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Councilmembers McCorriston, Morada, and Qaadri Vote to Protect Greenbelt and Urban Limit Line!

DUBLIN, CA—After the closed session portion of the Dublin City Council meeting on February 3rd, 2026, during which the Dublin City Council conferred with the city’s legal team about whether or not to appeal Save Mount Diablo’s and Friends of Livermore’s victory against Measure II, it was confirmed during the public portion of the meeting that a majority of the City Council voted three to two to not appeal our legal victory over Measure II (see video HERE. Staff statement on vote 42 seconds in. Public comment begins at 8:10. Save Mount Diablo statement at 35:22).

We thank Councilmembers Michael McCorriston, John Morada, and Kashef Qaadri for their wise decision, which was also fiscally smart because court appeals are rarely successful, and the city is already on the hook to repay our legal fees.

Mayor Shirley Hu and Vice Mayor Jean Josey wanted to throw good money after bad and appeal the court’s clear decision from last fall that Dublin violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by not putting Measure II through environmental review before putting it on the November 2024 ballot.

This is another big win for protecting Dublin’s Urban Limit Line, the last remaining open space between Dublin and Livermore, and making sure decision makers follow the rules and disclose the impacts of projects to the public!

“Friends of Livermore (FOL) is elated that the Dublin City Council voted not to appeal Judge Markman’s decision invalidating Measure II. FOL and Save Mount Diablo advised the Dublin Council on July 16, 2024, that it was settled law under the California Environmental Quality Act that environmental review was required before placing the measure on the ballot. The council ignored our advice; the voters of Dublin were denied critical information before casting their ballots; and the judge ruled in our favor. Appealing would have been futile and a further waste of taxpayer dollars. We are gratified that the 2026 Dublin City Council has better judgment than the one in place in 2024,” stated Dick Schneider of Friends of Livermore.

Save Mount Diablo Executive Director Ted Clement stated, “The Dublin City Council’s February 3rd decision to not appeal our Superior Court victory in the CEQA lawsuit against Dublin and a developer, was validation of our efforts to protect important open space and the urban limit line in the Doolan Canyon area. We thank the three city council members who voted not to appeal, and we thank Save Mount Diablo’s supporters and partners for helping us be successful with this lawsuit to protect our natural world against major opponents with deep pockets.”

But it’s not the end of the story. According to our attorney, Rebecca Davis of Lozeau | Drury, “It remains to be seen if the Crosby developers, Livbor-Manning LLC, who were also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, will appeal by the February 23rd deadline. If Livbor-Manning does not appeal, the superior court’s judgment declaring our victory against Measure II will stand.”

If Livbor-Manning, the company for the Crosby developers that wanted to build warehouses and other commercial development in southern Doolan Canyon, do decide to appeal, more time and money will have to be spent to defend the rules of environmental review and the last remaining open space between Dublin and Livermore.

“If Dublin wants to attempt rescinding the protections of the Dublin Open Space Initiative of 2014 in the future, they will need another ballot measure—this time one that has gone through environmental review first,” said Davis.

Save Mount Diablo and our allies want to protect Dublin’s Urban Limit Line, which protects the greenbelt between Dublin and Livermore. When we created and defend the Urban Limit Line in 2014, a road linking Dublin and north Livermore was always allowed.

What was not allowed was the Urban Limit Line-breaking commercial and industrial development that Crosby developers (Livbor-Manning LLC) and the City of Dublin said was needed to help pay for the Dublin Boulevard extension. Nor was it allowed to put a measure on the ballot that would allow such development, Measure II, without environmental review.

Our Legal Victory in Fall 2025

The crux of the issue is that Measure II would have broken Dublin’s Urban Limit Line and allowed for warehouses and other commercial development to be built in the last open space between Dublin and Livermore, the Crosby property, in southern-most Doolan Canyon.

All this without environmental review. With very few resources and very little time, we put together a No on II campaign, but with a deceptively titled Measure II, it narrowly passed with 53.1 percent of the vote.

But we always had a backup plan, and shortly after, filed a lawsuit claiming that Measure II violated the CEQA by not undergoing any environmental review.

After the hearing on the tentative decision on November 13, 2025, at which the court seemed skeptical of the City of Dublin’s objections, the court issued its final decision on November 19, 2025, rejecting the city’s objections and affirming that the city violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by not putting Measure II through environmental review before putting it on the November 2024 ballot.

The Crosby property can’t be developed commercially, spectacular lower Doolan Canyon remains protected, and the Dublin Urban Limit Line, which the City of Dublin was trying to break, is intact again and defending the greenbelt between Dublin and Livermore.

