PC 042314 - Laserfiche WebLink

Julie Testa stated that she has been here twice in the last year — during the process of the last Housing Element and again more recently — and this is the third time she is attending to remind the Commission, as she has tried to remind the Council, that with Pleasanton schools currently impacted, every campus is beyond capacity as identified in the General Plan, with significant percentages of overcrowding. She indicated that the School District's finances are completely distressed, and there is no ability to build more capacity or more schools. She pointed out that every unit that is rezoned and approved will allow and bring children to the schools, and this violates the General Plan and erodes the quality of life at the schools. THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS CLOSED. Commissioner Pearce requested clarification that, given the RHNA numbers and housing inventory, the City does not actually need to rezone anything for the next RHNA cycle. Mr. Dolan replied that was correct. He noted that a statement was made that the City is short in the above - moderate category, but the higher density zoning can be used to count towards that. Commissioner Allen inquired, following up on one speaker and to clarify numbers in her mind regarding the housing cap the City had and where it is today, how many units would the City have if all the units on the table were built and if the East Pleasanton Specific Plan Preferred Plan was also built. She stated that from the March 4, 2014 City Council meeting, she counted about 26,500 units; adding the 3,312 units from the table would give 29,812 units; and topping that with the East Pleasanton Preferred Plan potential of 1,700 units would total 31,512 units. She inquired if the count is roughly right, noting that not all the units will necessarily be built. Mr. Dolan replied that was correct. Commissioner Allen stated that the City does not have a housing cap of 29,000 because that was overturned. She noted, however, that she thinks the Commission needs to just keep that in mind because she has heard the City Council and many people say that the City wants to try and live the spirit of what the voters and citizens were interested in when that came through, and the City was abiding by State law. Commissioner Ritter stated that he listened to all the numbers and still liked the comment made by a speaker that the City needs to be flexible, that it was smart planning. He indicated that he does not know if the City always needs to do it just because they are RHNA numbers. He noted that workforce housing is how he got into Pleasanton, starting at Springtown Apartments and then moving to Stoneridge Apartments, then buying a house in Pleasanton, and now he's still in Pleasanton. He stated that he thinks the City gets caught up with the numbers, and it just needs to make sure to do the right thing for each of these properties so the children of today's PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, April 23, 2014 Page 21 of 27