January 07, 2005

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Publication Date: Friday, January 07, 2005

Changing demographics, housing needs affect General Plan

The city's newly appointed Planning Director Jerry Iserson said that changes in Pleasanton's population and an increased focus on environmental, affordable housing and traffic concerns are likely to dominate debates over the next 12 months as the city updates its 1996 General Plan.

By state law, all cities must have a General Plan, which is supposed to be updated every five years. Iserson said it is possible that work on the current update could extend into 2006, doubling the shelf life of land use guidelines now in place.

City Manager Nelson Fialho, who took that post just two months ago, agreed.

"We may need to take a little more time to talk to people in the community about the programs under consideration," Fialho said. "That wouldn't be the worse thing that could happen if we take more time to get the community behind the plan and have more general support."

Iserson joined Fialho in a report to the Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Committee, discussing major planning concepts and goals for 2005. He said that with the city's population changing in terms of makeup and diversity, the General Plan should reflect new requirements.

"While we're as interested as the rest of community in keeping Pleasanton a family-oriented community with a major focus on schools, parks and recreation and cultural programs, we also recognize that our population is maturing with a corresponding decrease in our young adult and school-age population," he said. "We have to work to increase the supply of affordable housing for young adults so that we can stabilize this portion of our population."

Iserson said the new General Plan, which will now be updated under his supervision, will need to focus on making the remaining undeveloped acreage more affordable, including consideration for rezoning some vacant commercial properties in Hacienda Business Park for high-density, transit-center-type apartments and townhomes.

"As we near buildout of Pleasanton, with a 29,000 housing unit cap, there just aren't a lot of properties left," he said. "We only have about 3 percent of the current General Plan total number of housing units still available, or about 1,700 units below the housing cap. We only have about 17 percent of land that is designated for office, commercial or industrial uses still available. Some of that is what we will be looking at for affordable housing."

He said traffic concerns are among the highest priority in revising and updating the General Plan. With several major intersections already over the service standard level required under today's planning document, officials are considering revisions that would make these levels acceptable so that new businesses and affordable housing can be built. Without a change, he explained, the traffic congestion restrictions, themselves, could halt future development.

Iserson identified three major housing development proposals that are under consideration: Kottinger Hills, Lund Ranch 2 and on undeveloped acreage in Happy Valley owned by rancher Al Spotorno.

An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is being prepared now for Lund Ranch 2, part of the North Sycamore development off Sycamore Creek Road. Greenbriar Homes sought approval of a plan for 115 homes there, but the City Council asked Greenbriar to increase the number to 150 and reduce the size of the homes to make them more affordable. That revised plan will be considered this spring.

Greenbriar also is involved with a proposal for the Spotorno ranch site, a level strip of land east of Alisal Street. That plan calls for up to 90 homes, but it would require changing the Happy Valley Specific Plan, a controversial issue that Iserson said would face neighborhood opposition. Even so, Greenbriar is preparing an EIR for that plan, as well.

Without that development, a proposed bypass road to keep golf course traffic off Alisal when the city's new municipal course opens late this year, would have to be funded by taxpayers, not a developer as originally planned. The specific plan, in fact, calls for building the road in the hills above Alisal and out of sight from Happy Valley homeowners. Iserson said the cost of that project, estimated at over $15 million, plus geotechnical studies that show the land there is unstable, might make that plan unfeasible.

Plans for the Kottinger Hills development call for 98 homes on undeveloped land at the end of Hearst Drive, which extends through Kottinger Ranch. Once coupled with a proposed 18-hole private golf course, a plan that voters rejected in a special referendum 12 years ago, the new plan calls for the same number of homes, but with much larger lots instead of a golf course.

Residential development on the Kottinger Hills site is allowed under the 1996 General Plan, but that could be changed in drafting the revised plan, Iserson said.

Public hearings on revising the General Plan will be held throughout the year, Iserson said, with the first of four consecutive hearings on traffic issues scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 11, in the City Council chamber. In these joint workshops, members of the Planning Commission and City Council will take public comments and discuss proposals to remove both the proposed West Las Positas Boulevard interchange at I-680 and the extension of Stoneridge Drive to Livermore from the new General Plan. Both are currently allowed in the 1996 plan.

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