The vote to place Measure II on the ballot on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, was three to two. Then–Vice Mayor (and now-Mayor) Sherry Hu and Councilmembers Jean Josey and Janine Thalblum voted to place the deceptive Measure II on the ballot.

Councilmember Kashef Qaadri and then-Mayor Michael McCorriston voted against putting the deceptive measure on the ballot.

The excuse the Dublin City Council—Vice Mayor (and now-Mayor) Sherry Hu and Councilmembers Jean Josey and Janine Thalblum—used in trying to break the Urban Limit Line—the extension of Dublin Boulevard—remains unchanged.

The 2014 Dublin Open Space Initiative always allowed for the completion of Dublin Boulevard.

John Morada was also elected to the City Council in November 2024, replacing Thalblum, and ran in public opposition to Measure II.

Ted Clement, Save Mount Diablo’s Executive Director, remarked: “The judge’s final decision issued on November 19th was a significant David versus Goliath win for Save Mount Diablo, our partner Friends of Livermore, our wonderful supporters, and everyone who cares about open spaces and following the rules.

“Save Mount Diablo was able to successfully stand up against a giant like the City of Dublin because of our wonderful supporters and partners like Friends of Livermore. We are so grateful for the support we receive because it enables us to advance our time-sensitive land conservation mission, even against long odds!”

The court’s final decision was nearly identical to the tentative decision that had been made on October 1 with a few minor technical edits and a more robust discussion of why environmental review of Measure II would not be speculative.

Since Measure II was placed on the ballot, the Dublin City Council has shifted toward preservation with the replacement of Janine Thalblum by John Morada.

The bottom line remained the same: putting Measure II on the ballot without environmental review violated CEQA and, as a result, the election was invalid.

The court will issue a writ of mandate vacating the City of Dublin’s decision to put Measure II on the ballot and vacating Measure II’s amendment to Dublin’s General Plan.

As a result, the full protections of the 2014 Open Space Initiative remain intact, and the city will need to inform the voters of Dublin with the full scope of Measure II’s environmental impacts if they attempt to put it on the ballot again.

After a hard-fought legal battle against the City of Dublin over the city’s decision to put Measure II on the ballot, the court had issued a tentative statement of decision on October 1, 2025, which found that the City of Dublin violated CEQA by not conducting any environmental review of Measure II because Measure II is a “project” for the purposes of CEQA and CEQA’s “common sense exemption” does not apply.

The court’s tentative decision allowed for any parties to submit objections to the decision, which the court would consider prior to issuing its final decision.

The City of Dublin and the Crosby property developer jointly filed lengthy objections, which, at their core, attempted to re-litigate the entire case to get the judge to change his mind, even though the court had already considered and rejected those arguments.

The court then instructed Save Mount Diablo and Friends of Livermore to file a response to the objections and set another hearing to hear arguments on the tentative decision.

Save Mount Diablo and Friends of Livermore filed their response, explaining to the court that the City of Dublin’s objections failed to raise any new information or legal arguments that the tentative decision had not already addressed and that environmental review of opening up the Crosby property to commercial development would not be speculative—a position the city has clung to despite ample evidence of the city’s undeniable intention to develop up to 1.2 million square feet of warehouses on the Crosby property.

“Friends of Livermore is grateful for the thorough and well-written opinion of Judge Markman, who concluded that Dublin was required by CEQA to prepare an analysis of the reasonably foreseeable environmental impacts of Measure II before placing it on the ballot. Dublin did not, and therefore the measure was invalid,” stated Dick Schneider of Friends of Livermore.

“Dublin’s attorneys argued that environmental impacts were too speculative to analyze, but the judge didn’t buy it. He pointed out that Dublin had commissioned a financial study of possible development on the Crosby property to help fund the Dublin Blvd. extension. The study concluded that 1.2 million square feet of warehouses and distribution centers would be the most likely commercial/industrial uses on the property. If this study was not too speculative for the city council to consider, then it was certainly reasonable to make some analysis of the environmental impacts such development would cause.

“Loss of agricultural land and wildlife habitat, air pollution from hundreds of tractor–trailer rigs moving freight and by thousands of commuters driving to and from work on the property every day, roadkill of endangered wildlife, and many other environmental impacts were reasonably foreseeable. The residents of Dublin had the right to know these impacts before casting their ballots, and the judge was right to invalidate Measure II when the Dublin City Council failed to provide that information as required by law.”

Doolan Canyon History

Southern Doolan Canyon is the only open space between Livermore and Dublin, and for decades, residents have fought to keep it that way. It is located along Highway 580 and is the site of the scenic Crosby property between Fallon Road and Airway Boulevard.

