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Greenbelt Alliance is working with the Friends of Livermore to oppose the Vineyard Memorial Cemetery, a development proposed in an agricultural district outside Livermore. 

The proponents of the cemetery claim that the cemetery constitutes “infrastructure” and so should be exempted from Measure D restrictions prohibiting this scale of development on rural county lands.

This claim is patently absurd: the cemetery would not provide water, enable transportation, remove waste, or do anything else that could be considered infrastructure.   

The Alameda Planning Commission approved the cemetery proposal in December 2006. The City of Livermore and Friends of Livermore appealed the decision to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. 

The Alameda Board of Supervisors met about the cemetery in January 2007 but decided to delay a final decision until more analysis was done. The Supervisors have not yet scheduled their next meeting on the cemetery.

What's at Stake

This development threatens open space, violates Measure D, and could set the precedent of considering cemeteries as infrastructure, allowable outside an urban limit line.

The development would use a considerable amount of water and could threaten the local aquifer and the agriculture that depends on it. The cemetery will be watered with well water from the Cayetano Groundwater Basin. It could use enough water to have a significant impact on existing wells. It would likely preclude any expansion of irrigated agriculture using local water supplies for a large area of the North Livermore Valley, and could portentially suck the aquifer entirely dry.  A study of the groundwater basin is underway but the developer is asking for approval before the study is finished.

There is also a possibility that the cemetery poses a threat of mercury emissions from the crematorium.

Greenbelt Alliance wrote a letter of opposition and commented during the Alameda Planning Commission meeting on November 8th. Greenbelt Alliance will continue to work with Friends of Livermore in stopping this development.

What You Can Do

You can help stop this development outside the urban limit line.
Here's how:

• Call, write, or email your Supervisor and express your opposition to developing outside the urban limit line.
   
  District 1: Scott Haggerty
  (510) 272-6691 phone, (510) 208-3910 fax
  Email via website
  
  District 2: Gail Steele
  (510)272-6692 phone, (510)271-5115 fax 
  Email via website
  
  District 3: Alice Lai-Bitker
  (510) 272-6693 phone, (510) 268-8004 fax
  Email via website
  
  District 4: Nate Miley
  (510) 272-6694 phone, (510) 465-7628 fax
  Email via website
  
  District 5: Keith Carson
  (510) 272-6695 phone, (510) 271-5151 fax
  Email via website