January 14, 2005

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Publication Date: Friday, January 14, 2005

Zoned for trouble

The 1907 house on little Vervais Avenue off Main Street sits there like a historic gem, backing onto the Arroyo del Valle. Next door, the manicured park that extends to the corner, called the Main Street Green, is an attractive entrance to downtown.

The location is not good for a home: There is a car wash across the street and a body shop, plus it's close to busy streets. But the place, which has been for sale since the spring, would be ideal for a business, said investment Realtor Mike Carey.

"We've had a ton of people interested, from landscaping companies to contractors," said Carey, noting the lot is large enough to provide parking. "Across the creek an office building is under construction."

Two buyers have made offers, conditioned upon being able to use the property as zoned for commercial ventures. But when they went to City Hall, they discovered that although the street is zoned commercial/service, it is listed as parkland in both the Pleasanton General Plan and the Downtown Specific Plan.

The two sales, one for $825,000 on June 5 and another for $750,000 on Aug. 23, did not go through.

The property - and the owners, Janice and Gary Duclair - are caught in a Catch-22.

"We didn't know anything about it until we put the house on the market," Janice Duclair said. "We've seen houses - falling-down shacks - selling for more than ours."

"The whole thing stinks," added her husband, Gary Duclair, 62.

"How would any resident of Pleasanton feel about their property being designated as a park?" asked Carey. "Without the city asking for their input or direct involvement in the decision?"

The Duclair family moved into the house, at 4254 Vervais, in 1977.

"We bought everything in it, from the Pons family," recalled Gary Duclair. "Our youngest son was 3-1/2 when we moved in. The others were 13 and 14."

"When we bought the home, it was zoned service commercial," said Janice. Nonetheless, at that time it was a good place to raise a family, they noted, near Amador Valley High School and adjacent to downtown.

The Duclairs recalled that for many years the residents on Vervais had a black cloud hanging over their lives while city leaders explored the idea of a four-lane super-street circling the downtown. It was proposed to travel alongside the Arroyo del Valle where Vervais Avenue is, and all the houses would have been torn down to accommodate it.

The only section actually built was Del Valle Parkway, which ended up being two lanes with an extra wide median, that ends at Main Street across the stoplight intersection from Vervais.

All of the neighbors at that time felt they were living in limbo, the Duclairs recalled. City goals were debated as homeowners put their own plans on hold for swimming pools and other improvements. During that time, in 1987, the city bought the house next to the Duclairs, at 4242 Vervais.

"They bought her out as a hardship case," Janice Duclair remembered.

The city rented out that house until 1999 when it discussed renovating it for use as affordable housing. In February 2004 the city turned down an agreement with House Inc. to use the property as "special needs" housing, determining it would be incompatible with the Downtown Specific Plan. At that meeting, City Manager Deborah Acosta McKeehan said that rather than renovate 4242 Vervais, the city should keep the site available for park use.

In June, at the recommendation of the Housing Commission, the council agreed to remove the house at 4242 Vervais. The Housing Commission also recommended that the council pursue the potential of purchasing the Duclair house but that was not discussed at the open meeting.

The house at 4242 Vervais has since been torn down, leaving the Duclair house standing by itself in the middle of the block. The only other residences are at the east end of the street, where members of the Garibaldi family have lived for many years. Verna Garibaldi, who moved there as a newlywed in 1945, said she has no plans to move.

The Duclairs said the city should buy their house to use as part of the park. The city could use it for classes or as an interpretive center for the Arroyo del Valle plus it provides a restroom. Its spacious lot is terraced on three levels as it leads down to the arroyo. Or the city should allow a new buyer to run a business under the commercial/service zoning, they said.

"The lot is designated as a park," said Planning Director Jerry Iserson. "It can continue to be used as a residence, can have small businesses. But substantial modifications to the building would require use permits not consistent with the General Plan. It's a nonconforming situation."

"They can apply to change the General Plan and the Downtown Specific Plan but the Specific Plan was just adopted a few years ago," Iserson added. "There hasn't been any desire to discuss those properties."

He said that the Planning Commission can allow "low-key" businesses such as giving piano lessons on a case-by-case basis.

Janice and Gary Duclair moved to Manteca six years ago, leaving their youngest son living in the house. He and his wife plan to move into another home they bought so the Duclairs are anxious to sell.

The 1,700-square-foot house has central heating and air conditioning, copper plumbing and a 13,461-square-foot lot, large enough for commercial parking, Realtor Carey noted. It has a living room, two bedrooms, a den and full bath on the main floor with a basement full-window kitchen and family room.

"In 1923 they jacked it up 3 feet and dug down 5 feet," Gary Duclair said, explaining the sunken kitchen and family room. "It stays warm - and cool."

The Duclairs would like the city to offer them $788,000 for the property, an average of the two offers made last summer.

"That was the plan, that we would eventually buy it, to improve the whole area as a gateway to downtown," said Iserson. "It's a matter of the right time and the right price."

The Main Street Green is a half-acre park on two parcels of city-owned land, one a former corporation yard and storage area. It has a large lawn area with trees, and a small paved spot near Main Street with a bus stop, drinking fountain and sign describing the trail to the arroyo.

The 2002 Downtown Specific Plan recommends renaming the corner park to Arroyo Green at Main to identify its location and use. It also states as a recommendation: "Make the acquisition of land immediately adjacent to the Green a priority if and when it becomes avaiable in order to expand the park area."

City Attorney Michael Roush said that twice during the last year the City Council discussed, in closed session, the Duclairs' request to have the city buy the property. "The (previous) council didn't feel the price they were asking was reasonable," Roush said. "They looked at it and said, 'No, thank you.'"

"I don't have a simple solution," said Roush. "The alternatives are to seek General Plan and Specific Plan changes to allow a commercial use or to have the property continue in its residential capacity."

Carey noted that if new buyers were to use it as a residence, they would undoubtedly make improvements, thereby increasing the price.

"I don't think it's about the price so much as that they can't make a decision," said Carey.

He was also perturbed that the discussions were held in closed sessions. "There were no comments, no minutes," he said. "It was real frustrating for the owners. They (city officials) have clouded the title of the property and devalued it."

"The city has made the zoning, General Plan and Specific Plan conflicting," Carey said. "Now the owner cannot sell the property based on its zoning, and the city is not ready to buy it as a park. Until you're there and it's your house, you don't know how screwed you are."

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