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Livermore City Council authorized the purchase of a 41.3-acre property in north Livermore this week for $1.6 million for conservation and possible recreational uses.
The Quint property, located next to the Garaventa Wetlands Preserve, features unique habitat, water and wetland features, according to city officials. These attributes make the land a prime opportunity to support the wetlands hydrologically and recreationally.
The council’s decision was made at a regular meeting on Dec. 9, where Livermore Mayor John Marchand also made the city’s intention clear — the property is not slated for housing development.
“We need to create a ring of open space around this community,” Marchand said. “This is something that our community has wanted.”
On Monday evening, Councilmember Ben Barrientos was also vocal about using the land to maintain the city’s green belt.
Later Marchand added, the media has sown doubt regarding the city’s motives behind the land purchase. He denounced suspicions that the city would build houses on the Quint property.
“In the 19 years that I’ve been up here, we have acquired open space land and none of it has ever been converted to anything other than open space,” he said.
Funding to purchase the Quint property will come from the Altamont Landfill Open Space Fund ($500,000) and the Dougherty Valley Settlement Agreement Account ($1.13 million).
As part of the agreement to draw from the Dougherty Valley settlement funds, city staff were obligated to meet with Citizens for Balanced Growth, a nonprofit based in the Tri-Valley.
However CBG declined to meet with staff in December of 2023 and in January, February and March of 2024 to discuss property transactions, according to the funding agreement. The city also sent requests in September and October of 2024 to meet with CBG.
“Based on limited communication and unwillingness to set a meeting date from CBG….staff has concluded that CBG does not support the expenditure of Dougherty Valley settlement funds for the Quint Property acquisition”, the agreement states.
CBG did not comment during the meeting Monday and did not respond to a request for comment from Livermore Vine as of Thursday morning.
