Reaching buildout Reaching buildout (February 06, 2004)

What's to come of what's left of Pleasanton
by Jeb Bing

It's been 40 years since Pleasanton produced its first General Plan to deal with future growth. Prepared at the urging of the city's first City Manager Jim Fields, the plan envisioned a population of 120,000 in a municipality that would expand toward Vallecitos Road and to the edge of Sunol.

Today, as the city finalizes its 2005 update of its most recent 1996 General Plan, city limits stop at Happy Valley in the southwest corner and at Ruby Hill and Isabel Road on the east. A voter-approved housing cap limits the number of homes and apartments to 29,000, which a demographer expects will lead to a buildout population of about 80,000.

By state law, every municipality must have a General Plan, and every plan must be updated every six years or so. Pleasanton's current General Plan was updated and approved by the City Council in 1996. At that time, more than 300 citizens took 3-1/2 years to complete the review, spending hundreds of hours in public hearings, neighborhood meetings and workshops.

In updating that plan, the new General Plan document is going through a more simplified process that, while inviting public comments, depends largely on city staff and city commissions to recommend and direct the changes. The main reason for moving the update process to City Hall, according to Principal Planner Wayne Rasmussen, who has charge of the project, is because most land use issues have been resolved.

Following the guidelines of the 1996 plan, large parcels of vacant acreage back then are now developed, under construction or approved for development in accordance with that General Plan. When completed, these housing projects will leave Pleasanton with 27,700 housing units, short of the 29,000 cap but enough to satisfy slow-growth advocates who are increasingly concerned about crowded streets, cut through traffic, congested schools and what some perceive as deteriorating air and water quality because of over-building.

Perhaps the most controversial issues to be debated as the 2005 plan moves toward final consideration are the proposed interchange at West Las Positas and I-680 and the extension of Stoneridge Drive east from the Mohr-Martin neighborhood to El Charro, I-580 and Livermore. Mayor Tom Pico has led the effort to take the interchange off the 2005 General Plan, a move that has support from residents who live near the crossover as well as some on the Planning Commission and City Council. Business groups largely oppose the plan, arguing that the interchange would improve traffic flow into the Hacienda Business Park and other office centers.

"If they take West Las Positas out of the plan, that will mean changing all of the traffic modeling that's gone on to handle traffic and traffic controls," said Brad Hirst, a long-time Pleasanton businessman who opposes eliminating the interchange plan. "CalTrans would probably like to see the interchange go away so they won't have to build it. But we have an agreement with them and I'm not sure how one party can unilaterally cancel a bilateral agreement."

As for the Stoneridge extension, neighborhood residents have voiced their opposition to building the roadway beyond the barricade that now blocks traffic near Mohr Elementary School. Although the street was built to accommodate up to six lanes of traffic, with no driveway accesses east of Santa Rita, an increase in cut-through traffic in Pleasanton has added to concerns that Stoneridge would become a major alternate route for I-580 commuters seeking another way to reach I-680.

Many comments at the community meetings dealt with issues outside the General Plan, but still showed concerns over community issues. They included Dublin's continued retail and commercial growth, including a new IKEA superstore scheduled to open next year, that some say is adding to Pleasanton's cut-through traffic. Others asked the city government to help thwart an attempt by Oracle to takeover PeopleSoft, to expand the downtown retail areas to the east side of First Street, to built high-rise buildings downtown and to widen Highway 84.

Principal Planner Rasmussen, who conducted the meetings, produced a 140-page booklet Jan. 7 listing hundreds of suggestions for improving Pleasanton, including 34 pages of e-mails. Most writers said they like Pleasanton as it is except for too much traffic, and oppose more development even if previously approved in the 1996 General Plan and the Stoneridge extension.

With regard to land use comments, only groups advocating more affordable and subsidized housing, both for those in the workforce and seniors, want the city to keep building. The Interfaith Poverty Forum and the giant and powerful Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) are calling for more housing in the Hacienda Business Park, where some companies, such as Shaklee, have determined that they don't need additional acreage that they own for future expansion and want to sell it to residential housing developers.

These affordable housing proponents are urging planners to rezone vacant land in Hacienda for low- to moderate-priced housing, building as many as 1,300 units that would be allowed under the 29,000-unit housing cap.

Ophelia Basgal, executive director of the Housing Authority of Alameda County, told a Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce group recently that her survey shows that 25 percent of Pleasanton employees cannot afford housing in the city. These include store clerks, childcare workers, office assistants and customer service representatives.

"Some of the most critical employees, the ones needed to be in the store every day at 8 a.m., can't afford to live near their workplace," she said. "This need for affordable housing is far outpacing the construction of housing, and the gap is growing."

What's clear as officials consider the 2005 General Plan is that development in Pleasanton is continuing at almost breakneck speed toward buildout, despite the recent sluggish economy. With nearly 25,000 housing units already built and another 2,500 under construction or approved, there's only room left for smaller projects. One of these is a proposal to build 188 condominium units in two- and three-story buildings and a three-level parking garage on the 5-acre, nearly vacant Vintage Hills Shopping Center at Tawny Drive and Bernal Avenue. In the 1996 General Plan, the site was designated to stay commercial and retail.

