen Road northwest of the First Street/I-580 interchange and north of I-580.
The second amendment to the development agreement would revise the terms and timing of the off-site improvements including a public trail and public sewer line, according to the agenda.
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