Downtown by design Downtown by design (October 01, 2004)

City adopts guidelines to help keep historic charm
by Dolores Fox Ciardelli

The City Council adopted the new Downtown Design Guidelines at its meeting last week, 4-0 with Mayor Tom Pico absent.

"The Guidelines are to give homeowners and property owners suggestions of how to remodel their homes, without it being cast in concrete or mandatory," said Principal Planner Jerry Iserson.

The guidelines were prepared under the direction of the Downtown Specific Plan Committee, which works on design and beautification policies to apply to new and remodeled buildings downtown. They cover building height, mass and color; signs downtown; parking structures; and the area around Arroyo del Valle.

The draft guidelines have been circulating in the city to see if they were workable. The Pleasanton Downtown Association recommended its approval, said attorney Peter MacDonald, PDA president.

"We're pleased with how city staff went about it," said MacDonald. "They got the guidelines ready then said let's see if we can follow them. We got to see how they worked for about a year and a half. They are both the right combination of clear guidelines yet not absolutes that are going to force people to build things they don't need."

The last guidelines were adopted in the mid-1980s, and did not include the residential area around downtown. The new guidelines also have better illustrations, and photographs of Pleasanton's many historic downtown homes and businesses.

The introduction notes that the architecture reflects the city's history from its 19th century beginnings to the present. The guidelines, it notes, are to ensure that construction projects in the area are a good fit with the existing environment.

The Downtown Design Guidelines are available at the Planning Department, 200 Old Bernal Ave.

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