Editorial Editorial (March 12, 2004)

Don't stop home building in Pleasanton

In a major shift away from the large, family-focused homes that developers have been building in Pleasanton, city planning commissioners now want to halt construction of any more million-dollar homes in favor of hundreds - even several thousand - low-income, senior and market-rate apartments. Besides putting taxpayers at risk if these spurned developers seek compensation for having their projects blocked, which could costs millions of dollars in court-ordered compensation, planners may also be on a slippery slope that would change Pleasanton's character as a predominantly family-focused community of single family homes. In suggesting the policy change, planners are not only following their own bias against any additional large homes in the city, but also the protests of many in Pleasanton who are fed up with traffic congestion and want all new construction stopped.

To be sure, most members of the Planning Commission would likely join the protestors in halting any growth in housing - homes or apartments - and have Pleasanton reach buildout as soon as current projects are complete. That would leave the city with about 27,000 housing units, well below the 29,000-unit cap that voters mandated eight years ago. But the planners recognize that the city is bound by an agreement it made with state housing advocates last year to provide more affordable housing. By adding another 1,300 rental apartment units on undeveloped business properties in Hacienda Business Park and other locations near both I-580 and I-680, that mandate could be satisfied along with additional, affordable apartment and townhome units for seniors and the local workforce.

We have no quarrel with workforce and senior rental and for-sale high density housing, or building those needed to satisfy the state mandate. At the same time, we see no reason to abandon designated land uses approved in the 1996 General Plan that encouraged developers to move forward with their proposed projects. By declaring a moratorium in new construction, as planners want to do, the city would block planned developments in south Pleasanton, including as many as 250 $1 million-plus homes in Kottinger Hills, Lund Ranch 2 and on land owned by rancher Al Spotorno in Happy Valley, and at least one project under way west of Foothill Road. Developments already approved, such as the Ponderosa project on the Busch property and the Lemoine Ranch across from Foothill High School, would not be affected by a building moratorium. However, the ban would prevent investor Brad Hirst from moving forward with his upscale eight-home project off Foothill, where Hirst told planners that his group has already spent $300,000 over the last two years on geo-technical and other studies required by the city. The project also would dedicate 20 acres for public uses. Greenbriar Homes is spending even more, again at the city's insistence, to provide an environmental impact report before it can acquire building permits for its planned 113-home development on the 196-acre Lund Ranch 2 property. Charter Properties has invested heavily in a planned unit development for a revised project for 98 homes on the 562-acre parcel it owns at the end of Hearst Drive above Kottinger Ranch. The ban also would stop rancher Al Spotorno from moving forward in seeking developers for up to 100 homes in Happy Valley, which the city officials have told him would be acceptable in return for funding the remaining section of a bypass road to Pleasanton's new municipal golf course, an alternate route sought by homeowners on Alisal Street in Happy Valley.

The proposed homes in these projects could be reduced both in numbers and size, but they shouldn't be cancelled at this late date because of anti-large home biases or objections from those who already own $1-million-plus homes nearby and just don't want any more in their neighborhood. If those views prevailed years ago, Pleasanton today would be a much different city than the great place it is today in terms of housing, business and retail and education amenities.

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