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The Danville Town Council is set to review an appeal of the town’s previous determination that a major subdivision application from the owners of a 47-acre parcel of the Andersen Ranch property is incomplete and subject to additional requirements, with the applicant arguing that all of those requirements have been met.
Town staff notified the property owners of additional application requirements on Jan. 19, specifying eight areas in which the application reviewed at that point failed to meet requirements. The applicant resubmitted an application on April 18, which town staff contended still failed to address three out of the eight areas they pointed to in the initial application.
“One of the three items that remained incomplete was the requirement for the application to provide copies of easements applicable to the property, including any access rights to the public right-of-way associated with the property that would be necessary to serve the project,” Chief of Planning David Crompton wrote in a staff report prepared for the upcoming meeting.
Applicants reportedly acknowledged that this information was missing from their April 18 application, noting that the application could not be considered complete without it, but requesting that the town proceed with processing the application while they worked toward securing access rights.
The application was again deemed incomplete by town officials on May 18, with attorneys for the applicant submitting an appeal on May 24.
In the appeal, attorneys argue that securing access is not required according to the town’s checklist, nor is a detailed landside repair plan that was also requested by the town.
“The Town disagrees with these assertions,” Crompton wrote.
Crompton pointed toward items on the checklist including “widths, location, and identity” as well as “location, width, and purpose” of all easements, as well as a preliminary title report.Â
“The clear purpose of requiring this information is to determine whether the development can be carried out as proposed,” Crompton wrote. “The approval of lots that don’t have legal access would be contrary to the requirements of the Subdivision Map Act. Likewise, the creation of lots without access to public utilities such as water and sewer service would be contrary to the community’s health, safety, and general welfare. Rights of access and utility service are fundamental in determining whether a property should be entitled for development.”
Crompton also pointed to a letter submitted by attorneys for the Anderson Ranch Homeowners Association noting that applicants had never contacted the association to discuss acquiring easements “and that the HOA has no intent to provide them.”
“As with the access and utility easements, it would be contrary to sound planning principles and the Subdivision Map Act to deem an application complete which on its face relies upon the use of another’s property without any easement or permission to do so,” Crompton wrote. “Because the applicant has not provided this required documentation, the Town determined that the application is incomplete.”
Another requirement for the application that was incomplete according to town staff is for geotechnical information for the site. They note that the applicant submitted a preliminary geotechnical investigation, which identifies 12 landslides, with the resubmitted application on April 18 acknowledging that additional analysis and field work was needed, but hindered by weather at that point.
If the determination is upheld and the appeal is denied, the preliminary development application for the site that was submitted on July 11, 2023, would expire, requiring a new preliminary application that would be subject to objective standards currently in place.Â
This would have significant implications for proposed development on the site, given that the town was itself in the process of multiple rounds of revisions to its 2023 to 2031 Housing Element that started with a letter from the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development on April 25, 2023 – leaving Danville without a compliant housing element in place for much of 2023, prior to final revisions that brought it into compliance as of this April 9.
If the town’s determination that the application in question is incomplete is overturned and the appeal is accepted, the project would be subject to the “Builder’s Remedy,” which allows developers to circumvent zoning and general plan requirements in municipalities without a compliant housing element in place.
In addition to the neighboring HOA’s attorney, residents of the Anderson Ranch neighborhood had submitted public comments to the Town Council as of Monday, calling for the 47-acre site to be maintained as open space rather than allowing for the subdivision and development as proposed by the applicant.
“Development behind our homes will cause extreme noise, construction traffic, and privacy issues,” Anderson Ranch resident Sandy Morova wrote in a public comment ahead of this week’s council meeting. “All our backyard fences are open wire fences to enjoy the view of the Tassajara hills. Construction behind our homes will allow construction workers to view our private yards causing extreme privacy issues.”
The parcel in question was designated as open space in 1986 when the Anderson Ranch Subdivision was first approved by the town, with officials seeking to maintain the hillside and ridgelines amid development of the neighborhood. While the site was originally offered to the East Bay Regional Park District, it was never accepted by the district and ultimately “through a series of events,” fell into the hands of private owners. The most recent owners as of 2021 – and applicants for the subdivision and development applications on the table at this week’s meeting – are Ido and Einat Adler.
The Danville Town Council is set to meet at 5 p.m. on Tuesday (June 18). The agenda is available here.
In other business
*In a special meeting at 3:45 p.m.,the council is set to continue interviews and discuss making appointments to the town’s Bicycle Advisory and Heritage Resource commissions and the County Connection Citizens Advisory Committee.
*The council is set to issue proclamations recognizing this Wednesday as Juneteenth and the month of June as Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month.
