DUBLIN — In a tentative ruling, an Alameda County Superior Court judge this month ordered the city of Dublin to conduct an environmental study of a successful ballot measure that opened the boundaries of a protected open space area before breaking ground on the land.
Judge Michael Markman on Oct. 1 wrote that he “intends to grant” a petition filed by two open space advocate groups that sought to repeal the ballot measure. He plans to make a final decision this month, pending any challenge or objection from city officials.
The two groups — Save Mount Diablo and Friends of Livermore — who sued to block the “land grab” measure voters approved last year considered the judge’s ruling a victory. Measure II had paved the way for potential commercial development in the Doolan and Collier canyons, and came after an urban limit line protecting 3,282 acres of open space near the Dublin-Livermore border was established in 2014.
Markman wrote that “at least some modicum further environmental review was required before authorizing Measure II to go forward.”
“The Measure II resolution is an ‘essential step’ in achieving commercial development of the Crosby Properties, and impacts from such development may be reasonably anticipated,” Markman said.
Dublin Mayor Sherry Hu declined to comment on the decision because the case is still active. Dublin City Manager Colleen Tribby did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
The environmentalists filed their lawsuit challenging the measure in August 2024. Though they wished to block the bill’s inclusion on the November 2024 ballot, the judge instead decided to allow the election to move forward
Measure II, which passed with 53 percent of the vote, allowed the city to approve a 1.5-mile extension of Dublin Boulevard to North Canyons Parkway. The city would have to annex the area before any future commercial development, because the project falls on unincorporated land between Livermore and Dublin. It intersects a protected area of canyons called the Crosby Properties.
The city, which has studied the potential extension since 1984, commissioned a commercial development study in 2023, but did not commission an environmental review of the possible extension.
“We’ve said from the beginning that Dublin is breaking the law, breaking the rules,” Save Mount Diablo Conservation Director Seth Adams said in an interview Thursday.
Adams said the proposed extension — and in particular commercial development — threatened natural wildlife in the area. The city has previously discussed building “Amazon-style distribution centers,” among other things, he said, which would bring more traffic and potential pollution that could threaten endangered species such as California red-legged frogs, California tiger salamander and other protected species such as golden eagles, he said.
“They weren’t protecting open space, they were talking about destroying open space,” Adams said. He challenged the city to instead “invest inward, use the land that you’ve already got more efficiently. The idea that they need another piece of greenbelt to reach their goals is crazy.”
He called their lawsuit a “David and Goliath” situation.
“We won on all counts,” Adam added. “It’s a game changer.”
Livermore Mayor John Marchand, in an interview Thursday, said his city has been studying the extension project for years alongside Dublin. But he said Livermore “has never envisioned the size of road that Dublin is now contemplating.” He called Measure II “misleading” and added “it was talking about reducing traffic and protecting open space, when in fact it did the exact opposite.”
“I must say I agree with the ruling because anytime you put something like this on the ballot, it requires an environmental impact report,” Marchand said. “Before you put something on the ballot, you have to see that the voters have the correct information to make the best decision.