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City of Pleasanton 2023-2031 (6th Cycle) Housing Element Update
<br />CEQA Findings of Fact and Statement of Overriding Considerations
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<br />FirstCarbon Solutions 125
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<br />Housing Element Update anticipates approximately 7,787 net new housing units, for a total of
<br />36,389 housing units by 2031. Although the City is required to plan for housing development, the
<br />Housing Element Update does not directly approve or result in any specific construction, or require
<br />the construction, of any housing. Instead, the identification of potential sites for housing is intended
<br />to plan for and encourage cohesive housing development; development by property owners and
<br />developers is predominantly dependent on market forces. In some locations, it would allow
<br />increased development intensity and/or a more inclusive mix of land uses compared to existing
<br />conditions. Therefore, the Housing Element Update removes some regulatory obstacles to growth to
<br />accommodate anticipated growth.
<br />At buildout of the Housing Element Update, the population of the city is projected to be
<br />approximately 96,400; 18,029 of which could be attributed to the rezonings facilitated by the
<br />Housing Element Update at full buildout. Any indirect population growth associated with the
<br />Housing Element Update (i.e., jobs associated with the development of commercial space on Site 18
<br />[Valley Plaza]) is already assumed and would be consistent with the growth projected in the Housing
<br />Element Update. As discussed in Section 3.12, Population and Housing, in preparing the RHNA, the
<br />Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) convened the Housing Methodology Committee
<br />(HMC) in October 2019 to provide guidance to staff on the methodology to distribute to each local
<br />government a fair share of the region’s total housing need. The HMC recommended a methodology
<br />that advances the five RHNA objectives identified in Housing Element Law and is consistent with the
<br />forecasted development pattern from Plan Bay Area 2050. Because the Housing Element Update
<br />would provide sufficient sites to accommodate the RHNA allocation for the City, it is also consistent
<br />with the planned growth in Plan Bay Area 2050. The City is already served by existing services (fire,
<br />police and recreation) and infrastructure (roads, freeways, railroads, transit, sewer, storm drainage,
<br />telecommunication, electricity, and natural gas). As such, implementation of the Housing Element
<br />Update would not likely require extensions of telecommunication, electrical, natural gas, sewer, or
<br />storm drainage utility infrastructure beyond that which currently exists within the Planning Area.
<br />However, for undeveloped sites, future projects may require connections to existing infrastructure
<br />on or adjacent to those sites. Additionally, the development of future land uses facilitated by the
<br />Housing Element Update could require new infrastructure to establish adequate water supply;
<br />however, this infrastructure would support planned for growth consistent with the Housing Element
<br />Update. The Housing Element Update would not extend urban infrastructure other than to future
<br />projects within the City’s SOI, and thus would not induce growth in other areas outside the SOI. As
<br />such, the Housing Element Update would not result in indirect population growth through providing
<br />an extension of infrastructure or services, or through the removal of a barrier to growth.
<br />The reasonably foreseeable environmental impacts resulting from the growth envisioned by the
<br />Housing Element Update are described in the Draft Program EIR, Chapter 3, Environmental Impact
<br />Analysis. As discussed in detail throughout Chapter 3 of the Draft Program EIR, most of the potential
<br />environmental impacts would be avoided or lessened with adherence to federal, State, and local
<br />policies and implementation of proposed Housing Element Update policies, including policies related
<br />to growth management, and by implementation of mitigation measures. Therefore, by design, the
<br />Housing Element Update reduces most of the impacts of the growth it could otherwise have
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