Some of the long-time property owners in unincorporated Happy Valley voiced skepticism last week that a new Blue Ribbon Committee can answer their concerns over finding a bypass for the hundreds of motorists now using Alisal Street to reach the city’s Callippe Preserve golf course.
The committee, appointed by the City Council and headed by Lorie Tinfow, the city’s administrative services director, is the latest citizens’ group to wrestle with the dilemma of finding an alternative to Alisal for golf course traffic.
Meanwhile, complaints are increasing about heavy traffic and faster speeds on Alisal as more golfers head for Callippe, where the number of players now exceeds projections by nearly 2-1.
Alisal is the only thoroughfare that serves Happy Valley. It extends from Sycamore Road to an L-shaped junction with Happy Valley Road. At that point, the city has built Westbridge Road to temporarily connect both streets to the golf course. A bypass road would keep golfers off both roads.
County Supervisor Scott Haggerty wants golfers to quit using Happy Valley, which, like Alisal, is a county road outside the city limits of Pleasanton. The county is proposing that a cul-de-sac be installed at the junction, preventing anyone from traveling onto Happy Valley Road, where motorists can reach the I-680 freeway. That proposal is on hold as Art Carrera of Alameda County monitors the Blue Ribbon meetings.
Happy Valley property owners, on the other hand, want Pleasanton to abide by its Happy Valley Specific Plan and Environmental Impact Report in June 1998 that calls for a bypass road to be built east of Alisal Street. At one time, a proposed 109-unit housing development to be built by Summerhill Homes was planned for acres in the hills above Alisal Street, owned by Rancher Al Spotorno. That project, which would have included a road linking Sunol Boulevard and Sycamore Creek Way directly to the golf course, and bypassing Alisal, was later rejected by the City Council after some objected that the homes would be visible from downtown Pleasanton.
Since then, efforts to build the bypass have faltered as the cost of the project escalated, with the old Summerhill/Spotorno route now estimated at $15 million. Geological reports also indicated that the hillside route would cross through unstable, shifting soil that could add to the costs, if the road could be built at all.
The newest plan being considered by the committee moved the bypass to a new road roughly parallel to Alisal that would be built in part by Greenbriar Homes, which wants to build up to 79 homes on flatland east of Alisal. Happy Valley owners don’t like that plan either and suggested last week that the city allow only a few new homes on Spotorno’s property and pay for the bypass road itself.
“Spotorno is not obligated to put in the bypass road, the city of Pleasanton as the golf course developer is,” said Happy Valley homeowner Jerry Wagner. “The city of Pleasanton wants you to feel Spotorno is obligated so it won’t cost the city any money.”
After reviewing alternatives, Tinfow urged the committee to consider various alternatives, with at least two or three members of the 12-member committee opposed to at least one of the alternatives. Homeowners on Sycamore Creek Way have also objected to a bypass road that would generate more traffic for their neighborhood street. With no agreement on any of the bypass road proposals, and a consensus appearing unlikely, Tinfow closed the meeting to work on new plans before the group meets again next month.
