Elizabeth Pelletier was walking in her pasture, which climbs up to Mount Diablo State Park and looks out onto the San Ramon Valley, when she noticed two men in her driveway. She shouted down to them to join her up on the hill.
They told her they represented a family that had recently purchased the neighboring property. They said the family had plans to remodel the existing home and were planning to move in by next fall. Pelletier and the two men talked casually for half an hour about the area.
In July, a month after Pelletier’s innocuous meeting in the pasture, she learned the name of the family moving next door and that they weren’t remodeling the house, but in fact, they were planning to demolish the existing 8,000-square-foot home and adjoining garage, barn, pool, and guest house to build a new home. The size of the new mansion was hard for Pelletier to even comprehend.
A castle on a hill?
David Duffield, the founder of PeopleSoft, the Pleasanton-based business software company that was sold to Redwood City-based competitor Oracle last year for $10 billion in a hostile takeover, is planning to build a new home in Alamo-and it’s making news. From television coverage to national newspapers like USA Today everyone is asking: what does a 72,000-square-foot home look like?
No one knows yet the design or style of the stone mansion, although one thing is for certain-it’s not a cottage. In addition to the main 72,000-square-foot residence, related structures such as a 20-car garage, horse stables, tennis courts, worker’s house, a swimming pool, and guardhouse will add another 25,000 square feet.
Duffield’s new palace will not be quite as big as the new de Young museum in San Fransisco (293,000 square feet), but it will make the Greystone mansion in Beverly Hills (46,000 square feet), the President’s digs in Washington, D.C. (55,000 square feet), and the Taj Mahal (34,596 square feet) seem quaint. Try to imagine living in a house roughly the size of the Blackhawk Automotive Museum (70,000 square feet).
All the way up Stone Valley Road, at the end of Emmons Canyon Way in Bryan Ranch is a quiet subdivision of seven houses called Country Oak Lane. There are no sidewalks in Country Oak Lane nor are there telephone lines or street lamps. The seven homes, ranging from 3,000 square feet to 9,000 square feet, are all discreetly tucked away into hills and tree groves. The Duffield’s proposed home would be eight times bigger than the biggest home on Country Oak Lane.
It is obvious why the Duffields wanted to move to Country Oak Lane. First, it’s an easy commute to Duffield’s new Walnut-Creek-based software company Workday.
It is also full of rural charm. In addition to the bucolic tranquility and panoramic views of the valley, the Duffields will have space. There are not many 22-acre parcels next door to miles and miles of open space left in the San Ramon Valley to develop. The property was actually formerly owned by local developer Bruce Smith.
Smith along with his father Harold W. Smith and brother Randy Smith purchased the 640-acre ranch from John Bryan and developed the subdivision Bryan Ranch. The large home that Bruce Smith originally built and lived in still remains on the 22-acre parcel. Duffield plans to demolish the home and build from scratch.
Many of the residents on Country Oak Lane are animal lovers with horses, chickens, dogs and cats. The Duffields are also ardent animal lovers. Duffield and his wife Cheryl donated $200 million to start the pet rescue organization Maddie’s Fund, which was named after their beloved miniature schnauzer, Maddie.
Sounds like a perfect fit?
Except, of course, for that 72,000-square-foot gorilla in the room.
Jim Dugdale, the project manager for Duffield’s proposed home, personally visited the two neighbors whose homes are immediately next to Duffield’s. He showed them tentative plans for the home. Though attractive, the watercolors did not show scale or size, said Richard Bedayn, a resident of Country Oak Lane and the subdivision’s representative to the Bryan Ranch Home Owners Association.
It wasn’t until plans were submitted to Jean Bates & Associates, the housing management firm that manages the Bryan Ranch HOA, that any of the neighbors found out about the intended size of the project, said Bedayn.
Opposition builds
When residents of Country Oak Lane finally caught wind of the full scale of the project, they spread news of the Duffield’s plans to build a mansion to the rest of Bryan Ranch. They made up a flier that shared the specifications of the proposed home and explained why they objected to the project.
“A complex of this enormity simply does not belong in an established residential neighborhood…the house alone exceeds by a factor of over three times the square footage of all the other COL (Country Oak Lane) homes combined,” read the impassioned flier. “It is literally another subdivision unto itself.”
The project is currently being reviewed by the Bryan Ranch HOA’s Architectural Committee. There are three board-appointed homeowners on the architectural committee whose job it is to determine whether Duffield’s proposed home is in harmony with or goes against the HOA’s codes, covenants, and rules.
Every resident in Bryan Ranch has to follow these CC&Rs, whether they’re planning something as big as the remodeling of a house or as small the color when repainting.
Duffield’s application was submitted this past August. Typically, the architectural committee has 30-days to respond to an application, but for a project of this scope, the review period was extended, said John Warnlof, legal counsel to the architectural committee.
If the architectural committee was to deny the application and the HOA board was to agree with the architectural committee’s decision, Duffield could seek review in court, charging that the HOA misapplied the CC&Rs, said Warnlof.
If the architectural committee was to give Duffield’s project the stamp of approval, he would then have to submit his plans to Contra Costa County, which has its own rules and regulations. Before Duffield submits his plans to the county it is best that he have the HOA’s support, said Warnlof.
Because residents cannot voice their concerns directly to the members of the architectural committee, the Bryan Ranch HOA, held a homeowners meeting last Thursday at the small as community building at Oak Hill Park in Danville. Bryan Ranch homeowners were invited to share their thoughts on the Duffield project.
‘A castle by day, a cruise ship by night’
A steady stream of people with determined looking faces walked into the tiny community building next to the parking lot at Oak Hill Park last Thursday night.
