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The Pleasanton Planning Commission recently approved an application this month that would allow a Pleasanton man to install six approximately 15-foot overhead lights on their backyard tennis court.
The application had been appealed by other residents in the neighborhood due to concerns about a city staffer’s alleged conflict of interest and light pollution; however, none of the appellants were present during the Sept. 10 commission meeting.
During that meeting, the commission ultimately decided that the project applicant had appropriately addressed some of their neighbors’ concerns, specifically regarding light spilling over into other yards.
“The applicant has taken the most conservative approach in terms of light impact by having zero light impact — light pollution — onto the neighbors through this effort,” Commissioner Brandon Pace said during the meeting. “So it seems as if the applicant has done a good job of trying to identify all the questions that have come over time and mitigate the impact to the neighbors.”
However, communications manager Heather Tiernan told the Weekly that the city received a new appeal for the project Thursday (Sept. 25), which means the application will be sent to the City Council for final approval within 40 days of the appeal.
The proposal to install the tennis court lights dates back to August 2023 when the commission originally reviewed an application related to a partially built tennis court located in the backyard area of 2207 Martin Ave.
Ashish Choudhary, the applicant for the tennis lights project, told the commission that he originally brought up the plan to construct the tennis court in his backyard in 2022.
Choudhary said that at the time, he had no immediate plans for lighting but added that he did not want lighting to be prohibited in the future.
While the initial application was ultimately approved, the city required the applicant to submit a separate administrative design review for the installation of lights over 8 feet tall. According to staff, if the applicant wanted to, they could have installed lights that were 8 feet tall without having to go through the city.
Choudhary submitted an initial application for the proposed 15-foot lights in May 2024, but after negative input from surrounding neighbors and a lack of analysis, the commission denied that original application.
According to city associate planner Diego Mora, neighbors had expressed concerns regarding impacts on homes, the height of the light poles and potential traffic hazards and the commission ultimately determined that the lighting impact analysis lacked sufficient detail.
However, the commission noted the application denial did not mean the applicant could not install the lights. The commission instead clarified that the applicant could return with more detailed analysis on the impact of the lights, which Choudhary did back in June when he submitted a second application.
The city’s zoning administrator then conducted a public hearing regarding the matter on July 18 and approved the second application to install the lights. This decision prompted neighbors to submit an appeal.
The basis for the appeal, Mora told the dais, include an alleged staff conflict of interest and further concerns regarding light impacts.
Mora clarified that the appeal due to a conflict of interest was directed at him because he provided the initial direction to the applicant for the pre-construction of the tennis court and he also served as the zoning administrator that approved the application presented that night.
However, he confirmed to the Planning Commission that he has no property or financial interest in the project.
“The outcome of this is not going to, somehow, impact your pay?” Pace asked Mora — to which Mora replied, “It will not.”
As far as the light impacts, Mora said the applicant conducted a light study that shows how no light spillover would occur because the lights would face downward and would include preventative shields.
“A very detailed photometric study has been done (to show) that we have been able to bring down the spill over to zero. Absolutely zero spillover into our neighbors yard,” Choudhary said.
He also noted that the lights will have a timer for them to turn off and that they will ensure the lights will be off between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. — both of which were already conditions of the application’s approval.
Choudhary also explained that the reason they went from plans for 8-foot lights to 15 feet was because shorter lights would have impacted neighbors more due to the lights being more level to their yards.
Commissioner Anurag Jain also noted there are other houses in the same neighborhoods that have tennis court lights, which Choudhary said are not shielded, are not LED lights and are taller.
“There are already sports courts with lighting between that property and our property … and yet they have complained about this property which is further away from them,” Choudhary said.
Others on the commission also noted that the neighbors who have complained about the project were not present during the meeting.
“It seems like the applicant has done everything that they could do and everything we had asked,” Planning Commission Chair Ken Morgan said. “The icing on the cake, for me, is the condition that the lights won’t be on between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. so the neighbor doesn’t need to worry about lighting during the middle of the night.”
It’s unclear exactly when the City Council will review the application but according to city staff, it would have to be either sometime in October or November to comply with the required timeline.
