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The Pleasanton City Council begrudgingly adopted a new Housing Element Tuesday that includes the 70 acres rezoned last year or high-density residential homes and apartments and now becomes part of the city’s legally-binding General Plan.
The housing ordinance was approved after City Manager Nelson Fialho and Brian Dolan, Director of Community Development, said the detailed document had been reviewed and accepted by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) as meeting state housing mandates through 2023.
Housing Elements are part of the General Plans required by all California cities to show that they are meeting the statewide housing goal of “attaining decent housing and a suitable living environment for every California family.”
Although Tuesday’s vote to adopt the housing ordinance was unanimous, it was not a vote council members took lightly or even willingly.
“It’s frustrating to see so much dictation of how to run our city coming from the state level,” said Councilwoman and Vice Mayor Karla Brown. “The Housing Element is the state’s way of telling the city of Pleasanton how to control its housing.
Mayor Jerry Thorne agreed.
“I continue to be frustrated with the state meddling in our local affairs, but the fact is it’s going to get worse,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of times at the state level where they want to tell us how to run things and they want to make us do things their way whether we like it or not.”
“We’re fighting this like crazy through the League of California Cities (where Thorne is a member),” he added. “The last time we did a count, we had killed 16 bills that were going to take away local control in the last legislative session. We’ll keep fighting but I think the state is going to keep trying.”
Added Councilwoman Kathy Narum: “I hope we are able to reach out to our new legislators and at least try to impress on them some of our frustrations, some of these things that are being dictated to us.”
Both Narum and Thorne pointed out, however, that the city’s unsuccessful and costly court fights with Urban Habitat and a Superior Court judge in 2012 might not have happened if the city had complied with the Housing Element requirement ahead of time.
“I think it’s important that we comply with the law,” Narum said. “We certainly don’t need any more lawsuits. I don’t want to spend taxpayer money in lawsuits that we can’t win.”
Thorne also talked about the need for a state-approved Housing Element.
“If we had been protected with a Housing Element, we would have been protected against lawsuits,” Thorne explained. “That says something about complying with the law whether you like it or not.”
It was the city’s failure to reach an agreement during the 2007-2014 cycle of the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), plus a housing cap approved by voters in 1996, that led Urban Habitat to seek a court order for compliance.
With both the state and a court ruling threatening to strip the city of its zoning powers, city leaders spent nearly two years and held hundreds of hours of community meetings, public hearings and staff discussions to fulfill the RHNA requirements before the deadline Dec. 31.
By then, the City Council had rezoned 70 acres for high-density residential development on nine separate sites in various parts of Pleasanton for apartment-style units to accommodate the requirements in State Housing laws. The rezoning allowed for high-density developments of 30 units per acre would be allowed.
Two of those developments are currently underway. A 168-unit, three- and four-story complex on West Las Positas Boulevard near Stoneridge Drive, being built by St. Anton Partners, is nearing completion. Work is just starting on a multi-story complex of 498 apartments in three-and-four-story buildings in Hacienda Business Park, being built by Essex Property Trust.
The only change to the Housing Element approved Tuesday, which was accepted by state authorities, is cutting the previously-allowed density on an apartment complex on property owned by C.M. Capital on West Las Positas Road to 12.5 units per acre from 30 and to chop the height of anything built there to two stories at the most.
Council members also talked about the benefits the new Housing Element will bring to the city.
“We’ll have coming forward a large amount of affordable housing in Pleasanton that we didn’t have before,” Councilwoman Brown said. “We’re going to have housing that hopefully our children and others who want to live in Pleasanton can afford.”
Last year, the City Council approved a new Growth Management ordinance that limits the number of residential housing permits to 235 units annually. Those numbers can be bunched to allow developers the option of building more units one year, but then that excess must be subtracted going forward to keep to a 235-unit average through 2023.
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, ax, and saw.
When driving on Las Positas, there is an apartment complex being built that says “luxury apartments” near
the corner of Willow and Las Positas. Is this part of the affordable housing.
Still do not know why there cannot be a stay on new construction since we were just told the 25% reduction
is still in effect.
Pleasanton did this to itself. Had the City Council of Pleasanton possessed the slightest bit of sophistication, finesse, self-awareness, or intelligence over the last 20 years, the state lawsuit would have never come about in the first place. But no, the City had to put in place the most egregious housing cap in the entire state and expected it not to draw attention. The yokel city council could have actually put a less severe housing cap in place and I bet my bottom dollar it wouldn’t have been an issue with the state. This all points to a provincial City Council that is in way over its head and acts like spoiled children when their poor idea don’t work out. Glad I live on the Peninsula.
Glad my grandchildren go to a great school out of Pleasanton where there are small class sizes.
This town is not the best for families with children anymore.
And where are the plans to build at least one addition school at each level –elem, middle, high– to accommodate the influx of new students?
Call me what you want
We are going to add all this low cost housing so more India families can move in from fremont.
So how will help the families in Ptwon who need housing. The hard working people we see in our town each day?
I would like to see the housing go to them 1st.
I don’t think the State forced us to plan to develop a brand new 1,300- 2,200 new
(Non-Affordable) housing project on the Eastside………. I don’t think the evil State made us do that!!
Any more info on that???
I think the Developer Lobby got what they wanted…. Big Money gets listened to, average citizens not do much!
This is crazy with all the,low I come moving here! We don’t want any. Ore black or I Dian mo I g here! Have you see the bombi gs in Paris? Have you seen the gang writing on so many of our. Wall!! Why are we changing Pleasanton! It’s turning g out just like Dublin!!! What a shame! We give everything away! What about the families thT were raised here. Let them have a house first before giving it to INDIANS!!!!!!!! Tired of them!
“”If we had been protected with a Housing Element, we would have been protected against lawsuits,” Thorne explained. “That says something about complying with the law whether you like it or not.”
Exactly! The city leaders knew or should have known that they were stepping over the line in promoting so much business development in Pleasanton but at the same time trying to avoid building housing to accommodate all those new workers. That was a big No-no. One can argue all day about whether such a law makes sense, but the bottom line is that it was the law and the city leaders were foolish in overstepping the line by not a little bit, but by a mile.