Laserfiche WebLink
FFarella Pleasanton City Council <br /> Braun+Martel June 1, 2023 <br /> Page 3 <br /> HAC Appendix Tab 2. Since then, BART's funding has gone into crisis. See <br /> https://�,�ww.sfchronicle.com/vroiects/2023/bart-finance-qa/(March 23, 2023: "Could <br /> the Bay Area lose BART? Everything to know about the rail system's 'fiscal cliff."'). <br /> BART is projecting a$143 million budget deficit by 2025. Id. So even though <br /> Pleasanton city staff is enthusiastic and motivated to work with BART on plans for <br /> redevelopment, there is no substantial evidence that the site will become housing because <br /> there is no evidence that BART will reciprocate. BART has no money to hire extra staff <br /> to plan for the redevelopment of the BART parking lot, even as to the commercial <br /> development that BART has stated as its priority. The City Council cannot credibly find <br /> that there is"substantial evidence"that the two BART parking lot parcels will become <br /> housing at all, much less soon enough for housing to meet the 2023-2031 need. They <br /> should not be listed as meeting the need for 555 units of affordable housing. <br /> 3. The Macy's furniture store at Rose Pavilion Shopping Center is not a realistic housing <br /> site. Rose Pavilion is a thriving retail center with 3.25 million visits per year; 8,900 visits <br /> per day. The housing inventory lists two parcels—containing the Macy's Home <br /> Furniture store, and about 33%of the parking between Santa Rita and Rosewood Drive. <br /> There's no reason to believe that Macy's is about to close the store, even if sales are <br /> slightly lower. The building is not dilapidated—it was built in 1991 and new solar panels <br /> were installed on the roof in 2017 at a cost of$573,300. And even if Macy's moved out, <br /> another retail tenant could move in;there's no evidence to suggest that the building <br /> would be torn down instead to build apartments. Moreover, as we have noted earlier, <br /> other tenants of the shopping center also likely have lease clauses requiring access to <br /> adequate parking;the City seems not to have reviewed existing leases as required by state <br /> law, Government Code § 65583.2(g)(1),or even assessed whether the remaining parking <br /> would satisfy the City's own requirements for the remaining retail uses in the shopping <br /> center. In short,there is no substantial evidence that the owner is likely to redevelop this <br /> portion of this shopping center as housing, instead of continuing a retail use in this <br /> thriving retail center. These two parcels should not be listed as meeting the need for 62 <br /> lower income units. <br /> 4. Inklings Coffee on Main Street,and two nearby parcels including a fire lane and several <br /> businesses facing Neal Street, are not a realistic housing site. Any developer knows that <br /> the City Council would fight hard to prevent a giant apartment building to be built here, <br /> in the center of the downtown district. See also May 2023 draft at p. E-89 ("A consistent <br /> theme for where not to put housing, was within existing neighborhoods; a number of <br /> responses also indicated that downtown was not a preferred location for new housing."). <br /> The recent outrage about the project at 4884 Harrison confirms this. But even if the City <br /> Council would support such a project—or could pretend that it would, for purposes of <br /> passing a Housing Element—there is no evidence that the owner of these parcels is likely <br /> to cease their existing use. The fire lane is needed as a fire lane. The parking lot meets <br /> an important need in the shopping district. And most tellingly, despite the rezoning of <br /> this site for the last Housing Element, no one tore down the retail buildings for <br /> /'\ redevelopment: instead, the building with Inklings in it was remodeled in 2016 for <br />