Zone 7 initiates eminent domain, hit with new claim in Verona Reach creek erosion

The Tri-Valley may be in the midst of dry summer months, but issues resulting from the record rainy season still linger.

Zone 7 Water Agency has launched an eminent domain case against the property owners of 3 Verona Way, a vacant 5.9-acre parcel within Pleasanton’s Verona Reach — the neighborhood between the Castlewood Drive and Verona Road bridges. The area, punctuated by the Arroyo De la Laguna, was among many sites within Zone 7’s service area to see significant erosion this past winter.

Meanwhile, Zone 7, the city of Pleasanton and Alameda County have also been named in a separate claim filed by Eddie and Ginger Belshe, a husband and wife who own a home within the Verona Reach.

The claim, which was filed at the end of May, seeks unspecified damages for loss of property, home value and access; incidental expenses and emotional distress resulting from significant erosion that impacted the Belshes’ property in the 7800 block of Foothill Road earlier this year.

“This is something they saw coming it was preventable,” Eddie Belshe said in a recent interview. “I asked for help. I reached out and got no response each time … when you don’t get a response, (filing a claim) is the last resort but it’s the necessary one.”

This all comes nearly four months after Zone 7’s Board of Directors authorized spending $1.7 million for emergency repairs to an eroding slope fronting the properties owned by the Belshes and Dave and Lori Raun next door.

They were among several families in the Verona Reach neighborhood who appealed to Zone 7 to step in and address the creekside erosion threatening properties.

A gradual change in the configuration of the Arroyo de la Laguna — which the homeowners contend is a result of development upstream — has created an s-turn that has propelled water toward the Belshe and Raun properties instead of going past them. That combined with heavy rains throughout the winter caused significant chunks of their yards to fall away, leaving the affected families scrambling for outside assistance.

Staff from Zone 7 and the city of Pleasanton stepped in, with the water agency filing an emergency permit with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for repair work Feb. 28. They also brought in consultants to do surveying and design work needed to obtain the permit.

Before then, Zone 7 had never undertaken any projects in that area. The water agency holds an easement along the arroyo and across nine Foothill Road parcels, including the Belshe and Raun properties, which gives them the right to “construct, maintain, operate, inspect, and repair flood control facilities and appurtenances.” The creek within the Verona Reach is owned by the residents themselves.

With approval from their board, Zone 7 officials proceeded with work on a repair design for the eroding slope. At that time in March, an engineer with the firm working on the design estimated the work would be completed within two to four months. Sandbags and a makeshift dam were put in place and protected the slope well enough to stave off more significant erosion through the last of the rainy season.

But little has changed since then, according to Eddie Belshe.

“For me, this is a situation that should have been prevented a long time ago,” Belshe said. “Four months and yet still nothing is a much different time frame than what was presented at the (March Zone 7 board) meeting.”

Zone 7 general manager Jill Duerig said the Army Corps of Engineers sent Zone 7 staff back to the drawing board on the initial repair design proposal, delaying the anticipated start of work.

But last week, the water agency was able to file permit applications with the final design, according to Duerig. It’s not known how long it could take for permits to be granted.

“Construction only takes three to four weeks, and usually we can keep working (in the creek) until Oct. 15,” Duerig said. “We’re still in pretty good position to get everything done during this dry period.”

The new design calls for the use of the vacant property at 3 Verona Way in order to make repairs to the Belshe and Raun properties across the creek.

The property was purchased by Bhupinder Singh and Rajinder Randhawa last year for just under $400,000 with the intent of building a home there.

Singh spoke at a Zone 7 board meeting in May when directors took up the issue of using eminent domain to acquire the property after the landowners rejected the agency’s offer to buy the parcel. Zone 7 offered more than what Singh and Randhawa had purchased it for, but they thought the offer was too low, according to Duerig.

The property has since been listed for $1.5 million. It has also been impacted by erosion in recent years, Zone 7 staff said.

Singh told the board that he and his 12-year-old son live in Fremont and had been searching for a property in the area for years so his son could attend Foothill High School. They borrowed money from friends, family and his business in order to purchase the land to build their dream home, Singh said.

“We need that property,” he said. “Do you have any other option I can work on with you guys to save my property and at least build a house?”

Zone 7 staff contended the property was needed to help stabilize the west bank along the damaged middle reach of the Arroyo de la Laguna to lower the risk of further damage from future storms. They said this work amounts to an emergency project in that it needs to be completed before the rainy season returns.

“If this work is not completed before the beginning of the next rainy season beginning in the fall of 2017, there is a serious risk of further damage to the banks of the Arroyo de la Laguna and the surrounding property,” Zone 7 staff wrote in a memo to Duerig.

The board ultimately voted 6-1 to move forward with the eminent domain process, with director Angela Ramirez Holmes dissenting.

Attorneys for Zone 7 then filed a complaint in eminent domain against the property owners in Alameda County Superior Court, seeking immediate possession of the parcel and asking the court to determine its fair market value so the water agency can pay the landowners as required by law.

Judge Paul Herbert awarded the water agency possession of the property June 16. That effectively means the parcel is theirs, according to Duerig, absent a title transfer that won’t occur until the property value is determined in court.

“We always have sympathy for these people, and we don’t (proceed with eminent domain) unless we think the public benefits outweigh it,” Duerig said. “But really to do anything with this creek, you needed more space.”

Michael Babitzke, the attorney representing Singh and Randhawa, did not return requests for comment.

Eddie Belshe, meanwhile says he is not confident his property will be restored, and that he and his wife filed the claim after getting no response to a demand letter asking the agencies to purchase their home.

The claim states the shape and flow of the Arroyo de la Laguna have changed “proximately caused by the development of land in Pleasanton and by design or lack of design by controlling governmental agencies.” Those changes, the Belshes’ attorneys argue, led to the erosion that significantly impacted their Foothill Road property.

“Zone 7, the county and the city were aware that the erosion and incision caused by the arroyo would be problematic and would pose a threat to private backyards,” an excerpt from the claim reads. “The Belshes have called Zone 7 numerous times to ask about the erosion, and Zone 7’s only reply was that they were ‘monitoring’ the situation.”

“Zone 7 has the responsibility to maintain the arroyo and they failed to do so through inaction even though they were aware of the risks of failing to act,” it continues. “As a proximate result of that inaction the Belshe property was destroyed.”

Besides the city of Pleasanton, Alameda County and Zone 7, the claim also names Duerig; Zone 7 integrated water resources manager Carol Mahoney, associate water resources planner Elke Rank, Pleasanton City Manager Nelson Fialho and city engineer Steve Kirkpatrick.

Duerig declined to comment on the claim, saying it had just been discussed in closed session at the June 21 board meeting. No reportable action was taken during closed session.

Eddie Belshe says the continuing uncertainty about his family’s home has made for “a long four months.”

“We never quit living the nightmare,” he said.

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