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streamlined approval process in the City of Pleasanton (should the developer/applicant choose this process), their project must: • be a multi-family development and cannot involve development/redevelopment of a site that has contained housing occupied by tenants within 10 years; • be located in areas surrounded by development on 75 percent of its borders, and not be located in environmentally sensitive areas; • pay prevailing wages to construction workers; and • restrict at least 50 percent of its units to be affordable to households classified as having low income (e.g. less than 80 percent of the area median income). At this time, it is not clear whether the requirements listed above would serve as a disincentive to developers to pursue this streamlining process. However, staff believes that the requirement to make at least 50 percent of the total units affordable to households classified as having low income would make many projects financially infeasible. That said, a streamlined process for residential project review represents a significant change from past review processes in Pleasanton. Prior to this change to State law, all of the potential high-density housing sites were zoned Planned Unit Development (PUD) and are therefore subject to review by both the Planning Commission and the City Council. Currently, staff, the Planning Commission, and the City Council review the applications for conformance to the development standards and design guidelines adopted specifically for high density projects. If the projects meet these standards and guidelines, or approval of exceptions to these requirements has been granted, the projects are approved. Under the new streamlined process (which is largely at the developer's option based on meeting the criteria referenced above) these projects would not be subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and would require staff-level design review only. As such, they would be subject to "objective" development and design standards and could not be subject to referendum. Objective standards are typically those that can be measured, understood by all, and do not require interpretation or judgement. Staff would have 60 days to complete review for projects under 150 units and 90 days for projects containing 150 units or more. Projects would not be required to provide more than one parking space per unit and in some cases (e.g., if the project is within one half mile of public transit) no parking spaces may be required. This law is not applicable to single-family development or properties not currently zoned for residential development. After review of the various eligibility requirements, staff believes the only sites likely to be eligible for the streamlined processing in the short- term, would be the remaining five high density housing sites listed within the Housing Element site inventory. Those sites include: • East Dublin/Pleasanton BART parking lot site (Owens Drive); • Roche Site (vacant property at 4300 Hacienda Drive); Page 4 of 9