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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

February 29, 2004

Pardee takes a look at Livermore

Big homebuilder hopes to develop 1,400 acres

Pardee Homes, a major residential builder in Southern California and Nevada, is coming north to begin a process in an attempt to develop 1,400 acres adjacent to Livermore.

At a glance, here are the issues in Livermore:

-- In 2000, Alameda County voters approved a ballot measure imposing growth boundaries, unless voters approved any exceptions. While heavily favored by the county's more urban communities, the measure won in Livermore by only 500 votes.

-- In the more than three years since that vote, builders have rushed to complete developments within those boundaries, making the Dublin-Pleasanton- Livermore area -- where the county's suburban population resides -- a district with sharply escalating new home prices.

-- And during the past years, the Livermore City Council has targeted the city's downtown as the development focus.

-- To develop the Pardee acreage, located north of I-580 and east of North Livermore Avenue, Pardee will need Livermore voters to approve an annexation.

The 1,400 acres had been held by Shea Homes before Pardee entered the picture last year. The proposed development was a major factor in shaping the growth-limit ballot measure.

"We believe the property belongs in the city," said Carlene Matchniff, Pardee vice president for community development. "And we know that we have to go to the voters of Livermore to move the urban boundary."

But Pardee, among the top 10 builders in the Southern California and Nevada region, appears to be taking slow, small steps in Livermore.

"What we want to do is create a balanced community. We'll talk to anyone about this. Individuals or groups," Matchniff noted. "We want to introduce ourselves to the community and let them see what we can do here." Part of that introduction will be an information booth at the annual Livermore wine festival in May.

Livermore needs a mix of housing, offering a choice of everything from single-family to rentals, with a range of prices, according to Matchniff.

"We want to offer housing that is affordable, workforce housing, which is missing in this area now -- smaller single-family homes," she said, "because right now, the area is filled with larger homes." The total number of housing units to be built remains undecided, said Matchniff.

"We do know already that Livermore needs a sports park with fields for soccer, baseball and softball. There also would be a trail system through the development; pedestrian, bicycle and equestrian paths," she said.

If Pardee follows a process similar to that used in creating the Ultimate Family Home or getting public support for a larger project, they will be asking Livermore residents what they want first. That information will be shaped into a proposal with many of those features in it.

"Certainly," Matchniff said, "we would look at ways that we can be involved in downtown development, though what that would be isn't something that can be determined yet."

Whatever steps Pardee does take that might lead to a favorable vote to expand Livermore's urban boundary, it would be years before any homes or public facilities could be built.

And the future also involves meetings and discussions with community organizations that lead the fight to put the urban boundaries in place.

The Greenbelt Alliance, a Bay Area organization that campaigns to protect open space, is one of those groups.

"First, I haven't seen a proposal of what Pardee wants," said Evelyn Stivers, an associate director with Greenbelt Alliance. "And I think the focus should be on the downtown for Livermore. We need higher density. The city needs a balanced plan, and developing outside the boundary is not a balanced approach."

"And," she added, "that land has been out there for 40 years. It surprises me that they are still at it, trying to build there."

Stivers said she would be meeting the builder's representatives in the next two weeks. But any discussions may be keyed to building up the downtown first.

"There is plenty of room to grow within the urban boundary," she said.

While Livermore voters did give slim approval to the boundary limits in 200o, would they want the issue on the ballot again?

"I think the majority of Livermore's voters would not be in the frame of mind of voting on it (the urban boundary issue) in the near future," said Archer Futch, a member of Friends of Livermore and former city councilman. Futch was a leader in pushing the 2000 Measure D vote.

The current city council balance weighs heavily in favor of improving downtown. Echoing Stivers, Futch sees the need for downtown development first. "It should be a mix of housing and shops," he noted.

"Economic development is the issue," observed Mark Triska, commercial real estate broker with Colliers International in Pleasanton and a 17-year resident of Livermore. "If the city doesn't grow, it will not be able to generate what it needs in the future. This needs to go to voters.

"Some have said they're worried about traffic pollution if the land is developed. Well, look at the pollution from all that commute traffic that comes and goes over the hill (the I-580 route over the Altamont Pass) every day."

The cost of a single-family home is rising fast in the Livermore area, said Triska. "The median price here is $450,000 or more.

"If we could provide the housing here that people could afford, we'd be able to reduce the problems of traffic and pollution."

E-mail Richard Paoli at rpaoli@sfchronicle.com.

©2004 San Francisco Chronicle

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