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The Pleasanton City Council is set to review the city’s most recent 2023-31 Housing Element draft, which includes modifications and updates such as a reduced rezone site list, during Tuesday’s council meeting.
According to the staff report, the following sites are being recommended for removal from the list: Old Santa Rita area; Pimlico Drive area, north; Boulder Court; Owens Drive sites (Motel 6 and Tommy T’s); Rheem Drive area; Sonoma Drive area; and the St. Augustine Catholic Church.
“While all of these sites are potentially viable/acceptable sites and could be included in the Housing Element, staff suggests there are sites which better merit inclusion,” according to the report.
Reducing the site list was always on the table, according to the staff report — the decision to do so came after several layers of evaluations and reports back from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).
“Based on these additional inputs and several other criteria (i.e., the initial site rankings, school impacts, HCD review, owner interest, and public comments), staff suggests a narrowed site list that more closely aligns to the city’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), and upon which the City Council’s input is also sought,” according to the staff report.
City staff began working on the city’s sixth Housing Element cycle back in March 2021 to meet the state-mandated RHNA of 5,965 new units.
They underwent a public participation process through which public comments, input by the Housing Commission and Planning Commission, and prior City Council direction led to the current draft that will be brought to the council on Tuesday.
In addition to the HCD’s review, the city prepared a Environmental Impact Report draft to “analyze the potentially significant effects of implementing the Housing Element and development of its various sites with housing.”
A traffic Level of Service (LOS) Assessment — which evaluates the traffic impacts of the Housing Element — has also been completed and will be presented to the council.
After the council weighs in on the Housing Element draft, the Planning Commission and the City Council will conduct a public hearing on Jan. 31 to consider adopting the final draft of the Housing Element and certification of the Environmental Impact Report.
Staff will then have to resubmit the Housing Element to the HCD between February and March for final certification — the HCD will have 30-60 days to review the document and issue a letter of substantial compliance.
Current site inventory list
Lester property
Stoneridge Shopping Center
Laborers Council
Signature Center
Hacienda Terrace
Muslim Community Center of the East Bay
Metro 580
St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church
Tri-Vallev Inn
Valley Plaza
Black Avenue area
Kiewit affordable housing site
Kiewit market-rate housing sites
Merritt property
Sunol Boulevard area
Pleasanton Unified School District headquarters
PUSD’s Vineyard Avenue property
Oracle property
The City Council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday (Dec. 20). The full agenda can be accessed here.
In other business
* The council will be set to review and provide feedback on the city’s objective design standards, which are being updated to line up with future development that come from the city’s to-be-adopted Housing Element.
“In response to recent changes in state law that seek to streamline and increase housing production, the city is updating existing design guideline documents relevant to residential development such that they provide objective standards,” according to the staff report. “These state law changes are focused on making approval processes more routine and predictable for developers by creating objective standards in lieu of more discretionary or subjective review procedures.”
The city’s Planning Commission, who had reviewed the objective design standards draft last Wednesday, will be presenting objective standards that apply to sites on the 2023-31 Housing Element site list and to smaller infill projects in zoning districts that allow residential multifamily or mixed-use development.
“Adoption of the objective design standards concurrent with the Housing Element will ensure that proposed development is consistent with these standards, and that smaller infill projects are also subject to the relevant objective standards,” according to the staff report.
Once the council provides feedback on Tuesday, staff will seek final adoption concurrent with the Housing Element in January.
* The Pleasanton Police Department will be requesting council approval to seek grant funding in order to purchase a tactical robot that will help officers “safely conduct building searches and de-escalate incidents.”
This item is part of the council’s consent calendar, which are items that are routine in nature and are usually approved without discussion.
According to the staff report, PPD is looking to apply for a grant in the amount of $108,646 through the State Homeland Security Grant 2023 application process — these funds will go toward purchasing the robot.
The robot itself will be used in a non-weaponized manner during high-risk scenarios such as searching for suspects who might have barricaded themselves inside a building, according to the report.
“In May 2022, police personnel responded to a barricaded suspect in Pleasanton who fired numerous shots from a rifle,” according to the staff report. “Police officers requested robots from the Alameda County Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit to help search for the suspect. The robots proved highly effective in locating and communicating with the suspect who was safely apprehended.”
The deadline for PPD to apply for the grant is Dec. 23 — if the grant is approved, staff would not purchase the robot until January 2024 when the grant funds become available.
* Another consent calendar agenda item is the ratification of Councilmember Jack Balch’s appointment as the incoming vice mayor for the next year.
Every year, the mayor of Pleasanton reviews and revises assignments to various City Council subcommittees as well as local and regional boards and commissions.
Balch’s appointment to vice mayor was part of that review process — he will be replacing current Vice Mayor Valarie Arkin who will return to her role as a councilmember.
Balch joined the council in 2020 after having served on the city’s Planning Commission and Parks and Recreation Commission.
* Before the regular agenda begins, the council at 6:30 p.m. will say goodbye to outgoing Councilmember Kathy Narum and host the swearing-in ceremony for new District 1 Councilmember Jeff Nibert in addition to reelected Councilmember Julie Testa and Mayor Karla Brown.
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