UNION CITY — A developer is planning to build hundreds of homes in the Union City hills on property long used for ranching.
Calibr Ventures, an Alamo-based development firm, wants to build as many as 350 single-family homes on about 112 acres of agriculturally zoned land known as the Louie Ranch, named after the former owner, according to a city staff report.
The firm also intends to develop several dozen additional single-family homes and townhouses on an almost 100-acre hillside area above the Seven Hills neighborhood. Though that property is zoned residential, the plan calls for more homes there than currently allowed.
The plans are in the early stages, and more details will hinge on the guidelines of a specific plan to be drafted by the city and a consultant.
Because the agricultural properties eyed for development fall within the city’s 6,100-acre Hillside Area Plan boundaries, the city is required by Measure II to evaluate the whole area. Voters approved the measure in 1996.
The specific plan would spell out what kind of development is allowed and where, as well as the density and number of homes, among other considerations.
Andy Byde, of Calibr, said in an interview this week the company intends to do “intense public outreach,” including community meetings and possible tours of the properties.
“Residents are going to know exactly what they’re getting,” Byde said.
The specific plan is to follow guidelines laid out in the Hillside Area Plan, which was approved by the city in 1995 to protect hillside open space and ecology. That area encompasses 6,100 acres in Union City and about 1,000 in Fremont.
Officials say Union City is a month or two away from hiring a consultant to work on the specific plan, which could take up to two years.
The owner of the land Calibr hopes to develop, Oklahoma-based investment group Appian Way Land Holdings, LLC, will cover the costs of the consultant and city staff time spent to draft the specific plan, according to the city.
Byde said a “significant portion” of open space — likely parts of the roughly 1,100 acres owned by Appian Way Land Holdings in Union City — will be turned over to the East Bay Regional Park District, which already has parks neighboring the land.
While the plans are only in early stages, Liz Ames, a BART board member, Union City resident, and founder of the Save Union City Hills organization, cautioned against putting a development in the hillside area because of potential wildfire risk and its possible impacts on the local watershed.
“I don’t know how anybody could think about developing in the hillsides given what we’ve seen since 2017,” Ames said, referring to massive blazes that have raged through the state in recent years.
“We should just be taking a more cautious approach and trying to build in the city’s urban core rather than…the undeveloped areas,” she said.
Ames said the city should be more proactive in planning what areas should and shouldn’t be developed instead of only evaluating sensitive areas when “dictated by a developer wanting to do some work” in the hills.
“It is hard to say no to developers, to say you can’t develop your land, I understand that. But at some point, as we’re governing these areas, we should be thinking about conservation and climate adaptation areas. Protecting the hillsides, protecting a vast watershed against erosion, against potential damage, so we can recharge our groundwater,” she said.
The last time a major project was proposed for land within the hillside boundaries, in 2014, it stirred significant debate in the city.
Back then, Masonic Home at Union City asked voters to approve Measure KK to exempt 63 acres of flatland covered by the hillside area plan along Mission Boulevard between Whipple Road and O’Connell Lane. Masonic Home wanted to build affordable senior homes, low-density housing, retail space and elder-care facilities there.
But voters rejected Measure KK overwhelmingly after a divisive campaign season.
Byde said he knows of no development that’s ever been universally supported but is optimistic residents will back this one because it’ll follow hillside area plan guidelines.
“Our project is going to be consistent with what the voters already said they wanted with Measure II back in 1996,” he said.
“We’re committed to working with the city through a public process to ensure there’s going to be public benefit to the city and a project the community can be proud of,” Byde said.
City Manager Joan Malloy said in an interview this week she doesn’t know how the community will react to the proposal, but expects a “tremendous amount” of interest.
“I think the community will watch very closely and they will certainly be looking at this hillside area plan to be sure that whatever comes forward is compliant,” she said.
Those interested in being added to Union City’s Hillside Specific Plan Outreach list can email planning@unioncity.org, or call the city’s planning division at 510-675-5319.
