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The Friends of Livermore community group has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ approval of a new 47-acre cemetery planned for unincorporated north Livermore.
The group filed its lawsuit against the county and project developer Monte Vista Memorial Investment Group LLC in Alameda County Superior Court on Sept. 25, citing violations of Measure D — an initiative first passed by voters in 2000 that aims to preserve agricultural land and open space in eastern Alameda County.
“Friends of Livermore is committed to ensuring the continued enforcement of the provisions of Measure D. We will stand up to the county when they approve projects that erode the open space and agricultural land protections that the voters have supported for over 20 years,” the group said in a previous statement announcing the lawsuit.
The Board of Supervisors approved the Monte Vista Memorial Gardens project on Aug. 10 after it had received a green light from the county’s Planning Commission in December 2022. In addition to approving the project, the board also rejected an appeal by the city of Livermore and a joint appeal by Friends of Livermore (FOL) and Friends of Vineyards and Open Space.
FOL is the only appellant that has since filed a lawsuit.
Ron Kahn, CEO of Monte Vista Memorial Investment Group LLC, said the lawsuit was “somewhat expected.”
“All indications have always been that they will fight anything that is intended to do development, and it’s disappointing,” Kahn said.
“It’s a bump in the road for us but we believe that part of the work that we did in getting through the Board of Supervisors’ appeal process answered the majority of the questions and we made significant modifications to the project. We did everything we could and we believe we’ve ended up with a better project overall,” he added.
The project is set to be developed at 3656 Las Colinas Road, situated between the North Livermore Avenue and North First Street exits.
A funeral home, burial areas and associated services, with a crematorium and mortuary, are included in the plans for the facility, which would mostly serve all religions and accommodate the needs of several multicultural communities with roughly five acres specifically designated for the Jewish community. This area, called the Magen David section, will include a below-ground mausoleum with trellis framing designed in the shape of the Star of David.
“As proposed, the project would construct large mortuary and funeral event buildings outside the county urban growth boundary (UGB) on land designated for Large Parcel Agriculture,” FOL said in its statement. “Mortuaries and funeral event centers are urban uses that must be located inside the UGB. The project would also exceed the floor area limit for non-agricultural buildings in north Livermore, and it would erect non-agricultural buildings outside the required 2-acre development envelope,” the group added.
Although an amendment to Measure D was passed by voters in the November 2022 general election to allow more flexibility for the size and location of certain agriculture-related buildings and equestrian riding arenas, FOL argues that the planned mortuary building and funeral pavilion are urban uses not permitted outside the urban growth boundary of Measure D.
Kahn, however, said that the funeral home is an integral part of the project to fulfill the needs of the community.
“The infrastructure of the Tri-Valley area has not kept up with the demographics and changes of the population and the attempt here is to bring a valuable asset and infrastructure to the area that’s greatly needed and to do it in the best possible way,” Kahn said.
Before being approved by the Board of Supervisors, the proposal had undergone several changes, including scaling down the building sizes not to exceed a maximum of 12,000 square feet to comply with Measure D. The decision to move the mausoleum underground was also a change from the original proposal offered by the developer as a compromise due to a sticking point during the board’s deliberations regarding what constitutes a building according to county zoning laws.
Kahn reiterated that the current plans align with industry standards that indicate people prefer a one point of service experience where they can handle all aspects of end-of-life arrangements in one place. He said he believes that FOL’s position represents a very small but vocal group of people.
In addition to objections to the project itself, FOL’s lawsuit also challenges the county’s 45-day limit for filing legal actions that challenge development approvals.
“State law requires a 90-day filing period for such actions,” the group said. “The county’s 45-day limit violates state law. The shorter time period prevented FOL from exploring a lawsuit in collaboration with the city of Livermore, whose appeal of the cemetery project the Alameda County Supervisors also denied.” According to FOL, a hearing date has not yet been set.
At the time of publication, county counsel had not responded to a request for comment.