PC 042314 - Laserfiche WebLink

that the City has to bend and fill its RHNA numbers; however, she absolutely is asking the Commission to stick to the voters of Pleasanton and the 29,000 unit housing cap. Ms. Ayala then read the following from the General Plan: "Encourage school enrollment sizes that maintain neighborhood character, provide facilities, specialized programs." She noted that the current target is 600 students in the elementary level, and Pleasanton has upwards of 800 students; 1,000 students in middle school, and there are 1,500 students in the three middle schools; and 2,000 students at comprehensive high schools, and there are over 2,500 at each of the comprehensive high schools. She pointed out that it is the Commission's task to plan the City for all its infrastructure needs, including water which is a big problem, and asked that it stand to the General Plan when it is rezoning properties. Jeff Schroeder, Ponderosa Homes, stated that he is here representing the Lester property and the CenterPointe Presbyterian Church property and would also like to speak on behalf of the Shriner property, which has a General Plan designation of up to two units per acre on a portion of that property. Mr. Schroeder congratulated the developers of the Workday project, which is fantastic and really great for the City. He indicated that Ponderosa is a tenant there and that it has changed a lot in the last two years; for example, the parking lot was empty when they moved in, and it is now full, which is wonderful and shows the unknowns and uncertainties that can happen in the process. He noted that obviously, in the previous Housing Element update, no one knew Workday was going to come in, take over and buy 550,000 square feet of space already there and build another million square feet, which is great for this community. Mr. Schroeder stated that one of the reasons the RHNA numbers dropped was the economy. He noted that the process that was gone through to prepare those numbers is not done by the real world but by people serving in an ivory tower with some input from the real world. He indicated that the numbers that they come up with assume that everybody is going to live in high rises in Oakland and San Francisco, and clearly this is not going to happen. He added that they will need to live somewhere, and even if they do live in high rises in San Francisco, when they have children, they're going to want to live in Pleasanton, Danville, or San Ramon, and there is not enough housing. He noted that there are uncertainties, and some of the sites for the 2,067 housing units will never get built. He pointed out that the City is down 238 units on the above- market level, and that is what he is representing tonight. He noted that there is still a demand for that, and the market prices are up 20 percent in almost two straight years. He indicated that this is back to where the City was, but it is not healthy or good for the City to keep going like that because it will not be able to continue to attract jobs that make this City healthy. He stated that he thinks the best thing for the Commission to consider in this process is maintaining flexibility. He added that one of the reasons property owners and developers are here tonight is because they are concerned that if these properties are not on the list, there is a prejudice against them of becoming rezoned over the next Housing Element period. He encouraged the Commission to give itself some flexibility PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, April 23, 2014 Page 19 of 27