Bryan Ranch residents continue to struggle with the welcome mat for David and Cheryl Duffield and their six children as they revise their plans for a mega-mansion in Alamo’s Bryan Ranch, which was developed to make the most of its natural setting.
The Duffield spokesman recently announced they had scaled back plans for their home from the 72,000 square feet originally planned. Plus they moved the location of the home to a lower, more secluded portion of the property, and deleted the automobile garage and the stables.
“We have downsized the home to approximately 17,000 square feet (exclusive of the garage and basement), a reduction of approximately 75 percent from the home originally proposed for the 22-acre site,” said Jim Dugdale of Nevada Pacific Consulting, project manager for the Duffields, in an e-mail earlier this week. Bryan Ranch neighbors pointed out that the basement in the original plans was 32,000 square feet.
Meanwhile, the Bryan Ranch Home Owners Association amended its covenants, conditions and restrictions in late November after 75 percent of the membership voted in favor of limiting house sizes to 10,000 square feet.
“We’re not opposed to the Duffields as neighbors,” said Elizabeth Pelletier, who would be their closest neighbor on Country Oak Lane. “We still welcome them here but they would have to conform to the CC&Rs like everyone else.”
Rich Bedayn, another neighbor on Country Oak Lane, noted that when the CC&Rs were changed, the Duffield application had been withdrawn, but added that the new rules would have still applied to it. “They could still do a guest home and garages and barn,” Bedayn said.
Mary Barron, another Country Oak neighbor, noted that the CC&R change was not aimed at the Duffields. “It’s a qualification of our CC&R standards,” she said. “It’s not a statement on this issue but rather something we want for this community.”
In a Dec. 9 letter to the Bryan Ranch neighbors, Dugdale stated that as soon as the revised plans were completed, all 321 members of the Bryan Ranch community would receive a copy.
He went on to say a small group of opponents to the project have been acting in secrecy circulating a petition and attempting to change the community’s CC&Rs without notice or an opportunity for a hearing.
“The secrecy, misrepresentations, and general abuse of power and process by this small group have been dismaying,” wrote Dugdale to the homeowners.
Pelletier reacted to that statement in amazement. “There were 29 Bryan Ranch neighbors pounding the streets day and night” getting signatures, she recalled, and the effort was very much out in the open.
She also noted that the homeowners association has four lawyers who specialize in CC&Rs who spent a month drawing up the amendment and advised them on every step of the process including how they proceeded to get signatures.
In response to Dugdale’s letter dated Dec. 9, representatives of Save Bryan Ranch, a group formed to share information about the Duffield plans, sent out their own letter to the neighbors.
“The letter contains so many unsubstantiated opinions that to respond to each one would be like trying to sort a snowflake in a blizzard,” said the homeowners’ letter.
It noted that Dugdale’s letter ignores three critical facts:
* More than 75 percent of Bryan Ranch voted to amend its CC&Rs, specifying that house sizes will be from 1,700 to 10,000 square feet. This change was recorded with Contra Costa County on Nov. 28.
* This amendment clarifies previous CC&R standards and is a statement of how the overwhelming majority of Bryan Ranch homeowners want them interpreted by the Architectural Committee.
* The original Duffield application and plans were withdrawn, not suspended.
The homeowners letter also rebutted accusations that their processes were flawed.
“We expect Mr. Duffield will submit a new application and trust that he will adapt his project to the Bryan Ranch community’s laws, including their CC&Rs, just as all other homeowners are required to do,” the letter concluded. “We are still hopeful that Bryan Ranch will eventually be able to welcome the Duffield family to this unique and beautiful neighborhood that attracted them here in the first place.”
Dugdale, too, ended his letter on a positive note.
“We look forward to working on a compromise acceptable to all of the Bryan Ranch community, and hopefully you do, too,” he said.
