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No bypass road
Residents of Sycamore and Alisal roads continue to deal with traffic
Last November, Pleasanton and its golfers celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Callippe Preserve Golf Course.
Notably, for residents of Sycamore Road and Alisal Road, it marked the continuation of the city’s failure to follow through on its commitment to get the golf course traffic off their narrow roads. The bypass road through the Spotorno property, a family cattle and sheep ranch since 1867, was drawn on a map through the land that was supposed to connect with the road serving Sycamore Heights and the golf course access road near the big water tank on the hill overlooking the course and the homes surrounding it.
When the land was analyzed during the development process, geologists determined it was not appropriate for a road given the soil and earthquake fault condition.
The family had pursued development for decades, both before and after the golf course project under patriarch Al Spotorno. He passed in 2018 at 92.
In partnership with Haven Development of San Ramon, they won an approval for the flat land where Alisal makes a 90-degree turn. The hills remain out-of-bounds. That project, covered by environmental work done for the Happy Valley Specific Plan in 1998, won council approval in 2022 for 22 units. That approval was set to expire in 2024, but the city granted a two-year extension that ends March 24, 2026.
Check Haven’s website and you will learn Lusso at Sportorno (sic) Ranch is coming this year with 22 luxury homes, each with a casita, and 11 floor plan options. The website reads that prices will be $5 million to $6 million. Presumably the project will improve Alisal Road around the perimeter, but there’s no bypass road for the golf course in the mix.
That pencil line on the sketch should be erased as well the sign proclaiming temporary access to the golf course removed. No longer a joke, folks.
For Pleasanton, should the project succeed in selling 22 homes in that price range, it will be a huge property tax windfall in line with what the highest end Ruby Hill homes sell for. It will contrast sharply with the reduced prices for commercial and retail space occurring elsewhere in the city and broader Bay Area.
