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This question was raised again at the May 20 meeting, and staff was asked to review the <br /> 1986 and 1996 General Plans as they related to this issue. The Land Use Elements of <br /> both the 1986 General Plan and the 1996 General Plan contain similar definitions of <br /> "gross developable acres",except that the 1996 General Plan excludes arroyos from gross <br /> developable acreage. Furthermore, the 1996 definition of gross developable acres <br /> provides,"The terrain of the land shall be considered when land use designations are <br /> given, so that land which is not feasible for development does not get redesignated to <br /> Low, Medium, or High Density Residential." <br /> Another change between the two General Plans relates to the Pleasanton Ridgelands. The <br /> wording of this entire section of the Land Use Element was re-written in 1996 due to the <br /> approval of Measure F(a General Plan amendment) in the intervening years(1993); the <br /> new language in the Pleasanton Ridgelands section of the 1996 General Plan reflects the <br /> language of Measure F. <br /> One of the changes was that the 1986 General Plan listed the four land use designations <br /> applicable to the Pleasanton Ridge area: Low Density Residential, Rural Density <br /> Residential,Public Health&Safety, and Parks and Recreation. The description of"Rural <br /> Density Residential" included language that Pleasanton Ridgelands properly designated <br /> Rural Density Residential is less than 25%slope, and the description of"Public Health& <br /> Safety"included language that Pleasanton Ridgeland property designated Public Health <br /> &Safety is greater than 25%slope. MI of these land use designations as they related to <br /> the Pleasanton Ridgelands were removed from this section of the 1996 General Plan;they <br /> still appear in another section of the Land Use Element but they do not reference slopes. <br /> Staff believes these changes were made because as stated,Measure F expressed the <br /> City's new Pleasanton Ridgelands policy and it was included in the 1996 General Plan <br /> and language concerning development on slopes of 25% and greater was addressed in <br /> greater detail in the Public Safety and Conservation&Open Space Elements. <br /> 5.13 Floor Area Ratio (FAR)calculation <br /> The issue was raised at the May 20 hearing concerning using different techniques to <br /> address house size in hill area developments. Since lot sizes tend to be larger in hillside <br /> developments and since visibility is an important issue with hillside homes, staff <br /> suggested a few different ways to use FAR to limit house sizes, such as using a lower <br /> FAR,eliminating highly sloped areas from the parcel size,and basing the FAR on the <br /> building envelope, not the entire parcel. A specific method could be selected if clarifying <br /> hillside regulations are developed, and the issue of limiting house size in sloped areas is <br /> addressed. <br /> 5.14 Grading style, building height, and visibility issues <br /> Grading style, building height, and visibility are interrelated issues with hillside <br /> development,and there are sometimes trade-offs among them. <br /> 17 <br />