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and found a nearby location that will enable their congregation to be anchored in the community to <br /> meet the spiritual and human needs of current and future generations. <br /> As background, in 2014 the leadership of the church began to take steps towards developing a plan for <br /> their current site that would bring the greatest good to the surrounding neighborhood, the City and the <br /> church. They invited Ponderosa Homes and Montessori School of Pleasanton to join them as partners. <br /> Together they have worked to create a new, carefully designed plan that will benefit the community and <br /> enable their church family to provide for their congregational future and continue their 140 year ministry <br /> of serving the City. <br /> The church currently has all approvals necessary to build the 3-story, 900-seat sanctuary, the 3-story <br /> gymnasium, the 2-story educational building, 3-story classroom addition together with a parking lot and <br /> final buildout could be used by a church or other religious organization of 3,500 members. Compared to <br /> buildout under this currently approved PUD, the plan before the Council benefits Ironwood <br /> neighborhood homeowners, residents of the Gardens at Ironwood and the surrounding community <br /> because it does reduce actual square footage being built. It eliminates large building masses and 3- <br /> story buildings are replaced by single family homes, and there is less overall traffic from the buildout. <br /> Additionally, they want to acknowledge the thoughtful questions people have raised regarding water <br /> use and concur with staff findings, and they also fully expect to use less water as noted and projected <br /> as demand in the report. <br /> The plan also provides for a permanent, high quality school that will serve the educational needs of <br /> children by retaining the existing PNI use in this location. He noted nearby residents will be able to walk <br /> their children to the school which currently occurs. In summary, the plan seeks to do what is best and <br /> most appropriate to complete this final 4 acres of the overall project. It has broad neighborhood support <br /> and represents a far less use of the property than the previously approved plan. <br /> Eric Alexander, Owner/Operator of the Montessori School of Pleasanton, voiced his support of the <br /> project, said the developer and church have worked closely together and making them part of the <br /> development process. He thinks the combination of the school and the residential neighborhood will be <br /> mutually beneficial. They have a number of other similar schools in arrangement and all are operating <br /> well. <br /> Pam Hardy, Ponderosa Homes, said she wanted to touch briefly on history and Mayor Thorne's <br /> question between the referended project and the project today. At that time the project for 300 units <br /> was prepared on the then-General Plan policies, specifically the Circulation Element which called for a <br /> street connection between Busch Road and Mohr Avenue. It was not as much the number of units but <br /> rather concern from the community after going through the approval process that the street did not <br /> connect. When they returned to develop the current plan, they were very mindful of this and developed <br /> a plan with staffs input that distributed the traffic to Camp, to Mohr, and to Busch Roads. <br /> She thanked staff for their input throughout the process and a better plan has been developed as a <br /> result. They wanted to respect the current Ironwood project by providing no internal street connections, <br /> providing a good gateway treatment at Valley and Busch, providing Iron Horse Trail access and <br /> providing a nice passive open space area near the corner. They also wanted to maintain the integrity of <br /> the existing landscaping along Busch and Ironwood for the existing community. <br /> Regarding the PNI issue, staff provided a good explanation of acreage and percentage. She added that <br /> the zoning ordinance allows, through the CUP process, the ability to locate churches in the residential <br /> zone areas. The CUP process also allows a church and other uses similar to those uses permitted in <br /> the PNI district to be found in Industrial, Office and Commercial districts and referred to Quarry Lane, <br /> the Johnson Drive area as examples. The bottom line is that the model for churches has changed and <br /> City Council Minutes Page 10 of 28 October 6, 2015 <br />