North Livermore petitions filed
By Bonita Brewer

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

LIVERMORE - More than 10,000 petition signatures were submitted Wednesday to Livermore's city clerk in an attempt to qualify Pardee Homes' controversial North Livermore development proposal for the June ballot.

The clerk must now verify that enough signatures -- 6,450 for a special June election, or 4,300 for a November election -- came from registered Livermore voters.

Pardee has offered to reimburse all costs of a special election, which would run more than $100,000. But regardless of the number of qualifying signatures, the City Council would have the option to delay a vote until the November general election, said City Attorney John Pomidor.

The proposed Livermore Trails project involves 1,400 acres north of Interstate 580, west of Springtown. It would include up to 2,450 housing units, an 130-acre sports park, high school and elementary school sites, 750 acres of open space and other amenities.

Three community sponsors of the initiative, Bill Geyer, a downtown businessman; Bill Morrison, Livermore school board president; and Steve Delledera, a youth soccer dad, presented 12 boxes of petitions containing 10,304 signatures.

"I think it's a great project with lots of benefits to the entire community," said Geyer, who has lived in Livermore for 33 years.

Delledera, who has been working with other parents since 1999 to find a sports park site in town, said neither the city nor the park district has come up with a better option than Pardee's.

Morrison, a real estate broker, said the Pardee plan would have "a positive impact" for schools. He cited a report to the school board Tuesday night that said even without the Pardee project, the district will need at least one new high school north of I-580 to deal with current and future crowding at the city's two existing high schools. The report projects that in the upcoming school year, 1,100 kids living north of the freeway will attend Granada High School to the south.

"We need additional space and the Pardee project would give us the opportunity to develop a new high school," Morrison said.

The slow-growth council majority has raised concerns.

"I think the expense to taxpayers would be far greater than the benefits," said Mayor Marshall Kamena. He said though Pardee would pay $17 million in traffic impact fees alone, "That wouldn't buy a half-mile of roadway on Interstate 580."

Councilwoman Marjorie Leider questioned why the schools report says land to the north is needed for a new high school when "all the population is toward the east." She said Granada could be enlarged to hold more students.

The Greenbelt Alliance, a Bay Area environmental group, issued a press release Wednesday calling the project a "sprawl in sheep's clothing."

Bob Baltzer, with a Livermore group opposing Pardee's plan, said members have not yet decided whether to legally challenge the initiative for using out-of-town signature gatherers. He and Pardee's lawyers disagree on whether that is permitted under state law.

Pardee's land is outside the city limits; the ballot proposal calls for it to be annexed into the city for development. Livermore voter approval is required for any North Livermore annexation for development.

City voters must approve any new development before it can occur in North Livermore outside the urban growth boundary, if it is to be annexed into the city.

Pardee representative Carlene Matchniff said she believes Livermore voters will approve it because of communitywide benefits. She said if it's rejected, Pardee will discuss project options with Alameda County.

Any development proposed under county jurisdiction would require countywide voter approval.