RES 231359 - Laserfiche WebLink

2005 Pleasanton Plan 2025 2.0 Land Use Element 2-20 Adopted 07 21 09 area in order to support the proposed development. 2. The proposed annexation should be a logical extension of an existing planned or developed area. 3. The land should not be under an agricultural preserve or open- space contract. 4. The quality of the development proposed for the area to be annexed should enhance the existing community. LAND-USE CONCEPTS As a result of past planning efforts, Pleasanton today is a community with attractive and well-kept neighborhoods, abundant and well- maintained public facilities, a thriving economy, and a high quality of life for its residents. Providing a range of housing choices and managing traffic congestion have been major challenges in the past and will continue into the future. This General Plan seeks to maintain and enhance the community’s high quality of life and to incorporate innovative “smart growth” planning strategies such as mixed-use and transit-oriented development (TOD) to address challenges such as housing choice and traffic congestion, and to further the goal of creating a more sustainable and energy efficient city. Smart growth, mixed-use development, and transit-oriented development all have the potential to result in a more efficient use of land and other resources, and therefore a more sustainable community compared to conventional development. For example, multifamily residential development utilizes land and construction materials more efficiently, and can result in heating, cooling, and water-use efficiencies compared to single-family construction. Mixed-use development adjacent to transit can encourage walking and bicycling, and increased transit trips resulting in reduced energy use and better air quality. Smart Growth Policies that integrate transportation and land-use decisions by encouraging more compact, mixed-use development within existing urban areas and that discourage dispersed, automobile-dependent development at the urban fringe make up the concept of smart growth. A main concept of smart growth is the decentralization of services so that people may access local services – retail, service industry, schools, recreation, etc. – through alternative modes of travel – i.e., walking, bicycling, and taking the bus. As a result, a land use pattern is established that is more fine-grained where public facilities, retail, and other commercial services are generally local, relatively small, and distributed throughout neighborhoods. Streets are designed to accommodate non-automobile traffic and are safer and slower than streets designed mainly to move automobile traffic or to transport people to larger, centralized services and businesses. Wheels bus serving the Downtown area