Golf course tab hits $40 million Golf course tab hits $40 million (March 18, 2005)

Driving range 'reorientation' could mean more money
by Jeb Bing

The City Council on Tuesday authorized funding increases for Pleasanton's new Callippe Preserve golf course complex of nearly $3 million to complete work on the project so that golfers can tee off before the end of the year.

The funds, needed to pay for added work and change orders, raised the total price tag for Callippe to $40.8 million, although officials said the city's portion was $35.3 million, with the rest portioned out to developers who are constructing homes along the golf course.

Public Works Director Rob Wilson said most of the increases were caused by change orders and additional work required of the contractors and golf course consultants. Then, after agreeing to fund the higher costs, council members called for another change, one that could be the most expensive.

They want Wilson to "reorient" the golf course driving range, which is mostly built, by 90 degrees so that golfers can hit their balls toward the south and onto private property owned by the General Electric plant on Vallecitos. That change, which Wilson said could cost at least $500,000, would allow the city to tear down the 40-60 foot tall poles installed to hold black netting that would deflect errant balls. The new location would require only perimeter fencing, although Wilson said it would cost more to hire workers to retrieve balls hit into an open field.

Although only an exploratory vote, council members said they were responding to complaints that the poles and netting are "eyesores" to Happy Valley residents. They urged Wilson to continue work on the golf course, itself, and to report back in two months or so about the cost and timeline of their relocation proposal.

City Attorney Michael Roush said GE would have to agree to allow Pleasanton to use part of its land or sell it. He wrote local GE officials more than a month ago about the plan but has not heard back. Even if they agree, any formal land transaction would have to be approved by the company's headquarters staff in New York State.

"Frankly, I think the $500,000 cost estimate for the reorientation is a conservative number," Roush said. "We did an appraisal of agricultural land there a few years ago and concluded it was worth about 70 cents a square foot. So that would put costs at $350,000 to $400,000 just for the land."

Roush said he could also seek to acquire the property through condemnation proceedings, even though it's located beyond the city limits.

In a report to the council, Wilson, who has moved his office out of City Hall and into a construction trailer on the golf course to direct the completion effort, said the course could be fully seeded by June and ready for play six months later.

Only one speaker at Tuesday's meeting talked about the golf course project. Joe Russo said he was there to urge the council to do what it takes to get the "long overdue" course open.

Others spoke against plans being considered to replace a bypass road shown in the 1998 Happy Valley Specific Plan with one that could be cheaper and quicker to build, close to Alisal Street. The original road would extend from the end of Sycamore Creek Road to the golf course in a one-mile stretch high in the hills above Alisal. Summerhill Homes had agreed to construct the road as part of a separate housing project it had proposed on Spotorno's ranch. The council eventually rejected that project and no developer has expressed an interest in building there since.

The latest plan is being proposed by Greenbriar. It will be considered in detail next Wednesday at a Planning Commission "scoping" session. The public meeting will start at 7 p.m. in the City Council chamber.

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