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The Pleasanton Planning Commission on Wednesday is set to discuss a city proposal for rezoning parcels on Johnson Drive that would set the stage for how to bring Costco, hotels and other new commercial uses to land just off Interstate 680.
The Johnson Drive Economic Development Zone (JDEDZ) seeks to breathe new life into largely underutilized, but highly visible, property that includes a nearly 20-acre chunk left vacant — except for leftover building rubble — after Clorox closed its research center there.
The EDZ concept in part aims to transform the area “into a thriving commercial corridor that capitalizes on its location at the intersection of the I-580 and I-680 freeways,” associate planner Eric Luchini wrote in his staff report to the commission.
Other key goals, Luchini said, include “creating opportunities for new land-uses and services in the community to broaden the city’s economic base, thereby generating new tax revenue to support city services and programs, and streamlining the development review process for new land-uses through completed California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) documentation and in most cases staff-level review processes.”
The JDEDZ plan will detail rules for how redevelopment could occur at the 12 parcels in question, at 7106 to 7315 Johnson Drive and 7035 and 7080 Commerce Circle with a mix of land-uses. Some of the land is vacant while other areas are currently in use.
Sites in operation in the JDEDZ include FedEx, AT&T, Black Tie Transportation and Valley Bible Church. Existing land-uses in the JDEDZ area would be permitted to continue as is, protected by grandfathering provisions.
Costco has been in talks with Nearon Enterprises, the owner of the former Clorox site, and the wholesale retail giant is expected to purchase a parcel along Johnson Drive though that hasn’t been finalized, according to city staff. Hotels operators have expressed interest publicly in the JDEDZ, and other retail spaces of various sizes have also been proposed for the area.
The City Council last month signed off on a financing agreement with Costco to pay for needed road infrastructure improvements to accommodate the JDEDZ, a deal that includes a 60-40 sales tax sharing agreement with Costco to cover a portion of the costs.
Before the commission Wednesday night will be whether to recommend the full JDEDZ proposal to the council for approval by the end of the year.
That administrative package includes endorsing the final supplemental environmental impact report for the JDEDZ area.
It also features a General Plan amendment to change the land-use designations of the site to retail-highway-service commercial and business and professional offices, as well as rezoning the properties to planned unit development commercial.
The commission meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Wednesday inside the council chamber at the Pleasanton Civic Center, 200 Old Bernal Ave.
In other business
The commission is set to decide whether Jayanti Dixit can expand her family day care business to a maximum of 12 children at a house on 2875 Garden Creek Circle, off Stoneridge Drive east of the intersection with Santa Rita Road.
Dixit has been operating Garden Creek Daycare with up to six children at the home for the past 10 years. She received approval from the city’s zoning administrator in June to double the size of her operation, but neighbor Gary Sears appealed that decision to the Planning Commission, citing noise concerns
The zoning administrator’s approval included a noise mitigation plan supported by Sears at that meeting, but he subsequently filed an appeal in opposition to the project, according to city staff.
City officials recommend approval of the day care expansion. Under the proposal, Garden Creek Daycare would watch up to two infants, two toddlers, six preschoolers and two school-aged children in a day.
