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The shadow of a 10-year-old decision driven by the drought hung over the Pleasanton City Council Tuesday evening when it discussed a major housing development in East Pleasanton beyond Valley Avenue.
The city had embarked on a process to develop a masterplan for the 1,100 acres in that area. Major developments in the city such as Hacienda Business Park and the other North Pleasanton business parks followed such a process. When the drought hit, the council halted the process instead of moving ahead with the plan. It should be noted that supplying water is the responsibility of the Zone 7 Water Agency and its policy to have water available for each community’s general plan.
It was years before it came back to the council and failed to be a high priority in the staff work plan.
By that time, Ponderosa Homes, a Pleasanton-based builder that has constructed hundreds of homes in Pleasanton and throughout the Tri-Valley, had worked together with other landowners who collectively were willing to move forward with an overall plan.
When the council failed to move, it fell apart with one industrially zoned parcel now slated for an Amazon distribution center and its accompanying 18-wheelers plus delivery vans, while the owner of the two parcels not within the city limits proceeded with plans in the county. With little leverage, the city is moving to annex both parcels. An age-restricted active adult project with 445 units is planned for the site next to the existing Ironwood community, while the nearby East Lakes project is planned for 697 units.
The council and city staff, if they want to exert any influence, have little choice but to move ahead with the annexation. Just what will play out over the next months and years over the rest of the acreage remains to be seen. What’s unlikely—at best—is another connection from Intestate 580 to Stanley Boulevard. It will take much more financial leverage to make that work—a casualty of failing to do a master plan.
That connection would have alleviated lots of traffic on Valley Avenue bound for Ruby Hill and south Livermore.
I’m one of the rare media people who worked in both the San Ramon Valley and the Livermore Valley and thus have seen the challenges that come with two counties and five municipalities. One of the biggest was shopping patterns back when Stoneridge was a viable destination shopping center. Folks who lived north of Sycamore Valley Road in Danville were Broadway Plaza shoppers in Walnut Creek while the others headed south for Stoneridge. Asked why anyone would go to Livermore from Danville and shoulders shrugged. Wine country in Danville/Alamo brings thoughts of Napa (less than an hour away).
In the recent edition of Diablo magazine, Blaine Landberg, a Walnut Creek brewmaster,changed that calculus. Asked to describe a good day, he started it at the First Street Alehouse in Livermore for brunch or lunch and then connected with a buddy, a Concannon winemaker for a glass of wine and then off to Altamont Beer Works for their specialty.
