LIVERMORE — The state’s ethics watchdog has opened a conflict of interest investigation against Livermore Councilman Ben Barrientos after he voted no on a housing development that could create more traffic and other problems near his home.
Barrientos’ vote last year came despite advice from the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission that he had a “disqualifying financial interest” because his home was too close to the project.
Under the Political Reform Act, public officials are not allowed to participate or use their position to influence governmental decisions when they know it could financially benefit them. Because Barrientos owns a home about 700 feet away, he should have recused himself from any vote on the Garaventa Hills development, the FPPC’s lawyer advised Livermore City Attorney Jason Alcala in a June 2023 letter.
Barrientos did not return multiple requests for comment.
The Garaventa Hills development proposes to build 44 residential homes —38 detached single-family homes and another six attached affordable single-family units — on a 31-acre plot at the west end of Bear Creek Drive, north of Altamont Creek Elementary School and Altamont Creek Park.
More than a decade in the making, the project has undergone revisions and stalled in 2019, after an organization called the Save The Hill Group filed a petition in Alameda County Superior Court challenging the adequacy of the city’s environmental review. Ultimately, the city had to rescind its approval of the project in November 2022.
Enter Barrientos, who was elected to city council that same month. In late 2024, he cast a lone vote against the project, which abuts a road near his home, and openly questioned why more had not been done to study possible hazards on the land. He said he could smell “whiffs” of oil there, according to a transcript of his comments included in the FPPC investigative file.
“So my concern is … I’m not going to gain anything out of it one way or the other … I don’t have a vested interest. I’m just a retired teacher so I don’t have a ton of money sitting around somewhere so I can go buy a bigger house,” he said at the meeting, according to the transcript. “So I’m concerned about what’s going on there and I hope that we can table it and let a third party come in and check it out and see, can this oil be taken care of? Will it come up? Will it be guaranteed?”
He said he was “sorry to throw a little monkey wrench in this, but I’m supporting and helping my constituents understand that I do fight for them.”
Barrientos allegedly posted on NextDoor weeks before the meeting that “his rights were being taken and that he should be able to participate despite being cautioned by the FPPC,” according to the commission.
The FPPC investigation, which came after the commission received an anonymous complaint, began on Jan. 9 and remains active.