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Now that Alameda County and the Castlewood Property Owners Association have settled their legal dispute, the next step will be a special election.
The association had sued the county in December 2024 contending that it failed to follow state-mandated procedures to establish a special assessment for the county service area that provides water, sewer and road services to the 187 homeowners and The Club at Castlewood. The $7,000 assessment per property was to make up a shortfall in the maintenance budget for water.
According to Proposition 218, those affected must agree to the assessment so that election is the next step. It cannot take place until rules for the balloting are established and approved by the supervisors on their regular agenda. That’s at least two weeks out based upon comments at a community meeting held by the county on April 3, and the election could be held within six weeks after that action.
If 55% of homeowners vote No, then the assessment dies and the county absorbs the cost in its budget. A Yes vote or not voting both amount to a Yes vote for the $7,000 assessment.
Mike Mitchell, association vice president, said after the meeting that the directors will continue to advocate for a No vote and mount a campaign to educate homeowners and urge the No vote. He described the tenor of the meeting as business-like without any sense of confrontation as both the county and the association want to find a different government structure to lessen the county’s role.
In the settlement, the county also agreed to send a representative to the association’s water committee meetings. Association officers attribute the shortfall to mismanagement by the county and a lack of management attention. For instance, the county is still billing the water fund $9,000 per month for temporary generators to keep the pumps flowing up to the hillside tanks above the clubhouse.
Property owners are smarting because the county raised the water charge on their property tax bill for 2024-25 by 172%. The association members pay the highest water charges in the county, topping even the city of Pleasanton after its hotly debated increase.
Castlewood homeowners saw their water maintenance and operations charge soar from $1,089 to $2,958, or $338 for 330 units per year. City of Pleasanton rates, even after the hefty increases, are $180 while Dublin San Ramon Services District clients pay $169 and Fremont area users pay $168.
Mitchell said the association is pursuing long-term solutions of either forming its own community services district that would elect its own board and contract with a management company or figuring out an annexation to Pleasanton that is cost-positive to the city. Contacts with the city are pending, while the association has done some legwork to understand what’s involved in the district.
In either case, the county and the association share the goal of eliminating the county service area.
An interview with the county is pending. One of three calls to public works was returned and missed Tuesday.
Editor’s note: Tim Hunt’s home is within the service area and his family pays for services through the county service area.
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