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The Pleasanton City Council unanimously signed off on an application on Tuesday for the development of a new gated community for seniors that will be located just a few blocks south of Foothill High School.
The project will produce 110 new age-restricted homes and was designed with input from the surrounding communities, which is mostly why council members said they liked the overall design and public improvements that will come with the new Pleasanton neighborhood.
“It will be a great asset for the community,” Vice Mayor Julie Testa said. “I know there’s a couple of residents who are still mourning the loss of their field, but I think the applicants spent a lot of time and sincere effort connecting with the neighbors and addressing everything that could be addressed.”
In December 2023, the council zoned the site project site — which is known as the Merritt property — 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.
While the developer still needs to submit an application to the Alameda County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) to annex the piece of unincorporated land into the city, Testa said the developer spoke with Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert who said he will support all of the units on the property counting toward Pleasanton’s total RHNA numbers.
Jim Summers — president of development and construction firm The DeSilva Group — said the plan to develop homes at that site has been around since the 1960s.
“We have been very patient in waiting for the right opportunity to bring a well thought out and well planned project to the city of Pleasanton,” he said. “We have planned this project to be sensitive to the adjoining neighborhoods. This project brings many public benefits to the Pleasanton community.”
Summers — who is also a managing member of project applicant Foothill Boulevard Holding Company, LLC — said he has been personally involved with the project development since the ’90s, which is when the project applicant first gained ownership of the majority of the project site.
According to Eric Luchini, senior city planner, the approved project will construct a 111-lot residential subdivision across 46 acres located on the east side of Foothill Road between Muirwood Drive and Puri Court.
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.
The homes would be for age-qualified residents and would be made up of 92 single-family detached homes — which would be sold at market rate — and 18 affordable senior courtyard detached and duet homes. The 18 affordable homes for sale will be deed-restricted for qualified buyers at moderate income.
“I’d like to see this project move forward,” T.J. McGrath, a Pleasanton resident who has been looking for such a place to relocate to, told the council. “I think it’s a real plus to the city.”
While Councilmember Jeff Nibert pointed out that the affordable unit count is a little bit low, he said every bit counts, which was the general consensus throughout the council.
“I think there’s a need for senior housing,” Councilmember Valerie Arkin said.
The units will already be built to sell — only three of the lots at the project site remain vacant and will be reserved for future custom homes.
Luchini said the development plans include seven distinct architectural styles, eight floor plans and 17 distinct elevations throughout the project. He said the market rate units will range in size from 2,300 to 4,300 square feet and four will have accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Attached or detached casitas and ADUs will be available for construction if buyers would like to add them — staff said these would be good housing options for caregivers or family members.
The below-market-rate units will range in size from 1,300 to 1,420 square feet and will look pretty much the same as the market rate units in terms of design.
Luchini said the heights for these homes range between 25 feet to 32 feet and that while most will be single stories, there will be an option for a second story in order to provide an additional room. However, the applicant said these second-story homes would be facing away from surrounding neighborhoods in order to ensure privacy.
The proposed project would be surrounded on all sides by residential neighborhoods with the only vehicle access point being a single driveway off Foothill Road. Pedestrians will be able to access the community through various other gated entry points.
Emergency vehicles will also have access to the community via three outlets that staff said would be easily accessible to those first responders.
A 50-foot setback would be built along the sides of the gated community to ensure privacy and a buffer between the existing residences and the new development — an eight-foot-tall soundwall will also be built around the project exterior.
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.
While all of those new parking spaces might raise questions about traffic, both staff and the applicant team ensured that this project will not impact traffic in that area.
“The project’s 111 homes would produce around 440 daily trips compared to 860 trips as produced by 91 non-age restricted homes,” Luchini said.
The applicant team said it conducted a field observation analysis at a similar senior community and found that there would be roughly 50% to 60% fewer peak hour trips. Luchini said that’s because seniors in those communities tend to avoid travel during peak hours.
The fact that the majority of the residents at the future community will be seniors will also bring no impact to the school district in terms of overpopulation, which Arkin said she appreciated.
Luchini added that residents and the Planning Commission — which approved the project during its June 26 commission meeting — did raise some concerns about the difficulty and safety of residents living in the new development turning onto Foothill Road.
However, a supplemental memorandum that was prepared by the city traffic engineer showed adequate sight distance on Foothill Road for typical speed and volumes.
Luchini said the lower traffic volumes would not warrant a traffic signal at the project’s entrance but he added that staff’s recommendation is to install radar speed signs and monitor the traffic after the project is complete before considering a new traffic signal.
Along with the new housing, the project will also bring an array of other improvements that staff, the developer and the council all agreed would benefit the overall community and the surrounding neighborhood.
One of the site improvements lauded by the developer and city staff will be the widening of Foothill Road in order to create two left-turn pocket lanes and the creation of a six-foot-wide bike lane in both directions.
According to the applicant team, this will be a $4 million project that will be paid by the developer.
While the bike lane and road widening were seen as positive safety improvements, Pleasanton resident and avid cycling advocate Sharon Piekarski told the council that she had previously raised some concerns that were not mentioned in the staff report.
“Foothill Road is a high speed corridor which is frequently used by cyclists,” Piekarski said. “And this particular section is near Foothill High School, which makes it particularly important that an all ages and abilities facility be built.”
The facility she was referring to is a protected bike lane. She said while some might just tell cyclists to ride on the sidewalks, she said that will be dangerous and things like green bollards need to be installed so there’s a clear buffer between cyclists and cars.
City traffic engineer Mike Tassano told the council that cyclists have expressed mixed reviews on bollards that are around a couple sections of Foothill Road and suggested that before the city makes the developer install these bollards, it should hear more from the community on whether installing those bike lane buffers would be a good idea or not.
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. The trail extension will connect the five-acre Meadowlark Park to this community, according to the applicant team, and it will be accessible to the public, which will make it easier for students to get to Foothill High School.
The applicant will also pay for the construction of that trail extension and the ongoing maintenance of the trail. Additionally, the applicant will be paying $7.5 million in city fees, a $1 million public safety contribution and related impact fees to the Pleasanton Unified School District.
“With all of the public improvements that are being paid for by the developer … I see nothing to dislike,” Nibert said. “It’s an outstanding project.”
Another concern residents brought up at the Planning Commission and at the council meeting was the issue of flooding in that area. The applicant team said that they don’t expect flooding will be an issue because 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.
Other issues that were addressed during the council meeting were regarding the water supply and power grid which staff said the water supply shouldn’t be an issue considering that the city continues to purchase water from the Zone 7 Water Agency and is working with PG&E to address power outages due to structural issues with the city’s power system.
Councilmember Jack Balch noted that while he agrees the project will provide community benefits and that there is definitely a need for senior housing, he questioned age-restricted housing developments for the future because there is declining enrollment at PUSD and there should be housing for all types of families.
“As we think about age-restricted (homes) in this particular case, there’s a lot of pluses and a lot of reasons why that works here right now. There is a market and a need for it,” Balch said. “But just as a community, we’re beautiful when we have all of us here.”
