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The city of Livermore's neighborhood meeting to discuss status updates about the proposed Garaventa Hills housing project is now set for Nov. 1, following the cancellation on short notice of a session that was planned for last week.
The city had initially announced Sept. 27 as the scheduled meeting date, but some stakeholders from the Save the Hill community group were unable to attend for unexpected reasons, city officials told Livermore Vine in an email.
A few residents still showed up to Altamont Creek Elementary School on the evening of Sept. 27, saying they were unaware of the cancellation. After calling city officials directly by phone, Livermore Vine learned the meeting would not be taking place and was able to inform the others in attendance.
The city's planning manager Steve Stewart said he sent an email on Sept. 21 notifying a list of stakeholders that the meeting was canceled but the city's website was not updated to reflect the change until Sept. 26. No other public outreach was conducted.
"Going forward, we'll be conducting more formal and comprehensive noticing on the project status and meetings," Stewart said.
He added that the city is currently working on a notice that will be sent to updated addresses on the project mailing and email lists.
"The mailing list includes addresses within a 1/4-mile of the project site, including much more of the community than the 300 feet required by state law," he said, adding that they will also share the information via social media.
The city recently launched a webpage where the new meeting information can be found along with background information about the contentious plan proposed by developer Lafferty Communities to build roughly 40 homes on a privately owned 32-acre parcel of land located on a hillside north of Interstate 580, east of Vasco Road and west of Laughlin Road.
Community group Save the Hill has previously opposed the project, filing a lawsuit against the city under the California Environmental Quality Act that cited its failure to adequately evaluate a "no project" option that would see the city purchase the land from the owners to preserve as open space.
After the lawsuit was rejected in superior court, the group successfully appealed. The city then revoked its approval of the project last November.
Since then, the developer has resubmitted the project for review and by law the city is "required to process all development proposals and to allow a property owner to correct or modify a project and resubmit their proposal for review," according to the city's website.
The purpose of the forthcoming town hall is to share updated information about the status of the project.
The Nov. 1 meeting is set to take place at the same venue — the multipurpose room at Altamont Creek Elementary — from 6:30-8 p.m. The campus is located at 6500 Garaventa Ranch Road in Livermore.
