Blue Rock is a master-planned community that includes homes for 614 families, a clubhouse, golf course, a public community park and an elementary school. The project is slated to rise adjacent to the junction of Hayward Boulevard and Fairview Avenue in the Hayward hills. Several groups, including Hayward Hills Property Owners Association, filed the lawsuit seeking to prevent the development on the basis that its environmental impact report was improperly approved by the city council. City officials maintain, however, that they followed appropriate procedures in approving the EIR.

The developer of the project now expects to break ground in the fall, says Steve Miller, president and CEO of Blue Rock. Miller says the overall Blue Rock project plan, as approved by the Hayward City Council in 1998, was reduced in scope in 2002 to further protect wildlife habitat. The project, to be built within the Walpert Ridge area of Hayward, covers more than 1,600 acres of land. Development, however, is limited to 400 acres, while 1,000 acres are dedicated to East Bay Regional Parks and 200 acres are set aside to be managed for the protection of endangered wildlife.

Besides objecting to the adoption of the environmental impact report for theproject, its opponents say the project would generate too much traffic, place development in too highly visible a place on ridge tops, and jeopardize the habitat of the Alameda whip snake and the California red-legged frog. The developers at one time had hoped to break ground for the development in 2001.