At the head of the room were representatives from Jean Bates & Associates, board members of the Bryan Ranch HOA and members of the architectural committee.
The seats inside the community room were filled quickly. Even before the meeting began at 7 p.m. it was standing room only.
Also present at the meeting was the project manager for the Duffield home Jim Dugdale. The Duffields, he said, had wanted to attend the meeting but could not due to scheduling conflicts. He informed the crowded room of Bryan Ranch homeowners that the Duffields wanted to meet their neighbors and hear their concerns.
He announced that the Duffields would be hosting an open house of sorts, where interested Bryan Ranch residents could meet them and see actual house plans. As of press time, the meeting was scheduled for this past Wednesday.
Dugdale explained that there had been a lot of misinformation floating among the homeowners. The proposed house was two-stories not three, with only 39,000 square feet above grade. The below grade level of the house was meant for storage and mechanical systems, Dugdale explained.
“It’s a lovely home, a lovely design, and the Duffields are lovely people,” said Dugdale.
Most of the homeowners who spoke at the meeting did not argue with whether the design was lovely or if the Duffields were lovely people. Most were concerned about the size of the proposed home and how the construction of such a mega-mansion would impact their properties and lives.
One resident called the project “monstrous and revolting” and said it did not belong in Bryan Ranch. Alicia Nance, a resident of Country Oak Lane spoke about her love for Bryan Ranch and its rural environs. She said the Duffield’s massive home would look like “a castle by day and a cruise ship by night.”
One Bryan Ranch resident, however, criticized his neighbors for handing out a “sheet of lies.” He thought their flier only added to the hysteria.
Michael Weiner also admonished his fellow neighbors for taking such a negative approach to the Duffield project.
Perhaps the most compelling comment of the evening was given by Bruce Smith. Smith built and once lived in the property the Duffields purchased. Smith is still a homeowner in Bryan Ranch and shared with the HOA the history of developing Bryan Ranch.
He explained that his father’s dream for Bryan Ranch was to create the optimum environment for families. Bryan Ranch would be a subdivision that utilized and preserved the beauty of the area and Mount Diablo. Even though Bryan Ranch was zoned for 640 homes and an eighteen-hole golf course, his father chose to “down zone” the subdivision. To this day, every home in Bryan Ranch backs up to open space.
“There are no golf courses, there is no club house, there are no mansions,” wrote Bruce Smith in a letter to Jean Bates & Associates. “For those who wanted those amenities, who wanted the grand home there was Blackhawk which was designed and developed to accommodate those people who wanted golf courses and grand homes.”
When Smith built his home at the end of Country Oak Lane he worked with organizations like Save Mount Diablo and the White Gate and Bryan Ranch HOAs to ensure that his 8,000 square foot home would not be an eyesore. Jointly, they decided the home should be moved to the southern most part of the property. Smith lowered the pad level by 12 feet so that his home could sit behind an oak grove.
Duffield’s proposed residence will be elevated by roughly 50 feet, therefore exposing it potentially to more people, Smith contended.
Many homeowners expressed concern over how the construction of such an enormous home would impact the roads and the environment. The only way to reach Country Oak Lane is via the busy and already congested Stone Valley Road. How many trucks would a 72,000-square-foot home require?
Some dreaded that it would take three to five years before construction was complete. Others worried about what would happen in the event of a fire at the Duffield mansion.
Veteran realtor Monique Martin, who is also a homeowner in Bryan Ranch, feels the construction of Duffeild’s mansion might have an impact on house values.
While the CC&Rs do not seem to specify how big a home can be-homes in Bryan Ranch have to be at least 1,700 square feet-the residents do have the option of amending the CC&Rs. It’s no easy task, however, said HOA legal counsel John Warnlof. In order to amend the CC&Rs they would have to get 75 percent of Bryan Ranch residents to agree. A stringent requirement compared to the 51 percent majority that is typically required today.
Whoever has the biggest house, wins?
Some have speculated that the home is a way for Duffield to show up his rival Larry Ellison, the man who bought his company PeopleSoft in a hostile takeover. Ellison’s home, rumored to be a mere 10,000 square feet in Atherton, pales in comparison to Duffield’s proposed home.
While Duffield’s home may be larger, his estimated worth is a $1.1 billion to Ellison’s Goliath $17 billion.
Until Duffield speaks, we can only speculate. For now, the residents of Bryan Ranch are left to ponder many questions. Elizabeth Pelletier, stood in her pasture and asked, “What do you hear?”
There were only the sounds of the breeze gently brushing against the dry grass and the caw of red-tailed hawks soaring overhead. Pelletier fears the tranquility she has enjoyed for 20 years on Mount Diablo will be taken away from her.
Before moving back to the East Bay, David Duffield had a dream home at Lake Tahoe. His lakeside, Incline Village home was pint size-a mere 15,000 square feet-compared to his new Alamo home.
Pelletier wondered, in trepidation, what happens if he builds his dream castle in Alamo, only to leave in a few years.
According to Dugdale, the Duffield’s are willing to listen and work with their new neighbors.
“Mr. and Mrs. Duffield are aware that there is both support for and opposition to their home and we look forward to working together on it,” Dugdale wrote in an e-mail.
After residents review the house plans and the architectural committee sees the site poles and flags that have been installed at the Duffield property to show the size and height of the buildings, it will probably take the architectural committee another week to deliberate on the project. Their decision will be made at a closed meeting, said Warnlof. In the meantime, people around town and the country will continue to imagine David Duffield’s vision of a home.
