PC 010913 - Laserfiche WebLink

THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS CLOSED. Chair Blank stated that he was thinking about what Ms. Ayala just said and about Mr. Dolan's comment about Livermore and noted that Livermore having high- density housing near the BART station is just as unsafe as Pleasanton having high- density housing in the airport area in the East Pleasanton Plan. He indicated that he personally thinks it is an error for Livermore to put high- density housing near an airport because it is unsafe and exposes people to noise and pollution and all sorts of issues stemming from the airport. He added that he can understand from a political perspective why Livermore chose to lobby for that. He stated that Livermore wants that BART station and they are going to make it as attractive as possible for whoever does BART to put that BART station there, and the attraction of high- density housing is one of them. He indicated that he believes Livermore chose to make what he considers to be an error in judgment and apologized to anyone from the Livermore community, but he does not think Pleasanton should make that same error in judgment. Commissioner Narum basically agreed with Chair Blank. She stated that she does not really care about what Livermore is doing, but it comes down to Pleasanton is better than that. She noted that it is just not an appropriate place for housing, and one only has to look at other airports where housing has been put nearby and realize how people are complaining and trying to shut the airport down. She stated that it just does not make sense to her at this point to have that flexibility and has some questions as this relates to East Pleasanton. She noted that the Task Force seems to have a lot of interest in open space and questioned if this is going to create some problems with some of the things that are envisioned for the Specific Plan of that area. Ms. Stern stated that the Task Force has made some clarifications relating to the existing lakes, which have been clarified as existing uses and cannot be removed from the Plan; however, adding lakes or doing things like crops or the solar field was discussed, and she recalls that the Plan could affect solar array which would have an impact on those kind of open space uses like a golf course. Commissioner Narum stated that in other words, the City would not be doing a 4 -H farm out there. Ms. Stern said no. She indicated that it would be necessary to at least review that with the Task Force and make modifications. Chair Blank stated that to a great extent, open spaces are traditionally generally considered compatible airport uses, and that is why there are a lot of golf courses by airports. He noted that they are open, and if something does happen, some golfers may be affected, but that is better than taking out a school. He add that typically farms and solar panel installations are reviewed, and people think that they are reasonably compatible because they are open and there are no obstacles as opposed to a wind farm or something similar. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, January 9, 2013 Page 11 of 20