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A state appellate court panel has denied a citizen group’s challenge of the public approval process for the proposed Costco store and overarching Johnson Drive Economic Development Zone, siding with the city over the adequacy of the environmental review completed for the project.
Pleasanton Citizens for Responsible Growth, a coalition spearheaded by former city councilman Matt Sullivan, had appealed an Alameda County judge’s November 2020 decision to reject the group’s lawsuit over whether air quality and traffic impacts were appropriately analyzed as required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
“We conclude that PCRG’s claims challenging the adequacy of the analysis and comment responses related to traffic impacts are moot in light of recent amendments to the CEQA Guidelines, and we reject its similar claims related to air quality impacts,” the three-judge panel wrote on Feb. 28.
The judgment would seemingly clear the path for the Costco Wholesale store with a gas station, two hotels and other projects, along with significant associated roadwork, to move forward in the JDEDZ area after nearly a decade in the public process that included an opposition ballot measure defeated easily at the polls, two lawsuits by PCRG, and years worth of city review and council hearings.
“The majority of our residents anxiously await a Pleasanton Costco for quality groceries, personal grooming products, glasses, photo printing, furniture and more,” Pleasanton Mayor Karla Brown told the Weekly on Thursday. “As mayor, I am interested in keeping our tax revenues in the city of Pleasanton, while replacing the existing mountain of gravel with a new Costco store.”
Still Sullivan, who served on the council from 2004 to 2012 and has been a vocal critic of many aspects of the project over recent years, signaled that the citizen group is not giving up its fight even after the appellate court loss.
“It’s unfortunate that the legislature keeps undermining CEQA at the behest of businesses, the tech industry and developers,” he told the Weekly on Friday morning. “As the appellate judge stated, he denied our appeal because of a recent change in that law. CEQA is one of the few tools the public has to protect not only the environment but to provide us a voice when our government representatives do not.”
“PCRG has not abandoned our objections to this project and we are examining all our options for further action,” Sullivan said.
Attempts to reach Costco representatives were unsuccessful as of Friday afternoon.
The retail giant took an active role in the litigation as a listed real party in interest in the PCRG lawsuit against the city government.
Costco owns the Johnson Drive property on which it plans to build, which would mark its third Tri-Valley store joining Livermore and Danville.
Work related to the Costco store was put on hold amid the pending litigation, but city attorney Dan Sodergren said grading did begin at the site of the two hotels proposed for the JDEDZ in recent months and city staff were finalizing roadwork plans while the appeal was pending.
Sodergren confirmed that Costco is still tracking to manage construction of the traffic improvements needed on Stoneridge and Johnson drives to accommodate their store, in line with the tax-sharing agreement with the city to pay for the roadwork. City staff is, in parallel, processing the design review application related to the Costco store itself.
“ââI’m both relieved and happy that we can now put the environmental challenges behind us and move forward with getting the Costco store built and opened for our residents,” City Councilmember Kathy Narum said to the Weekly on Thursday. The JDEDZ will be located in the city’s District 1 — to be assigned to Narum’s seat — once council districting takes effect.
“It continues to be very clear to me that a majority of our residents want to be able to shop at Costco in Pleasanton for a variety of reasons including saving time not having to drive to a location outside of Pleasanton, fewer miles driven per trip and having Pleasanton benefit from the sales tax on Costco purchases not to mention having a Costco gas station,” she added.
Under consideration since 2014, the JDEDZ is the local regulatory framework laying out how redevelopment could occur on a nearly 40-acre prominent property just south of the I-680/I-580 interchange.
The Pleasanton City Council gave final approval to the JDEDZ in February 2020, a vote that included signing off on the city’s second round of environmental review that occurred after a settlement in a prior PCRG lawsuit over the project in 2018.
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