Posted on Thu, Sep. 16, 2004

Clayton moves forward on 24-home site

By Tanya Rose

STAFF WRITER

CLAYTON - At one point in the 1970s, a 24-acre parcel at Rialto and Regency drives was going to be home to a medical clinic. When that fell through, planners and developers thought about other options -- a church, a military academy, a boarding school.
None of those proposals ever panned out.
On Tuesday night, Clayton planning commissioners discussed Diablo Pointe, a proposed 24-home project -- the one plan in 30 years that has the best chance of success.
As a part of the development, commissioners pushed forward with preserving 5.5 acres as parkland that could become part of Mt. Diablo State Park, and hammered out other details on fences, lighting and landscaping in front of homes and slope protection in the hilly area.
It was a lengthy and lively discussion for a swath of land that, as of now, is home to only an old seminary owned by Claritian Missionaries.
"The building is huge," said area real estate agent Martin Easton, noting the two-story structure -- at the corner of Rialto and Regency drives -- is 35,000 square feet. Passers-by on Marsh Creek Road can see the massive structure from the street, he said.
Easton first came to know of the seminary in the 1960s, and remembers handfuls of students going on hikes on trails in the canyon area behind the property.
"But they didn't have much luck graduating anyone," he said of the building that was formally called Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of the Western Province. "There were a lot of people there, but to my knowledge, no one finished," Easton said.
He became the real estate agent for the property, and also sold off hundreds of acres adjacent to the seminary site -- first 400 acres, then 250 acres. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Easton could never sell the part of the land that held the seminary, however. He quit trying, and retired in 1978.
When Easton came out of retirement three years ago, he inquired about the land and learned it was still on the market. Eventually, he represented buyer Lemke Construction, Inc., which now owns the land, and is proposing the Diablo Pointe project.
As part of the plan, the seminary will be demolished to make way for the 3,500- and 4,500- square-foot homes.
"From what I know, everyone in the area is really relieved about this project," Easton said. "The neighbors lived with so much uncertainty about what was going to happen there, and I think most of them are happy with the idea of single-family dwellings."
The 24-acre property will be divided into 25 lots, but will contain only 24 homes. The largest lot -- Lot 25 -- will be preserved as parkland, and commissioners said they were not sure at this point whether the acreage will become part of the state park system, or will preserved some other way.
But on Tuesday, commissioners Ben Jay and Keith Haydon, along with new commission chairman Glenn Miller, said they wanted the developer to do some sort of grading or soil treatment in the parkland area, ensuring that earth on the hillsides does not slide down into Mt. Diablo Creek.
The state park system, they said, usually requires that the land be handed over untouched and in its natural state, however.
"If the slopes fail and the soil goes down into the creek, that becomes Clayton's problem," Haydon said, noting the environmental regulations on soil slippage and water runoff. "We'll have to fix it, and I'd like to prevent that."
Jay said he wanted to see some sort of slope stabilization, even if that means the state park system will not accept the land as a result. Lemke representative Susan Larson said the developer would be willing to pay for stabilization efforts.
Haydon said he is pleased with the proposal; initially, plans were for more than 30 houses, and he likes the lower number.
Homes are expected to be larger than average, and have four-to-six bathrooms and three-to-four bedrooms. Some will be single-story, though there will probably be more two-story homes, and the residences will have a three- or four-car garage.
Haydon also liked the addition of buffer zones and restrictions on whether homeowners could have horses on certain lots, and noted that environmental studies concluded that plants and wildlife in the area would not be significantly impacted by the development.
Commissioner Ed Hartley was absent and a fifth commissioner, Kevin Parker, recently resigned and that vacancy has not yet been filled.
Commissioners will revisit the plan at a Sept. 28 meeting, where they are expected to discuss general plan changes and zone changes related to the project.

Reach Tanya Rose at 925-682-6440, ext. 26, or trose@cctimes.com.