Around Pleasanton: Developers tweak plans for Spotorno acreage in hopes for approval

A development group once rebuffed in its plan to build pricey homes along Alisal Street on a 31-acre site known as the Spotorno Flat thinks its new plan has a chance of being approved.

Michael O’Hara of Tim Lewis Communities told a Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce forum last week that there are enough revisions to satisfy city leaders even though he’s sticking with the 39 homes, a number they didn’t like a year ago.

The site lies between the Faith Chapel Assembly of God Church on Alisal and the Callippe Preserve Golf Course. Its current zoning allows for only 22 homes.

Although the city’s Planning Commission indicated in June 2017, when O’Hara presented his original development plan at an informal workshop meeting, that it likely would not approve rezoning the site to allow more than the 22 homes, O’Hara thinks he’s tweaked the plan enough to gain reconsideration.

The major changes are:

* Eliminating the $15 million so-called “bypass road” as currently required in the Happy Valley Specific Plan that was planned to run from Sycamore Creek Way to Westbridge Lane and the golf course.

* Closing Westbridge Lane at Alisal Street by turning this main road that golfers now use to reach Callippe into a cul-de-sac at that location.

* Building a new road, to be called Clubhouse Drive, from Alisal through his new development to connect to Westbridge and then onto the Callippe clubhouse and parking lots. A traffic light would probably ease access with traffic to enter and exit Clubhouse Drive at Alisal in either direction. Currently, left turns from Westbridge onto Alisal are prohibited except in early-morning commute hours.

* Dedicating approximately 123 acres of the remaining property Tim Lewis Communities would own as permanent open space to be managed as a conservation easement by an unrelated third party.

* Creating and maintaining trails to connect to those now around the golf course. They will wrap around the new development and also will lead to the water storage tank above Westbridge Lane, where it could eventually connect to any trails built on the bordering Foley Ranch.

* Adding 3 acres of open space at the lower end of the development off Alisal Street to filter stormwater before it flows into the city’s storm drain system.

O’Hara said the Spotorno family will continue to own and operate their ranch on a 42-acre section at the top of the 154-acre parcel the family now owns.

Alex (Al) Spotorno, who died last March, was a rancher in Pleasanton for almost 70 years. By agreeing to have his property annexed into Pleasanton, he enabled the city to acquire the acreage needed for Callippe Preserve, a fact some at the chamber’s 2020 Forum said should be remembered as the city considers the new development plan.

Previous development concepts advanced for the Spotorno acreage since 1999 looked at either 75 or 79 homes on both the lower flatland and hilly acreage. The city-approved Happy Valley Specific Plan contemplated 97 houses on the property.

O’Hara said he hopes to take his latest development plan to the Planning Commission and City Council for approval this year. If he gains approval, construction could begin in early 2020, with the first buyers moving in later that year.

Opposition is expected from some residents of Happy Valley, an unincorporated community along the northwest side of Alisal, homeowners along Happy Valley Road and possibly Alameda County representatives. Their concern will be over increased traffic on Alisal stemming from the new development and unrestricted access to the new road leading to the golf course.

Editor’s note: Jeb Bing is editor emeritus for the Pleasanton Weekly. His “Around Pleasanton” columns typically run on the second and fourth Fridays of every month.

Editor’s note: Jeb Bing is editor emeritus for the Pleasanton Weekly. His “Around Pleasanton” columns typically run on the second and fourth Fridays of every month.