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A planned event space on the eastern outskirts of Danville in the Wood Ranch neighborhood is facing a hurdle at Tuesday’s planning commission meeting, in which commissioners, property owners and neighboring residents are set to weigh in on an appeal seeking to overturn the project’s administrative approval.
Property owners Jim Wood and Lisa Wood applied for a land use permit last year that would allow for the establishment of a small-scale event center on the 17.06-acre site at 2900 Camino Tassajara. The town notified neighboring residents of a pending administrative approval for the project in May.
“The proposal approval was made based on findings that the proposed use is consistent with the Danville 2030 General Plan policies supporting preservation of the site’s rural and agricultural character while allowing compatible low-intensity specialty commercial uses, such as an event venue,” Assistant Planner Jessica Lam wrote in a staff report for this week’s meeting.
Days after the appealable action letter was sent to 279 residents in the surrounding area, Kathleen Crosthwait, a neighboring resident across Camino Tassajara on Normandy Court, submitted a formal appeal on May 11 that was one of a total of 11 letters from other neighbors expressing concerns.
Crosthwait pointed to noise, traffic, public safety, property value impact and a “drain on city resources” as the concerns raised by the project, points that were reiterated in many of the subsequent letters asking the town to deny the project.
“The proposed venue would allow events with up to 250 attendees each,” fellow Normandy Court residents Debra Storey and Bill Storey wrote to the town on May 9. “Even with the stated conditions of approval, the scale and frequency of such gatherings are likely to create substantial impacts on nearby residents and surrounding roadways that have not been adequately addressed.”
Town staff disagreed with that assessment, pointing to the conditions of approval for the project as sufficient for mitigating many of those concerns and the Wood family pointing to their long history on the former ranch site and thoughtful planning for its future.
“Despite the fact that our property’s ‘highest and best use’ is high density housing, and even though we regularly receive legitimate and attractive offers for this use, we are choosing to pursue having it serve as a unique venue for special events,” Jim Wood and Lisa Wood wrote June 17. “We have spent years of research prior to submitting the land use permit application.”
The conditions of approval include a cap of 250 attendees, a 10 p.m. curfew for outdoor entertainment, prohibition of noise at a level that constitutes a nuisance to neighboring residents, traffic and parking requirements, and the maintenance and retention of existing landscaping along the eastern and southern property lines.
As part of their response to the appeal, the Wood family pointed to a wave of primarily positive feedback on the proposal that they announced on social media, with many of those sentiments echoed in a series of more than a dozen letters supporting the project that were sent to the town in recent weeks.
“The Ranch has received special designations in past Danville General Plans because of its unique qualities,” said local historian and retired San Ramon Valley elected official Beverly Lane in a July 1 letter to the town. “The Wood Ranch headquarters property possesses historical buildings which represent the early history of Danville and the San Ramon Valley, including its many ranch features and the Mendenhall/Wood house which is the oldest building in the Valley (1853).”
“It is important to our community to support efforts which would preserve the Ranch headquarters,” she continued. “Allowing a new use of the property would do just that.”
Since the meeting agenda was posted last week, the town received three additional letters opposing the project.
Ahead of the meeting, the planning commission gathered for a quorum to visit the site Thursday, in what was noticed as a special meeting by the town.
The Danville Planning Commission is set to meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday (July 14). The agenda is available here.
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