'Gigantic' house OK'd for golf course 'Gigantic' house OK'd for golf course (December 30, 2005)

Council says it meets original development plans
by Jeb Bing

The Pleasanton City Council has approved the construction of a 7,777-square-foot custom home on Clubhouse Drive, one of 34 multi-million-dollar homes planned along the main road leading to the Callippe Preserve golf course in Happy Valley.

The vote, which was unanimous, followed a similar approval by the city Planning Commission, but not without concern by some who questioned the large size of the homes being built there and possible groundwater contamination.

The new home, which will be built by David Quartaroli, is the second of the 34 custom homes planned for the Mariposa Ranch development. The homes were allowed in the Happy Valley Specific Plan that authorized the $34.5-million golf course and public trail system. Although the course complex actually cost $40.7 million, the city is being reimbursed $6.2 million from the 34 custom home lots as they are sold. Most lots are about half an acre and sell for $1-million-plus.

Quartaroli's house will include a four-car driveway and two garages totaling 992 square feet. It will be situated on a 28,314-square-foot lot that obliquely faces the No. 3 fairway of the new golf course.

Happy Valley homeowner Jerry Wagner objected to Quartaroli's application, arguing that the development of the site in the hills above his property "will negatively impact the groundwater reserves by infiltration of pollutants derived from the new landscape and vehicles parked on the site."

"The house is a gigantic two-story that would block the view of the hills for both the potential golfers and the residents (of Happy Valley)," Wagner said, "This gigantic house (which Wagner said will total 8,377 square feet) is not allowed per the specific plan."

He said that even though the house will be served by Pleasanton city water and sewer services, run-offs of insecticides, pesticides, fertilizer and petroleum from the home's two two-car garages and six outdoor parking spaces would seep into the aquifer that serves private wells in Happy Valley.

"The 500 residents of this Happy Valley area will have no alternative but to bathe in, cook with, wash dishes in, fill their swimming pools with and drink the carcinogen or slop," Wagner said. "The high nitrate level is (already) well above the federal limit and can destroy the thyroid gland and cause cancer. If a pregnant woman or animal drinks this carcinogen, she is likely to have a blue or deformed baby."

But Jerry Iserson, city Planning Director, said the Quartaroli house meets both the size and design specification as of the Happy Valley Specific Plan. He also said the groundwater contamination in that community is the result of deteriorating septic tanks, and that tests show that there has been no impact to local groundwater from either the golf course or homes being built there.

Most property owners in the unincorporated sections of Happy Valley have no city water or sewers and rely on well water and septic systems. They rejected an offer three years ago to annex to Pleasanton and, in return, receive a developer-subsidized package that would have allowed them to hook up to city water and sewers at a discounted price.

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