A protracted and complex struggle over development in Doolan Canyon has seen Livermore and Dublin adopt drastically different approaches to open space, with significant milestones reached in 2014 and 2024.

The dispute over the unincorporated greenbelt, located between the two cities in Alameda County, pits Dublin’s desire for growth against Livermore’s prioritization of a natural buffer to urban sprawl.

At the heart of the conservation effort are a diverse coalition of environmental groups, including Save Mount Diablo, Save Dublin’s Open Space, Friends of Livermore, and the Tri-Valley Conservancy (TVC), who have worked with East Bay Regional Park District, the City of Livermore, and other agencies to protect the area’s sensitive ecosystems and species.

The 2014 Open Space Initiatives

The foundational battle over Doolan Canyon’s future occurred in 2014. For decades, Dublin had experienced rapid growth, but a shift toward open space preservation was beginning to take hold.

Developers, including Pacific Union Land Company, proposed a massive 2,000-unit housing project, dubbed “Dublin Preserve,” in Doolan Canyon.

In response, a coalition of environmental organizations sponsored an initiative to establish an Urban Limit Line on Dublin’s eastern boundary, which the city council adopted in June 2014.

“Dublin Preserve” land speculators and developers countered by sponsoring their own initiative, Measure T, on the November 2014 ballot.

It sought to overturn the Urban Limit Line and allow Dublin to annex and develop 2,000 acres of Doolan Canyon, while reserving a percentage for open space.

The effort to defeat Measure T brought together groups like Save Mount Diablo, Friends of Livermore, and the Tri-Valley Conservancy.

In a resounding victory for conservationists, Dublin voters rejected Measure T by a landslide 84 percent. The vote cemented the 2014 Urban Limit Line and halted the “Dublin Preserve” project.

Recent Open Space Protection

The Tri-Valley Conservancy and Livermore have played a critical role in realizing this vision through strategic land acquisition and conservation easements.

Tri-Valley Conservancy secured a 178-acre conservation easement in Doolan Canyon, protecting sensitive habitats for species like the California tiger salamander and burrowing owls.

In a major victory for conservation, the Tri-Valley Conservancy, in partnership with the Natural Resources Group, completed a landmark 1,168-acre conservation easement in Doolan Canyon.

This newly established Doolan Canyon conservation bank permanently protects a vast swath of ecologically sensitive land, home to species like the California red-legged frog and the western burrowing owl.

It is managed with sustainable grazing practices to maintain native grasslands and is the largest conservation easement in the Tri-Valley Conservancy’s history.

The collective efforts of environmental groups and the City of Livermore have resulted in the protection of over 1,300 acres in Doolan Canyon.

That protected land is in addition to a square-mile Doolan Canyon Regional Park, solidifying a wildlife corridor and preserving the greenbelt buffer between Dublin and Livermore.

The path has been contentious, but the ongoing commitment to conservation ensures that a significant portion of this valuable natural landscape will remain wild for future generations.

Doolan Canyon

Doolan Canyon is a beautiful greenbelt situated in Alameda County, California, separating the cities of Dublin and Livermore.

Its natural beauty lies in scenic rolling hills that are home to diverse flora and fauna, seasonal wetlands, and riparian habitats along Cottonwood Creek.

The natural resources and scenic beauty of Doolan Canyon are significant.

The canyon’s varied ecosystems provide critical habitat for many kinds of wildlife including several threatened and endangered species, such as California red-legged frogs and California tiger salamanders.

The hills also support species like golden eagles, Callippe silverspot butterflies, American badgers, and western burrowing owls.

Doolan Canyon’s perennial wetlands, seasonal stock ponds, and seeps create important riparian areas, while managed grazing helps maintain healthy native grassland ecosystems and vernal pools.

The Future

Save Mount Diablo and allies will remain vigilant and ready to defend the conservation gains in Doolan Canyon, public analysis and disclosure of project impacts, the Dublin Urban Limit Line and the last remaining open space between Dublin and Livermore. We hope that Crosby developers do not appeal the court’s decision declaring us victorious against Measure II, but if they do, we will be ready.

 

Image Captions and Credits

1. Doolan Canyon, part of the last remaining open space between Dublin and Livermore. Photo: Scott Hein
2. Map of the Dublin Open Space Initiative of 2014 with the location of the Crosby property. Map: Courtesy Save Mount Diablo
3. Open space advocates at Doolan Canyon in 2014. Photo: Juan Pablo Galván Martínez
4. Community advocates with “No on T” signs in 2014. Photo: Courtesy Save Mount Diablo

High-resolution versions of photos are available; please contact Seth Adams or Juan Pablo Galvan. Please see contact information below.

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