But the rest are under way or approved. They include:
Bernal Property

On the Bernal property, Greenbriar and KB Homes are completing the 581 houses and apartments the city authorized on this 170-acre parcel, where an additional 318 acres are now owned by the city for public uses. With rents ranging up to $2,000 a month and home prices between $750,000 and $1 million and more, these homes are in line with other high-priced housing in Pleasanton. The builders are providing 56 affordable duplex units for sale and 31 low-income apartments, but those are still far less than the 285 units that would have been available at affordable rates under the earlier plan by the city of San Francisco for 1,900 homes on the land it later sold to Greenbriar.
Vineyard Corridor

Across town, it's much the same. Of the 189 homes authorized for the Vineyard Corridor - down from an earlier plan for 750 - there will be no affordables. All of the housing projects have been approved as part of the Vineyard Corridor Specific Plan, although builders postponed their construction plans three years ago when the market for high-priced new homes started to soften. Patrick Costanzo Jr., Senior Vice President of Greenbriar Homes, said work could get under way shortly on his company's plan for 18 luxury homes on the Heinz farmland project, which will also connect to a 44-home project with similar architectural styles and a vineyard. Located near the new Mitchell Katz Winery, most of the 189 homes approved by the city are being designed to reflect a European wine country architectural flavor, including English Country, French Country, Mediterranean, Monterrey/Spanish or contemporary interpretations of these styles. The Vineyard Corridor is located east of Montevino and extends along the arroyo on the north to the hillsides above Vineyard to the south, and out to Ruby Hill.
Busch Property

Back in 1997, homeowners in the Mohr-Martin neighborhood and beyond packed City Council and Planning Commission meetings to protest plans by Ponderosa Homes for a 300-unit housing development on the Busch property, a weed-choked 89-acre parcel bounded by Mohr and Valley avenues and the city Operations yard. Later, after a series of neighborhood meetings by Ponderosa and a reduction in housing numbers, neighbors and city officials agreed with a new plan, giving Ponderosa the green light to break ground last fall for a multi-million-dollar mixed-use development that will include 191 homes, 172 senior apartments, a new Presbyterian church and possibly a new public school facility.

Ten years in planning, the new project will be the city's last major housing development unless the city extends its boundaries or authorizes a large housing development in the Hacienda Business Park. Called Ironwood, Ponderosa's new community will include 16 duets and as many as 138 apartments available only to seniors 55 and older

The Pleasanton school district accepted Ponderosa's offer of a special-priced 21-acre site adjacent to its development, signing a contract committing it to purchase the property within five years at a price 80 percent below today's market value. If the board decides against using the land after the five-year period, Ponderosa has agreed to repurchase it for a price 120 percent above the market value at that time, and could then seek additional housing approvals.
Happy Valley

Work continues on new $1-million-plus homes in Greenbriar's Bridle Creek community at Sycamore Creek Road near Sunol Boulevard and on another 62 homes just south of the neighborhood that are being built by Summerhill Homes. Nearby, Greenbriar is completing an environmental impact report on its plans for 113 additional homes in a 196-acre parcel known as Lund Ranch II. Once completed, Sycamore Creek Road will extend through ranchland owned by Al Spotorno. Annexed into the city last year, Spotorno's undeveloped property has approval under the Happy Valley Specific Plan for 80 homes in the hills above Alisal Street, where a Callippe Preserve golf course bypass road would also be constructed. In the Spotorno ranch flat land near Alisal, he has approved to build 16 homes on two-acre lots, but could increase this to 22 homes on 1-1/2 acre lots if he dedicates part of the land for open space.
Merritt Property

Property owners James and Hilda Merritt lost their bid to build 85 homes on 35 acres they own off Foothill Road in a referendum four years ago that was initiated by adjacent property owners. At any time, they could seek to annex the unincorporated acreage into Pleasanton and have approval for 64 homes, which are allowed under the 1996 General Plan.
Kottinger Hills

Also defeated in a voter referendum, the Kottinger Hills project above Kottinger Ranch is back on the planning table, but without the proposed golf course that neighbors didn't want. Even so, Charter Properties of Pleasanton now wants to build as many as 98 homes on the 562-acre parcel, which would be reached on Hearst Drive off Bernal Avenue. Developer James Tong also plans to meet Pleasanton's strict inclusionary housing ordinance for affordable housing by building a 20-unit project in another location.
Ruby Hill

Signature Properties has approval to build 850 homes in this gated community on the city's eastern border. About 150 remain to be constructed under this planned unit development agreement.

Rasmussen said the Planning Commission has scheduled a public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, to review public comments on the 2005 General Plan update. The City Council will hold a workshop on traffic issues at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24. These will be the first in a series of meetings at City Hall to complete work on the General Plan by early next spring.

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