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confidence that the public interest in active viticulture and preservation of open space will be <br />protected and preserved when considering these development applications. <br />The Tri-Valley Conservancy's staff, board, and other volunteers also undertake regular <br />annual compliance monitoring of both the boundaries of the easement azeas (looking for any <br />encroachments, failure to adhere to plans, etc.). Awell-documented report is then sent to the <br />City, and any needed actions highlighted. In addition, if encroachments or other violations are <br />noted by Tri-Valley Conservancy staff, board members, or volunteers at other times outside of <br />the annual compliance monitoring, this information is immediately conveyed to the City for <br />appropriate enforcement action. As many of the Tri-Valley Conservancy board members and <br />volunteers aze from the local Pleasanton area, and well-informed from their work with the <br />Conservancy about the specifics of the easements, they are regulazly able to keep track of <br />compliance with easement conditions. This demonstrates a responsibility by Tri-Valley <br />Conservancy members which reaches beyond their regular scheduled duties, and provides an <br />important on-going public benefit. <br />For the Vineyard Avenue Corridor Specific Plan area, the Tri-Valley Conservancy has <br />had a vital role in ensuring the planting of acres of new vineyazds, and related preservation of <br />agricultural conservation easements, as well as open space easements. This has protected the <br />public's interest, as expressed in the City's Specific Plan, as well as the Tri-Valley Conservancy's <br />own mission statement. <br />Protection of the Public Interest through Easement Monitoring. Since 1999, the City of <br />Pleasanton has contracted with the Tri-Valley Conservancy to provide easement monitoring at a <br />complex project in eastern Pleasanton known as Ruby Hills. This development has hundreds of <br />homes, commercial uses, a fire station and a golf course, but also includes significant habitat for <br />the California Tiger Salamander. The Tri-Valley Conservancy worked collaboratively with the <br />City when the open space and habitat easements were established, as the Conservancy actively <br />reviewed the boundary surveys and other markers used to establish the easement areas. <br />The Tri-Valley Conservancy has carried out regulaz annual encroachment monitoring <br />visits, and deliver to the City well-documented reports. When resource agency staff, such as a <br />deputy from the Califomia Department of Fish & Game, have been at the Ruby Hill site for that <br />agency's own monitoring of the California Tiger Salamander habitat, the Tri-Valley Conservancy <br />sent its own monitors to walk-along with the Fish & Game deputy, City staff, and developer's <br />agents, to understand the habitat and the special status species. <br />While the Tri-Valley Conservancy is paid annually by the City for these encroachment <br />monitoring reports, this relationship has not impacted the Conservancy's candor in its findings. <br />For example, when the Tri-Valley Conservancy made its visit to Ruby Hill after hearing the <br />concerns from the Fish & Game deputy, the Conservancy report prominently noted that one of <br />the deputy's recommendations had not been completed on a portion of the habitat in the control <br />of the City. When the City's remedial action was further delayed, due to a miscommunication <br />among City staff about responsibility for this situation as between the City and the developer, the <br />