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Visual Impacts. The grading and potential retaining walls required for building a road up <br /> the side of that small hill to connect to Sunset Creek Lane would change the <br /> appearance of the north-facing slope. This is an interesting situation because that <br /> hillside is not really that visible; it is hardly visible from public vantage places and <br /> certainly not from public roads. It is visible from some of the trails and from some of the <br /> private homes; the staff report provides some visual simulations of what that might look <br /> like. <br /> Mr. Dolan stated that all these additional environmental impacts that have been <br /> identified in the EIR can be mitigated through fairly routine mitigation measures. He <br /> indicated that the geology and erosion impacts are pretty basic problems to solve and is <br /> done all the time: crossing creeks happens, permits are obtained, and the bridge or <br /> some kind of crossing is built. He continued that the biological impacts are all <br /> mitigatable: it will take time, cost money, and require expertise and review; but these <br /> are not show-stopper types of environmental impacts, and they are routinely mitigated <br /> throughout this City for many, many, projects. <br /> Issues from the Work Session and the Planning Commission <br /> Mr. Dolan then addressed the issues raised by the Planning Commission at the Work <br /> Session: <br /> Parks. A Commissioner suggested that the project include a park. Staff figured out <br /> basically the distance from the project to the existing park and determined that it is <br /> within the distance suggested in Planning documents as the ideal for a neighborhood <br /> park. Additionally, because there is so little land that is actually suitable for either <br /> development or a park, it is difficult to recommend that a park be included since one has <br /> already existed that meets the City's standards. <br /> Tree removal. A Commissioner stated that the mitigations suggested in terms of tree <br /> removal was a little too loose. Staff added some conditions to nail down what the tree <br /> mitigation would be and the ratio for various kinds of trees. Staff talked to the <br /> Commissioner who raised that issue, who seemed to be satisfied with the condition that <br /> would be adequately mitigating that loss. <br /> Visual impacts of the potential Sunset Creek connection. Staff provided some visual <br /> simulations in the staff report demonstrating these visual impacts. <br /> Analysis methodologies. A Commissioner basically asked staff to do a survey of how <br /> other communities tackle these issues. Staff researched what relevant and nearby <br /> communities do and did not find an absolute pattern; each community seems to treat it <br /> slightly differently. Documentation of that research is provided in the staff report. <br /> Water supply. This issue, which was obviously a big part of the dialogue in the <br /> discussion on the East Pleasanton Specific Plan (EPSP) where there is no General <br /> Plan designation that allows the uses being proposed; the designation for Lund Ranch <br /> site does. In the EPSP discussion, there were choices of whether land was going to be <br /> annexed to the City; Land Ranch is already in the City. The EPSP proposal was to <br /> change what zoning that did exist in the City from Industrial to Residential; Lund Ranch <br /> EXCERPT: PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES, June 24, 2015 Page 6 of 45 <br />