Callippe highlights 2005 achievements Callippe highlights 2005 achievements (December 30, 2005)

Without doubt, 2005 will be remembered as the year Pleasanton finally opened its new $34.5-million Callippe Preserve golf course and public trails in Happy Valley. First conceived in the 1980s, the cost of the course nearly doubled, largely because of the escalating costs of construction and ever-changing and increasingly onerous environmental and land use permitting requirements by federal, state and regional agencies. At one time, the City Council was about to throw in the towel except for a persuasive plea by then-Public Works Director Randy Lum to give him a few more weeks to convince the agencies that Callippe and Pleasanton would meet their demands with a course and surrounding open space that would bode well for the community. Lum died before he could see the golf course completed. A room in the Callippe clubhouse is dedicated to the hundreds of hours he spent on the project and his determination to get the job done.

At dedication ceremonies last Nov. 5, city officials honored Lum and the scores of volunteers and staff that worked tirelessly to design and build Callippe. Lum's successor, Public Works Director Rob Wilson, even moved out of his City Hall office for six months, donning boots to supervise construction teams to finish the course on schedule. Mayor Jennifer Hosterman celebrated the opening by honoring the entire Golf Course Committee with the 2005 Mayor's Award. Now it's up to CourseCo, the Petaluma-based golf course management firm that has contracted with Pleasanton to maintain and operate Callippe, to promote the course so that green fees eventually reach the level where they will pay off the $25 million in bonds, or actually certificates of participation, that were the financial backbone of the project. To service its debt, the city is obligated to pay $1.6 million a year for 28 years, a time frame already looking shorter as golfers fill the fairways of what is recognized as one of the more challenging and picturesque courses in the area.

Of course, there were many more achievements this year that we should recognize. The real estate market boomed despite higher interest rates, with average home prices nearing the $1 million mark. New restaurants and shops opened downtown and Stoneridge Shopping Center won approval for a new 149,000-square foot Nordstrom store, with construction scheduled to start next month to replace its current facility and make way for even more retail stores and restaurants, including a third floor, multi-screen movie theater in 2007. Although city planners rejected a proposed "upscale" shopping center in Ruby Hill at Isabel and Vineyard, a new complex that will offer some shopping, office space, a restaurant and a gas station was approved by Livermore across the intersection and will open shortly. There's even hope of reviving the Vintage Hills Center with the purchase and design improvements by Sim and Yoon, a development company that vows to find tenants for the mostly-empty 1970s facility.

On the political front, Jerry Thorne won a seat on the Pleasanton City Council in a special election last June, filling the seat vacated by Councilwoman Jennifer Hosterman when she was elected mayor in November 2004. This year, the school board also moved its November election to next year, putting the district's election in sync with the even-year election schedules others follow and saving $120,000 in costs. The council also agreed to participate in the newly-formed Triangle Committee, a Tri-Valley group of elected officials and traffic engineers, to coordinate and improve regional traffic conditions in the area. Even local Iraqis became part of the political scene this year, with several thousand turning out at the Fairgrounds to cast votes in their country's National Assembly election earlier this month.

Work on planning uses for the Bernal public lands and updating the 1996 General Plan also dominated local government activities this year, which are both works in progress that we hope officials can bring to a conclusion in the coming year as they finally did with Callippe Preserve.

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