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<br />VI. PUBLIC FACILITIES AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS ELEMENT
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<br />BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
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<br />The purpose of the Public Facilities and Community Programs Element is to define the capital
<br />improvements, public facilities, and programs needed to service the community at build out,
<br />including wastewater, water, stormwater, solid waste, schools, library, high-speed wireless intemet
<br />access (Wi-Fi), recreation and parks, and other community facilities. Community programs include
<br />programs run by the City, other agencies and individuals that educate, nurture, or otherwise provide
<br />a social benefit to members of the community.
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<br />A public facilities element is an optional general plan element. Public facilities such as sewer and
<br />waterlines, treatment plants, water wells and reservoirs, and drainage facilities are parts of the
<br />infrastructure that support development. The availability of these facilities, in conjunction with
<br />transportation systems and roadways, contributes to determining a community's land use patterns,
<br />as well as the direction and intensity of growth. Public facilities for city and county offices,
<br />education, libraries, recreation and parks, cultural arts, community health, and other community
<br />programs are important to residents' quality oflife.
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<br />California Government Code Section 65302 provides for a land use element that designates the
<br />proposed general distribution, location and extent of several land uses, including public facilities
<br />such as schools, public buildings and grounds, and solid and liquid waste disposal facilities. Note,
<br />however, that Government Code Section 65301(a) allows a legislative body to adopt a general plan
<br />in any format deemed appropriate or convenient. PIeasanton has chosen to include the distribution,
<br />location and extent of public facilities in this Public Facilities and Community Programs Element.
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<br />SUST AlNABILITY
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<br />As stated in the General Plan Vision, the City of Pleasant on embraces the concept of sustainability
<br />planning. A sustainable city draws from the environment only those resources that are necessary
<br />and that can be used or recycled perpetually, or returned to the environment in a form that nature
<br />can use to generate more resources. Directly relating the concept of sustainability to public facilities
<br />and programs includes: minimizing and recycling wastewater discharge, conserving water supplies
<br />and storing surface waters, recharging the groundwater basin, and minimizing and recycling solid
<br />wastes (garbage). Providing public facilities and programs in ways that reduce motor vehicle-trips
<br />and energy usage also address the concept of sustainabiIity. Thus schools, libraries, parks and
<br />recreational facilities, community facilities, cultural arts, and human services that may be readily
<br />accessed by walking, bicycle riding, transit, carpools or linked automobile trips would also relate to
<br />sustainability planning. This element addresses the concept of sustainabiIity through it goals,
<br />policies and programs.
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<br />WASTEWATER
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<br />Wastewater facility planning involves a collection system (gravity pipelines, force mains, and
<br />sewage-lift or pumping stations), a treatment plant where raw sewage is treated to meet federal,
<br />State and regional standards, and an export system to transport the treated effluent to an approved
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<br />VIOl
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