Livermore Cemetery
Greenbelt Alliance is working with the Friends of Livermore to oppose the Vineyard Memorial Cemetery, a development proposed in an agricultural district outside Livermore.
The proponents of the cemetery claim that the cemetery constitutes “infrastructure” and so should be exempted from Measure D restrictions prohibiting this scale of development on rural county lands.
This claim is patently absurd: the cemetery would not provide water, enable transportation, remove waste, or do anything else that could be considered infrastructure.
On December 4th, the Alameda Planning Commission approved the cemetery proposal.
Now the City of Livermore and Friends of Livermore have appealed the decision to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.
The Alameda Board of Supervisors met about the cemetery on January 11th but decided to delay a final decision until more analysis was done. The Supervisors have not yet scheduled their next meeting on the cemetery.
What's at Stake
This development threatens open space, violates Measure D, and could set the precedent of considering cemeteries as infrastructure, allowable outside an urban limit line.
The development would use a considerable amount of water and could threaten the local aquifer and the agriculture that depends on it. The cemetery will be watered with well water from the Cayetano Groundwater Basin. It could use enough water to have a significant impact on existing wells. It would likely preclude any expansion of irrigated agriculture using local water supplies for a large area of the North Livermore Valley, and could portentially suck the aquifer entirely dry. A study of the groundwater basin is underway but the developer is asking for approval before the study is finished.
There is also a possibility that the cemetery poses a threat of mercury emissions from the crematorium.
Greenbelt Alliance wrote a letter of opposition and commented during the Alameda Planning Commission meeting on November 8th. Greenbelt Alliance will continue to work with Friends of Livermore in stopping this development.
What You Can Do
You can help stop this development outside the urban limit line.
Here's how:
- Call, write, or email your Supervisor and express
your opposition to developing outside the urban limit line.
District 1: Scott Haggerty
(510) 272-6691 phone, (510) 208-3910 fax
Email via website
District 2: Gail Steele
(510)272-6692 phone, (510)271-5115 fax
Email via website
District 3: Alice Lai-Bitker
(510) 272-6693 phone, (510) 268-8004 fax
Email via website
District 4: Nate Miley
(510) 272-6694 phone, (510) 465-7628 fax
Email via website
District 5: Keith Carson
(510) 272-6695 phone, (510) 271-5151 fax
Email via website
Campaign Update
May 2008
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors still has not reviewed the Livermore Vineyard Memorial Cemetery proposal. The next hearing for this proposal is still not set. Greenbelt Alliance will continue to monitor this project.
March 2008
On February 5, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors continued the item to review the Livermore Vineyard Memorial Cemetery proposal until April 8. The project currently consists of a cemetery and related structures to be developed on a portion of a 110-acre site in an agricultural district in unincorporated Alameda County. Greenbelt Alliance will attend the Board of Supervisors meeting on April 8 and will provide written comment as necessary.
August 2007
The Alameda Board of Supervisors is still awaiting requested information
on the impacts the Vineyards Cemetery will have on Livermore’s
water supply. At the August 9 meeting, Livermore residents expressed
concerns about the size of the cemetery, the zoning uses involved with
the crematory and administrative offices, and the possibility of commercial
wells bringing the water level down. The project, which was originally
drafted to encompass 40 of 110 acres within this agricultural site—all
of which are locate outside the Urban Limit Line—is expected to
be massively scaled down to a minor, 2-acre development. The Alameda
County
Planning Commission will hear updates from planning staff on the project
at its meeting on Sept. 18. The Board is tentatively scheduled to vote
on this matter in October. Greenbelt Alliance will continue
to
work with Friends of Livermore in opposing the cemetery through writing
letters and attending hearings.
March 2007
The Alameda Board of Supervisors is still gathering requested information on
the impact of the Vineyards Cemetery on Livermore’s water supply. The Board
has not rescheduled a hearing. Greenbelt Alliance will continue to work with
Friends of Livermore in opposing the cemetery.
January 2007
Greenbelt Alliance joined with Friends of Livermore in opposing the Vineyard
Memorial Cemetery proposed in an agricultural district located in unincorporated
Alameda County. The proposed cemetery violates Measure D – a measure
that Greenbelt Alliance supported in 2000 – because it allows development
exceeding the two-acre envelope restriction. The proponents of the cemetery
claim that the cemetery constitutes “infrastructure”; thus,
should be exempted from Measure D restrictions. Greenbelt Alliance will
continue to work with Friends of Livermore in opposing development in
agricultural districts.
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