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The Pleasanton Planning Commission will consider making several recommendations to the City Council on Wednesday that could set the stage for nearly 1,500 new residential units across three sites.
According to the agenda report, these General Plan, zoning ordinance and objective design standard amendments are part of a 2025 settlement agreement where the city agreed to consider rezoning three properties for high-density residential housing.
“These amendments and re-zoning are proposed in fulfillment of a June 2025 Settlement Agreement between the City of Pleasanton and a housing advocacy group, the Housing Action Coalition (HAC), based on a dispute over the adequacy of the 6th Cycle Housing Element’s site inventory,” staff said in Wednesday’s report. “In the agreement, the City committed to enact the rezonings of three specified sites for high density housing by December 31, 2026.”
Three years ago, the city adopted its 2023-2031 Housing Element, a state-mandated document that outlines how the city plans to build housing for various levels of income. The document was later certified by the California Department of Housing and Community Development in September 2023 after the city made additional state-required revisions.
However, right after the state certified the city’s document, the Housing Action Coalition — an affordable housing advocacy nonprofit — sent a letter to the city which, in part, sought a “writ of mandate requiring the city to adopt a new Housing Element that complies with state law”.
According to the Nov. 27, 2023 letter from the coalition, Pleasanton’s Housing Element did not comply with state law and stated that the city’s site inventory “lists sites with existing uses that create an obstacle to residential development”.
Despite not agreeing with the coalition’s view of the Housing Element’s adequacy, the city approved a settlement agreement which stipulated that the City Council would have to consider rezoning three additional sites to include in its Housing Element document, which is what is being proposed to the Planning Commission on Wednesday.
According to the Sept. 9 agenda report, the three sites in question are located at 3825 and 3875 Hopyard Road, 4515 Rosewood Drive, and 5960 Inglewood Drive.
Each of the three sites, which total approximately 30 acres of land across Pleasanton, would be rezoned to housing opportunity zone district and receive what staff call a “Housing Opportunity Site Overlay.”
“A development project would be subject to separate review in the future should an owner propose a project on any of the rezoned properties,” according to staff. “The rezoning as part of the subject action would result in capacity for up to 1,438 net new residential units.”
According to the agenda report, all three of the sites are located in developed, urban areas and are surrounded by commercial businesses and residential neighborhoods. Each of the sites are occupied by commercial office buildings and retail stores.
“The proposed General Plan Amendments designate the proposed sites for residential development and establish a regulatory framework for implementation,” staff noted in the agenda report. “The (objective design standards) regulate site planning and building design elements, including height, setbacks, massing, landscaping, and architectural design, to ensure consistency with General Plan policies and compatibility with surrounding land uses.”
If approved by the City Council, as is, at a later date, each site could see anywhere from 30 dwelling units per acre to as much as 60 dwelling units per acre.
The Planning Commission meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday (Sept. 9). The full agenda can be accessed here.
In other business
During the consent calendar portion of the meeting, which is when commissioners discuss items that are typically approved by a single vote with little or no discussion, the Planning Commission will consider two conditional use permits.
One will be to allow an indoor recreation facility to operate with a maximum of 10 people at 1047 Serpentine Lane, Suites 400 and 500.
The second permit seeks to increase the number of students at any one time from 20 to 40 students at the iCode Pleasanton tutoring school, located at 2709 Stoneridge Drive, Suite 110.
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