Seven driveways becoming private streets Seven driveways becoming private streets (March 26, 2004)

Vineyard Avenue realignment means address changes
by Dolores Fox Ciardelli

Eleven streets are about to be added to Pleasanton. However, seven of these are currently private driveways off Vineyard Avenue that serve 11 property owners, and they are being given names and addresses as private roads, drives, lanes and places.

The realignment of Vineyard Avenue along the Arroyo del Valle on the east side of town has left some residences high and dry along the section being converted into a trail, with no access to the new avenue until developers build the streets. Sections of the old Vineyard Avenue will be used temporarily to access the private roads, and the City Council last week OK'd closing segments when the new Vineyard Avenue opens. Residents were afraid the lightly used street would attract speeders and other problems, such as parking and dumping.

New names for the private streets include Rock Springs Road, Three Oaks Drive, Brozosky Hill Lane, Windy Oaks Drive, Frog Hill Lane, Tuscany Place and Foley Ranch Road. A new public road, Machado Place, leads to the fire station, and Safreno Way will be built when RMC Lonestar subdivides. The new names become effective May 1.

"We told the residents that to offset the headache of changing their addresses, we said they could pick their own street name," said Planning Director Brian Swift. "Everybody picked a street name, then we sent it through the normal review process - to the post office, emergency offices, to get an OK that somebody already didn't have it."

One new street being added is Thiessen, which heads south from the new Vineyard Avenue at the Neal School site, turns left south of the site, then left again on the east side to rejoin Vineyard.

The name Thiessen was taken off a list of historical names in Pleasanton, said Swift. The city did not extend the name all the way around the school site because planners didn't want two Vineyard Avenue-Thiessen Street intersections, said Swift. The school district will choose a name for the two streets that continue the loop around the school site, he added.

Some streets in the new developments have yet to be named.

"Centex Homes had one internal street named Coffin Street," said Swift, "but we suggested they change that."

The old Vineyard Avenue cannot be used for a trail, as outlined in the Vineyard Corridor Specific Plan, until the developers build the new streets to access the homeowners' driveways. Swift said he thought Centex may complete its final map for development this summer. Wayne Hahner, whose property is northwest of Thiessen Street, is in court with the developer, or that construction would have begun this spring, said Swift.

The realigned Vineyard Avenue is scheduled to open in July, said Public Works Director Rob Wilson, not April as originally planned.

"The reason for the delay is because of the rains," said Wilson. "And we had some repair work to do regarding PG&E's prior work in that area."

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