Minutes_February 27, 2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

upcoming RHNA including increased RHNA allocations and more challenging parameters to choose appropriate sites. Chair Allen said she suspected that East Pleasanton would be ready for action as one of the priorities and it caused her to ask the strategic question, ahead of the RHNA numbers, how much housing the City wants in certain areas of town. For example, East Pleasanton is not near Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). This brought up three questions she had that were more strategic Council questions regarding direction that she hoped would inform East Pleasanton and other matters. She inquired to what degree does the City believe it is important to spread low cost housing across the City versus aggregate it in one or two key locations. Secondly, whether the City has an ideal location, which could begin to inform East Pleasanton and thoughts on Stoneridge Mall and any expectations that might be desired in the long term, in addition to other properties. Lastly, she inquired when high-density housing is built, at what density is it constructed, for instance 60 units to the acre in one or two sites, and perhaps test the limits to try something different as opposed to having more, smaller developments that are spread out. Commissioner Ritter said based on the Mayor's direction, he wants to fight for local control and he agrees with Chair Allen to ensure they are doing comprehensive housing review and legislative driven mandates. He questioned whether it needed to be on the list because it must be done. Mr. Beaudin responded to the reality that it takes staff time and if it must be done, it is a priority that needs to be on the list. He mentioned the 2017 housing package relating to SB 35 and streamlining provisions, along with the City's standards, stating they're not quite there. He said staff will have to rewrite policy documents and the code in order to be clear and meet expectations. It will be an on-going process and staff will be talking about housing legislation over the entire two years, but currently Ms. Clark and himself spend more than 25% of their time working on this topic. Commissioner Balch inquired why the Housing Strategy item wasn't already woven into elements that staff has already undertaken. Mr. Beaudin commented that staff is looking at a three- to four-year strategy to get to the next Housing Element, which will be advertised in the City newsletter. He said there is a lot of misinformation and a gap in knowledge with a goal to increase public awareness to help build momentum toward finding opportunity housing sites to achieve anticipated RHNA numbers. THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS OPENED. Carolyn Baranouskas referred to additional attempts to build on the Merritt property and said she lives on Fernwood Way and was involved with the Referendum. She said the plan is ill-proposed, cited a 55+ development will segregate the community and said these types of developments do not work. Shane Harrah said he lives on Foothill Knolls Road and would be impacted from any new development. The proposed density would significantly add to the already increased traffic Planning Commission Minutes Page 12 of 18 February 27, 2019 uary 27, 2019