Measure II

I'm getting a lot of questions about Measure ii. Someone phrased the question as: "What are the benefits to Dublin residents if the measure passes, and what are the downsides to residents if it doesn't?" I really liked the way she phrased it and the perspective she took. After all, I was elected to serve the residents of Dublin, and I better be making my decisions based on what is beneficial to our residents! Below is my answer.

First, what Measure ii does and doesn't do: it would allow Dublin to pursue changing the city boundary to include a 180-acre property that is currently between Dublin and Livermore. Further, it would allow Dublin to eventually permit limited commercial development on up to 80 acres of the 180 acres of this property as long as there is no residential development, at least 100 acres are permanently preserved, the water board positively asserts that they can provide water and sewer capacity for the development, and that the development is needed to fund the construction or maintenance of the Dublin Blvd Extension. It does not authorize the annexation of the land, and it does not allow for any residential development on the property. It doesn't authorize or prohibit the Dublin Blvd extension.

Basically, Measure ii is a legal first step to allowing Dublin to be in the driver's seat on any small amount of future commercial development along the last half-mile of the 1.5 mile Dublin Blvd extension. The road extension is going to go through either way. If it fails, that doesn't mean commercial development can't happen along the Dublin Blvd extension - it just means Dublin wouldn't be the agency that zones for that development. Currently the parcel referred to as the Crosby Property is within unincorporated Alameda County. Both Livermore and Dublin have expressed interest in having this property within their City. The ballot initiative does not overturn voter-approved protections of Doolan Canyon. For the property to become part of Dublin, first Dublin voters would have to pass Measure II to say they want the City Council to pursue moving the City Limit. If it passes, before any commercial development could happen along the future roadway extension, there would still need to be CEQA (environmental study), a general plan amendment, pre-zoning and zoning, and LAFCO (the Local Area Formation Commission) would have to change Dublin’s sphere of influence to include this property. Each of those steps would include public hearings and separate opportunities for the public to weigh in.
If voters don't approve Measure II, Livermore could attempt to move their limit to include the property. Or, more likely, the County Supervisors could initiate steps change the zoning. In either of these cases (which I believe would also have to go to their respective voters), we would not only lose control of what is built there, but Dublin would not receive the financial benefit from the dedication of land the roadway will be built upon, or any future commercial development on that property.

Building the Dublin Blvd Extension is very expensive. The current estimate is about $150 million dollars. It is this expensive because in addition to the actual construction, there is a lot of environmental mitigation necessary. The way the current agreement with Livermore is structured, Dublin is responsible for finding the funding for all portions of the roadway within Dublin, Livermore is responsible for the funding for the portions within their city limits, and the two cities split the cost of the roadway within unincorporated Alameda County.

If Measure ii passes and LAFCO agrees to allow this parcel to be incorporated into Dublin, that would mean that Dublin would be responsible for finding all of the funding. It is not coming out of our General Fund, however. The largest chunk is coming from development fees we are already collecting and will continue to collect specifically for this purpose. Because of our reserves, we have a plan to advance some of this money to fund the environmental mitigation, but all of it will be paid back. We will be aggressively pursuing county, state, and federal grant funding for the gap. Because we have included enhanced bicycle, pedestrian, and transit components to this complete street design, it should be very competitive for these grants. The property owner wants to be under Dublin influence, and is willing to donate the land for the roadway, which significantly helps with the cost.

So, the benefits to the residents of Dublin: passing the measure will help expedite the Dublin Blvd Extension, which is the way to unlock the potential for the Fallon East Economic Development Zone (the area surrounding the first mile of the extension). This area is critical for the long-term fiscal sustainability of Dublin. This area (which is already zoned) allows us to attract new businesses to Dublin that offer high tech, high paying jobs. These businesses will bring property tax and sales tax revenue that will help sustain the City of Dublin when developer fees are no longer a sizeable percentage of our revenue. The roadway itself creates a new protected bicycle route to Livermore, improves transit between the cities and to Las Positas (the rapid bus won't have to use 580 anymore), and creates a relief route for when there are accidents on 580.

The downside to residents if it doesn't pass, is that it will likely take longer to get the roadway built. I don’t believe Livermore is in a position to front any of their portion of the funding, and so they would have to continue to pursue additional grant funding. In addition, Dublin will receive none of the future tax benefits of any commercial buildings that the County Supervisors eventually might allow along the last half-mile along the roadway, should they pursue that option.
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Personally, I’m in favor of a sizable open space buffer between our two cities, and I’m committed to working with our partners in Livermore on achieving this buffer. I have good relationships with current members of Livermore’s council, as well as candidates for the open seats.
There is a lot of misinformation and fear mongering about what this measure does, and what type of commercial buildings could potentially be built on the Crosby property if the measure passed. There are a couple of political action committees who have produced videos claiming we are trying to build houses and large commercial buildings up into Doolan Canyon, and that is false. Most of Doolan Canyon is already preserved in perpetuity as species mitigation from other development. This measure has no ability to overturn that. In addition, I’m absolutely against large warehouses or distribution centers, and a majority of council (those guaranteed to still be on Dublin Council after November) have also made the same statement in a publicly televised council meeting. I would expect a proposal for the type of low commercial development that already exists at the termination point in Livermore, nestled at the bottom of the vineyard.


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