California - TRI-VALLEY CONSERVANCY
(formerly South Livermore Valley Agricultural Land Trust)
Serves eastern Alameda County - Formed in 1994 - researched by Al Sokolow
OVERVIEW - This nonprofit changed its name and expanded considerably its territory in May, 2003, to seek new land conservation opportunities. As the South Livermore Valley Agricultural Land Trust (SLVALT), it was formed to protect farmland in that small valley of about 14,000 acres, an area of premium vineyards and wineries. Unusual among independent land trusts, its formation in 1994 was a direct result of local government policy actions. SLVALT was created to carry out parts of a joint city-county land use plan, and its board up to now has included city, county, and wine industry representatives. Its acquisitions have been funded primarily by an unusual revenue source-development fees placed on new homes in the area as mitigation for farmland conversion. Anticipating a successful conclusion of easement acquisitions in its small operating area in the near future, but wanting to maintain an active land transactions program as well as stewardship activities, the land trust board changed both its name and territorial reach with support from the newly absorbed areas. As the Tri-Valley Conservancy, the nonprofit now covers most of the eastern and relatively rural portion of Alameda County, a part of the San Francisco Bay region. Most of the county's 1.4 million residents are concentrated in Oakland, Berkeley and other cities in the western section.
EASEMENT ACTIVITY - 3,059 agricultural acres in 30
properties. Mostly vineyards and olive groves; 280 acres in grazing. One non-agricultural
easement of 371 acres covers a park area.
Goals: 5,000 acres in the Valley.
Other Easement Programs: No other local agricultural easement programs
in Alameda County.
FUNDING
Acquisition Spending to Date: $4.4 million
Revenues: The $4.4 million represents direct spending by SLVALT largely
from state funds and as local match. The full value of easements acquired is
about $45 million, accounting for the development mitigation fees paid for new
homes in the cities of Livermore and Pleasanton. With its territory greatly
expanded to include communities without mitigation programs, the renamed conservancy
expects to diversify its revenue sources and engage in forms of fundraising
common to other land trusts.
GOVERNANCE - The nine-member land trust board oversees
the program. Four members are at-large and one each is appointed by Livermore
city, Pleasanton city, Alameda County, the local wine growers association and
an environmental organization-the Friends of the Vineyards. The Conservancy
expects to add board members from communities outside of the original territory.
STAFF AND OPERATING BUDGET - There is the Executive Director and one
other staff member. The annual operating budget is about $212,000. Forty volunteer
"stewards" assist in easement monitoring.
ORIGINS - The SLVALT was formed to help implement a part of the South Livermore Valley Area Plan, a land use plan for the preservation of the 14,000 acre valley that confines urban growth to the adjacent cities. The plan was adopted jointly by Alameda County and the cities of Livermore and Pleasanton in 1993, following a five-year period of study and public workshops. As well as providing detailed land use standards, the plan called for an agricultural easement program to be managed by a land trust and financed in large part by mitigation fees on residential development in the two cities. The first acquisition was in 1995; four other easements acquired earlier by other agencies were accepted at that time.
ACQUISITION PROCESS AND STRATEGY - The board applies,
in a discretionary fashion, several general criteria, most originally established
in the 1993 county-city land use plan for the South Livermore Valley.
Rating of Parcels: Not quantitative, see below.
Other Criteria: As well as location in the Valley, emphasis is given
to creating a critical mass of protected agricultural land, parcels threatened
by development, preservation of contiguous blocks large enough to maintain commercial
agriculture, limiting conflicts with non-agricultural uses, creating a permanent
urban boundary and protecting critical habitat areas.
CONNECTIONS TO LOCAL PLANNING AND LAND USE POLICIES
- As a creation of the county-city Land Use Plan for the South Livermore Valley,
the work of the land trust has been directly related to local government planning.
Although most of the Valley is unincorporated territory and thus under the jurisdiction
of county government, the 1993 plan recognizes the role of the two cities in
influencing the land use patterns of the area. Easement acquisitions have been
guided and protected by the plan's detailed land use policies and standards
which generally direct urban growth in the area to the two cities and prohibit
it on the Valley floor and its hillsides. The pattern of easements serves to
bolster the voter-approved urban limit line on the south edge of the city of
Livermore. Easement program-local planning connections also are affirmed by
frequent consultations between the Conservancy and city and county planners
and representation of the cities and the county on the land trust board.
Zoning: Alameda County's agricultural zoning in the Valley provides for
one unit to 100 acres.
DEMOGRAPHICS
2000 Population: Approximately 150,000 in the original area, primarily
in the cities of Livermore and Pleasanton. Alameda County population is 1.4
million.
1990-2000 Population Change: + 29,700 residents in cities of Livermore
and Pleasanton; +27 percent. Alameda County: +164,000 residents; +13 percent
AGRICULTURAL LAND
Approximately 6,000 acres in the 14,000 acre South Livermore Valley, including
both cropland-mainly vineyards and some orchards-and grazing land. Alameda County
overall has 258,000 agricultural acres-mostly grazing land.
Conversion to Urban Use: Insignificant in the Valley since the early
1990s. As a result of local planning and easement programs, cultivated acres
in the Valley increased from 2,100 in 1993 to more than 5,000 in 2002, largely
as the result of new vineyard and orchard plantings. Alameda County: 6,589 agricultural
acres in 1990-2000 (2.4 percent of 1990 base), including 1,345 cropland or important
farmland acres (11.5 percent of base). (State conversion data)
OTHER AGRICULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
1997 Market Value: $41.9 million for Alameda County Number of Farms:
458
Principal Commodities: Nursery products, wine grapes, cattle
MAP NARRATIVE - EASEMENT GEOGRAPHY
(PROGRAM MAP)
All easements are located on the floor and lower hillsides of the 14,000
acre Valley. Most easement acres are clustered in several large blocks, forming
a partially connected belt around the southern boundary of the city of Livermore
and generally coinciding with that city's urban limit line.