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Publication Date: Friday, August 10, 2001

Business park possible site for affordable housing

Members of a Pleasanton housing task force received a pleasant surprise last week when James Paxson, general manager of the Hacienda Owners Association, announced that owners of 100 acres in the business park would likely be interested in housing on their land. Previously he had said he thought 17 acres might be available.

Paxson, who also heads the task force, clarified in a later interview that he believes owners of 110 acres would support a zoning change to allow high density residential development on their land, but that some of those would likely prefer to keep office or commercial development on part of their parcels. In this case, the actual amount of land available could be considerably less than 110 acres, he said.

However Paxson pointed out that the 23 acres used for the Archstone apartment complex on Owens Drive yielded 540 units.

"So even if you took a quarter of (the 110 acres), you have another 540 units of housing," Paxson said. "Archstone has 25 percent of its units in the affordable classification in perpetuity. I think that's a model that could be replicated again."

The downturn in the economy has likely prompted some landowners in the business park to consider housing as an alternative. A year ago vacancy rates in the park were a very tight 1 percent, and now they are just under 8 percent, Paxson said, a rate he considers "healthy" and "close to the historical average." This figure excludes residential and public institutional properties.

In the Bay Area generally, however, a recent survey by BT Commercial Real Estate showed last quarter's office space vacancy rates at nearly 13 percent, after 8.7 percent the previous quarter and 2 percent last year. In the face of this downward trend, and with office and commercial real estate prices coming down, business park landowners may be interested in making areas available for residential development.

It wouldn't be the first time the business park offered land for housing. Six housing developments covering more than 100 acres were built on Hacienda land during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The bulk of it became available for housing when Hacienda owners faced tough times during the economic downturn of the early '90s.

Adding more housing in Hacienda requires a number of steps, including rezoning, traffic circulation studies, and adjustments to city building density requirements. But knowing that some landowners were entertaining the idea of housing was music to the ears of those working on city plans to meet projected housing needs, especially for affordable housing.

"We have such a housing crisis, I would rather see 17 acres with 400 houses on it, as opposed to 17 acres of commercial building with 400 employees looking for housing when we're already in a crisis," said Joseph Jones, a city housing commissioner and task force member.

The task force is currently reviewing potential sources of land for residential development within the city. Every California city must revise the "housing element" of its general plan to show how it will meet state-mandated targets for new housing development in four income categories: high, moderate, low and very low income. These last two categories are considered the most difficult to achieve, requiring special funding and other incentive programs to interest developers. To keep land costs down, affordable housing also typically depends on high density zoning.

"While owners are willing to entertain residential use, it probably would take additional incentives to make it move, once you get the city and park to agree to rezoning," Paxson said of the business park. Such incentives might include fast tracking the development to keep costs down and waivers on various city fees, he said.

The task force is also looking at other properties in the city as potential housing sites. Most would require some rezoning to higher density housing or from commercial or industrial uses. Some properties listed on the working inventory are likely to be too impractical for affordable housing development, such as several undeveloped areas on the outskirts of town.

Affordable housing on the city-owned portion of the Bernal property has been discussed by both the housing and Bernal task forces and prospects look promising. But the task force is reviewing other areas as well, including the Busch and Staples Ranch properties.

The Kiewit and Kaiser properties, on Busch Road, roughly 200 acres, make up the largest potentially vacant site. These businesses are expected to terminate operations in the near future.

Other areas being looked at include Vintage Hills Shopping Center for potential mixed use, Stanley Boulevard properties by Del Valle Parkway, and part of the Kolb property on Dublin Canyon Road. Presently the latter two sites are zoned for commercial use.

In terms of additional senior housing, Kottinger Place and Pleasanton Gardens might redevelop with additional senior housing units, and 5 acres of the Bernal property have been proposed. Also vacant property on Bernal Avenue owned by St. Augustine's Church may be developed for a senior assisted-living facility.

"Everything is open for discussion," said Jones, of possible future housing sites. "The City Council can do anything. The big picture here is that we are only 3,000 units away from build-out. So we need as many of these to be affordable, because that may be the end of it."

City Housing Specialist Scott Erickson cautioned that there are a lot of issues to review before land in the Hacienda Business Park and other sites could be used for affordable housing, but he said he was optimistic.

"A couple of years ago I thought we had little land available," he said. "Now I can see there are some opportunities still out there.... Being forced to look at ways to satisfy housing targets will force us to be creative."

Town meeting: Meeting Housing Targets