Judge says she'll rule soon on Happy Valley suit Judge says she'll rule soon on Happy Valley suit (January 02, 2004)

City's Callippe Preserve municipal golf course, bypass road commitments at stake
by Jeb Bing

Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw is expected to rule later this month on a suit by the Alisal Improvement Club and businessman Jerry Wagner to overturn Pleasanton's annexation of 511 acres in Happy Valley.

At stake is the fate - or at least the scheduled completion later this year - of the city's new $35 million Callippe Preserve municipal golf course on 145 acres of the annexed land at the southwestern corner of the city.

In a two-hour hearing before Sabraw, Sacramento Attorney Douglas E. Jaffe, who represents the AIC, argued that the city's action in annexing a part of Happy Valley in 2002 after property owners had rejected an earlier bid to annex 811 acres - most of the community - violated state laws.

He said that the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) required the city to prepare and certify an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) before initiating the second annexation proceeding. He claimed that both the city and Alameda County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), which decides on annexation proposals, were wrong to approve the annexation agreement and asked Sabraw to nullify it.

In a companion suit, Pleasanton attorney Christopher Schlies, who represents Wagner, accused the city of ignoring its Happy Valley Specific Plan, which assured residents that a bypass road would be built so that golf course traffic would not use Alisal Street to reach the golf course. In fact, Schlies contended, the city recently rebuilt Alisal, although it is a county-maintained road, and is now completing Westbridge Lane, a new connector road from the corner of Alisal and Happy Valley Road that will be the main route for golfers driving to the Callippe Preserve clubhouse and parking lot.

"There is no plan in place to build the bypass road," Schlies told the court. "Instead this new road will carry all of the golf course traffic."

City Attorney Michael Roush refuted both claims, arguing that the annexation was legal and that the Happy Valley Specific Plan with its promise of a bypass road remains in place.

Using a map of the area, Roush showed Sabraw that most of the bypass road has already been built or is under construction. Starting at Sycamore Creek Road at Sunol Boulevard, the street now extends through Greenbriar Homes' new Bridle Creek community and is being built through the new Summerhill Homes' residential development to the east. At the same time, the city is completing its link to the bypass road at the edge of the golf course.

The only part of the bypass that is not completed is the proposed section that would connect Summerhill to the golf course. This section will eventually be built on property owned by rancher Al Spotorno when homes are built there. Summerhill had submitted a development plan for the site in 1999, but city planners rejected the design. Since then, due to a building slowdown during the recession years that followed, no new development plans have been submitted by Spotorno.

With regard to Jaffe's claim that the second annexation of the 511-acre parcel was flawed, Roush said an EIR was conducted and certified as part of the Happy Valley Specific Plan in 1998, that public hearings were held on the plan, and that it was approved by the City Council with the full support of Pleasanton and Happy Valley residents. Since the same plan remains in effect, the EIR satisfied the requirements both of the first annexation bid, which Happy Valley property owners narrowly defeated in a special election 88 to 83, and in the second annexation agreement. That annexation, Roush pointed out, had the unanimous support of the 13 property owners on the smaller 511-acre parcel, so LAFCO and the city were able to proceed in approving it without a second election.

Roush said since the city conducted the annexation proceeding within the law and continues to plan to build the bypass road when the Spotorno property is developed, the suits by the Alisal Improvement Club and Jerry Wagner lack merit. He urged Sabraw to rule accordingly and dismiss them in her upcoming final decision.

"If any of the Happy Valley residents had an objection to the specific plan or the EIR, they should have challenged the plan in 1998, not wait until now," Roush told the court.

The Happy Valley Specific Plan was approved in 1998. It took city planners, engineers and consultants more than two years to clear all of the environmental hurdles before the EIR was approved. In April 2002, the city sought approval of property owners to annex 811 acres, comprising most of Happy Valley, but they voted down the proposal. Three months later, the city annexed the smaller 511-acre parcel along the east side of Alisal. Work started immediately on the golf course and on construction of 37 custom homes on acreage around the course.

In court, Jaffe and Schlies said that changes in the land use plan that accompanied the second annexation bid were significantly different from the first bid to bring all of Happy Valley into Pleasanton. For that reason and because the city has now built Westbridge Lane that could make a bypass road unnecessary, they asked Sabraw to void the 511-acre annexation agreement.

"We're seeking a determination from the court that the approval of the annexation by LAFCO violated CEQA and violated the law," Jaffe said. "We want to overturn the project and the annexation."

"If the court agrees, we will get an order to rescind the annexation," he explained. "That means that the annexation would be invalidated, the approval would be invalidated and projects that are proceeding based on that annexation would be stopped. Basically, we would go back to square one on this issue."

Roush said he is confident that the city will prevail in winning an order from Sabraw dismissing the Alisal Improvement Club and Jerry Wagner suits.

"The city has done everything that was required with regard to annexing the land and gaining approvals to build the golf course," Roush said. "I feel good about our case and hopes that's the way it turns out. In the meantime, we're continuing with the construction project and we look forward to opening the course in November 2004."

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