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The Pleasanton City Council will be voting Tuesday on adopting a new city ordinance and policies that would make it easier for wireless providers to build or update existing service facilities in Pleasanton.
If approved, the new policies and ordinance would replace the city’s current wireless ordinance and rules, which staff claim are outdated, restrictive and have “discouraged wireless providers from locating facilities in Pleasanton.”
“The updated ordinance and policy would create additional opportunities to site wireless facilities on city-owned property, potentially generating lease revenue,” staff noted in Tuesday’s City Council agenda report. “As lessor of these properties, the city would have considerable latitude to determine where these types of facilities should be located and the most appropriate design for each site.”
For years, Pleasanton residents have had to deal with spotty wireless internet service and phone coverage throughout the city.
“Areas within Pleasanton lack adequate wireless phone, voice, and data services, negatively impacting residents, businesses, and visitors,” staff stated in the report. “The lack of cellular coverage also compromises the public’s ability to communicate and receive alerts and information during an emergency.”
Over the course of several months, city staff have been comprehensively reviewing the city’s current rules and processes regarding wireless facilities and determined that the existing wireless ordinance was not helping address these issues.
“For example, under the City’s current rules, wireless facilities are not allowed to be located in any residential zoning district or within any zoning district if the facility is proposed within 200 feet of any dwelling unit, park, school, or senior care facility,” staff noted. “The result is that there are large areas within Pleasanton where facilities are prohibited or otherwise infeasible.”
To remedy this, the city worked with “specialized telecommunications counsel” to draft a new ordinance and three policies that all address three major types of wireless projects: new large facilities, small wireless and modifications to existing facilities.
The Planning Commission recently supported these proposals to the City Council during its March 11 meeting.
The large facilities, also known as macro facilities, refer to large scale cellular towers with antennas that either stand by themselves or are mounted on rooftops and buildings. Smaller wireless facilities, which offer a smaller coverage area, are ones typically installed on city streetlights and utility poles.
According to the staff report, these policies include a number of stipulations service providers will have to follow during the application process of a new facility. These include noticing, design reviews, location requirements and other things that would help ensure the facilities “are well-sited and as visually unobtrusive as possible.”
“The goal of the attached draft ordinance and policies is to improve coverage throughout Pleasanton while maintaining standards related to appropriate siting and aesthetics,” staff said. “If adopted by the City Council, the new policies will also provide staff with the ability to begin work on the Cellular Lease Revenue Program, which the City Council identified as a priority.”
The council will also be voting on an update to the city’s Master Fee Schedule to “reflect the actual cost of processing applications for wireless facilities through newly established Wireless Facility Fees.”
The fees would require service providers to pay over $3,000 to apply for both micro and macro facilities — per site — and just over $800 for modifications to an existing facility. There will also be a deposit required for consultant review of the wireless permits.
The City Council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday (April 21). The full agenda can be accessed here.
In other business:
* Staff will be presenting an update on the city’s Groundwater Supply Project, which aims to construct new groundwater wells at certain parks in Pleasanton in order to address the detection of PFAS, otherwise known as forever chemicals, in the city’s existing groundwater supply.
Following the update, the council will then vote on implementing the project as a joint venture with the Zone 7 Water Agency, which staff state will save the city a significant amount of money. In 2024, the city entered into an agreement with Zone 7 to evaluate the feasibility of jointly implementing the project as a way to save money.
That evaluation ended in both agencies recognizing the joint project is feasible to construct — the feasibility study found that groundwater wells at Pleasanton Tennis and Community Park and Hansen Park would provide “sufficient water yield and quality” — and that the project would not affect the existing groundwater basin’s sustainability.
A later cost-benefiting analysis also found that a joint project would provide “lower capital and life-cycle costs and a comparable total benefit score.”
“If the City Council approves this recommendation, the next step would be to finalize agreements with Zone 7 for the design, construction, and operation of the project and return to the City Council for approval at a future meeting,” staff stated in the agenda report.
* During the consent calendar portion of the meeting, the council will acknowledge receipt of the Pleasanton Police Department’s annual Military Equipment Use Report for 2025 and accept the introduction of an ordinance amending the department’s Military Equipment Use Policy, which would allow PPD to purchase four new drones.
Items under consent are considered routine and are typically approved by a single vote.
According to the staff report, the drones would provide “real-time aerial video to enhance situational awareness and reduce risk to personnel during elevated-risk incidents, searches for missing or at-risk persons, disaster response, large outdoor incidents, and crime or collision scene documentation.” These would be purchased with the Citizens’ Option for Public Safety fund, according to staff.
The item also includes a resolution to accept the department’s annual Military Equipment Use Report for 2025, which determines that the city’s use of military equipment in 2025 “complied with the standards of approval and renewing the Military Equipment Use Policy.”
* Prior to the regular City Council meeting, staff will also provide an update on the city’s 2026 Sewer Rate Study during a special meeting workshop, which begins at 5 p.m.
According to the workshop’s staff report, the council will receive an overview of the proposed sewer rates for condominiums, multifamily homes, and commercial and industrial customers. These rates will help the city implement the “Maintain” funding scenario, which the council previously approved in February.
“This workshop provides an overview of proposed sewer rates, proposed rate structure changes, and policy considerations needed to complete the Rate Study and prepare for the Proposition 218 process,” staff wrote. Prop 218 refers to the process of notifying customers about the proposed rate changes before the council can vote on them.
Part of the meeting will also be dedicated to talk about a potential sewer rate discussion for customers who live in the Ruby Hill neighborhood in South Pleasanton.
Following the workshop, staff will incorporate the council feedback and return next month with a summary report seeking City Council approval on the rate structure.
* The council will briefly convene before the regular meeting for a closed-session meeting regarding the Pleasanton Police Officers Association. The nature of the 6:30 p.m. meeting is unknown.
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