A development project set for North Livermore that seemed to be dead after an appellate court ruling last year may be getting revived.

The city of Livermore is planning to host a neighborhood meeting next Wednesday (Sept. 27) to share updated information about the contentious Garaventa Hills housing project.

The project, which has been in the works since 2011, refers to a 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.

The Livermore City Council initially approved the project back in 2019 but community group Save the Hill, which opposes the project, filed a lawsuit against the city under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), citing failure by the city to adequately evaluate the alternative of not doing the project and instead purchasing the land from the owners to preserve as open space -- or the "no-project" option.

The lawsuit was rejected in superior court in April 2020 on the grounds that Save the Hill failed to adequately raise their issue with the city during the administrative process before raising a legal challenge. That decision prompted the group to file an appeal.

The appellate court sided with Save the Hill in March 2022, reversing the superior court's decision.

As a result, the council officially rescinded its approval of the project in November 2022.

According to the city, Lafferty Communities has since resubmitted the project back for review. The project includes revising the environmental impact report to analyze the no-project alternative in an effort to address the inadequacies identified by the appellate court.

"The City is required to process all development proposals, including any proposal for the Garaventa Hills Project, and to allow a property owner to correct or modify a project and resubmit their proposal for review," according to a page on the city's website with details about the project.

"The property owners of the property which is the subject of this project have confirmed in writing that they are in contract with Lafferty Communities and do not wish to sell the property to the City," the webpage reads.

The Lafferty Communities website currently has a webpage dedicated to the project that reads "Coming Soon" and describes the project as "a collection of 42 innovative Tuscan-styled homes against a backdrop of permanent open space." However, there is no additional information related to the project on the site.

City officials told Livermore Vine that the neighborhood meeting for the Garaventa Hills project will be held on Wednesday (Sept. 27) from 6-8 p.m. in the multi-purpose room at Altamont Creek Elementary School located at 6500 Garaventa Ranch Road in Livermore.