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The Pleasanton Planning Commission approved an application last week that would transform a 46-acre plot of land to the south of Foothill High School into a new gated community for seniors.
The large development, which would construct up to 110 new residential homes, will now have to go through the City Council for final approval at a future meeting.
“This is probably the least worst thing that could happen in that neighborhood,” Chairperson Matt Gaidos said during the June 26 commission meeting. “An aging community of less people … as far as appropriateness for that area, I don’t think you could come up with a better option for that density.”
However, if the council approves the project, the developer will still have to submit several applications to various third party agencies and will have to work with the Alameda County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) to annex the piece of unincorporated land into the city, which means it will be some time before residents see any change in that area.
“We want to get this project built,” said Jim Summers, president of the The DeSilva Group, which does development and construction. “In a perfect world, I would say that we might get all these permits done and be able to potentially start some grading in late 2025 but I’m a practical man … I’ve been through the process enough to understand the realities of how things work. I feel very confident, though, in the year 2026 that we’ll be able to break ground on this project.”
Summers — who is also a managing member of project applicant Foothill Boulevard Holding Company, LLC — said developing homes on what has been known as the Merritt property has been a part of the city’s General Plan since the 1960s. The property is owned by James and Margaret Merritt.
According to Summers, who has been involved in the development since the ’90s, the applicant has been very patient on bringing the project forward for a long time and said they have been working with the surrounding neighborhoods to make sure the homes will fit into the area’s aesthetic without affecting the resident’s quality of life.Â
The City Council then zoned the Merritt property in December 2023 as one of the 19 sites designated for housing in order to meet the city’s assigned Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) counts for new residential units within designated affordability categories as part of the city’s sixth cycle Housing Element.
Eric Luchini, senior city planner, said the project will construct a 111-lot residential subdivision across 46 acres located on the east side of Foothill Road, which is just a few blocks south from Foothill High School.
The homes would be for age-qualified residents and would be made up of 92 single-family detached homes and 18 affordable senior courtyard detached and duet homes. The developer will have to enter into an affordable housing agreement with the city for the proposed project, which would also include a density bonus.
The units would be sold at market rate and would be production homes. Only three of the lots at the project site would remain vacant and will be reserved for future custom homes.
The project would also include site improvements such as widening Foothill Road and creating a bike lane.
While the site is mostly vacant now, there are two existing single-family residences, several outbuildings that were previously used for agricultural purposes and the remnants of a former orchard.
Only one of those existing single-family residences will be retained as part of the new development, Luchini said.
While the proposed project would be surrounded on all sides by residential neighborhoods and primary access to the new community would continue to be a single driveway off Foothill Road, the plan is to build a 50-foot setback along the sides of the gated community to ensure privacy and a buffer between the existing residences and the new development.
Summers said the developers have been very specific on the grading of the land so that the houses are leveled in a way that people in the community or in surrounding neighborhoods won’t be able to see into each other’s homes.
Luchini said the design of the project includes seven styles of homes with 17 distinct elevations for the production homes. He said all of the plans range between 25 to 32 feet and are primarily single-story homes except for a few units that would have a second story as an option in order to provide an additional room.
Summers said even these second-story homes would be facing away from surrounding neighborhoods in order to ensure privacy.
As for parking, the project proposes a total of 597 parking spaces, which is roughly just over five parking spaces per unit including individual garages. Luchini specified each unit would include a two- or three-car garage and driveway which would accommodate two more vehicles, and there will also be a total of 177 on-street parking spaces for guest parking.
One other major amenity included in the community would be a clubhouse and recreation center that would be located in the middle of the development. There, residents of the gated community would be able to enjoy things such as a pool, pickleball courts, a demonstration kitchen and other resort-style amenities that would benefit senior citizens living there.
Additionally, the project will extend the Marilyn Murphy Kane Trail to connect to the southeast corner of the proposed project site and will make that trail open to the public.
During the commission meeting on June 26, one of the main issues pointed out by both residents and members of the Planning Commission was the gated entrance to the new community, which would be located south of the existing Merritt home located at the northwest corner of the proposed project site.Â
The single driveway off Foothill Road would be the primary access point into and out of the community, which some said could be an issue.
“With the fires that we’ve been seeing and climate change, it seems to me that having only one entrance and exit would make it very difficult to have an emergency evacuation,” Pleasanton resident Sharon Piekarski said during the meeting.
She said that while the project does have designated gates for first responders, they still need to unlock those gates, which could delay crews from getting into the community. However, Summers assured her and others with similar concerns that the fire department has reviewed and approved those emergency access points.
Other residents were also concerned that the entrance and exit would impede traffic on Foothill Road — especially with older residents. Gaidos said as the commission was about to vote on the project that even though he supports it, he still wants the city to look at the possibility of adding a traffic light there in the future.
Traffic in general was also a major concern for other citizens who spoke during public comment; however, traffic engineer Mike Tassano assured the public that having the development be for senior citizens actually reduces the number of cars coming in and out of the future community. The fact that it won’t be families mainly with kids going to school also helps lighten the traffic load for the community.Â
Other residents were also concerned about the line of cars that back up traffic in that area as parents park their cars in the bike lane to wait for their kids to get out of Foothill High School, which Tassano said the city will have to carefully work with the police department to mitigate.
One other major issue brought up by residents who live in that area where the proposed project would be located was flooding to which both city staff and Summers said the developer and the city will look at the storm drain system in that area.
Summers said the developer will work with the city to double the size of the pipes and get more water to go under the project so that the majority of the water stays underground rather than above ground.
On the topic of water, Commissioner Brandon Pace asked staff if there is even going to be enough water to support all the new homes to which community development director Ellen Clark said a previous water supply assessment the city conducted showed incremental development increases would not exceed the supply.
While there were some concerns from residents, the overall consensus from the commission was that the project developers have been keeping their promises to the surrounding neighborhoods on the specifics of the project and Pleasanton needs the homes at the end of the day.
Commissioner Anurag Jain said even with the 110 new residential units, including the 18 affordable units that would help the city meet its housing goals, it’s still not going to be enough to meet the city’s overall RHNA numbers. He said while this is a much needed project, there is still much more to be done.
“We are also dealing with a bigger crisis which is the crisis of not having enough homes for seniors, not having affordable homes for people who need it,” Jain said.
