SR 06:208 - Laserfiche WebLink

The Ruby Hill area in Pleasanton has been ij beiflg re-planted with approximately 200 acres of grapes and there arc two vineyards of approximately two and five acres ~long East Vineyard Avenue, Many ranchettes with a limited number of livestock arc currently~ located in the Vineyard Avenue Corridor and Happy Valley (South Pleasanton) areas. Most ..f.4e-land in the Southeast Hills "hieh ij designated as Public Health and Safety and most land deji!',llated aj .'.grieultute "fld cudng in the Pleasanton Ridgelands designated as ARriculture and GrazinR except for woodland areas arc used for the gra;.ing of livestock grazing. l\lost of the land desil'nated for agricultural use in the Planning Area is located within the Pleasanton Ridge. The 1993 lvteaJmr F Inilialit'C designated approximately 9.500 acres as Al'riculture. The base density of this aRricultural area is 100 acres per buiklinR site. 'l1uough the U{~I>!l.Y Vallf)' Sl>ecilic Plall. the City preserves about 279 acres in the Greater Happy Valley Semi-Rural Density Residential Subarea generally with a t\vo-acre minimum parcel-size restriction. 'l1,e City also preserves small-lot agricultural uses in flatland portions of the Vineyard A venue Corridor area willie conservation casements permanently protect the 200-acre Ruby Hill Vineyard. Mourning: doves. ground s'luirrels. and tricolor and brewer's blackbirds live within or depend upon agricultural areas. Other species that forage in ap.-ricultural area include the: comtnon crow. ycllow- billed magpie. scrub jay starling. house sparrow. house finch red-tailed hawk northern harrier barn owl red-winged blackbird. meadow vole. deer mice, striped skunk. raccoon. opossum. coyote. Farmlands The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Natural Resources Conservation Service (.NRCS) desi~>11ates about t\vo-thirds (29.270 acres) of the land within the Planning Area as agriculntral. the majority as grazing lands. In 1900 Pleasanton fanners produced 198 tons of hops. 16.860 tons of hay. 2391 tons of grain. and 29.925 tons of sugar beets.21 At that time. Pleasanton farmed larger hop fields than any other California community.22 Dairy farming be!-,"n to emerge in the Amador- Livermore Valley in the early 1900s as hop growing declined. and by 1910 Pleasanton had over 600 dairy cows.")' In 1953 Pleasanton farmers grew about 545 acres of tomatoes and about 1.000 acres of sUf!JIr beets (which produced about 22.000 tons of sUf!JIr beets) along with walnuts hay and grains. During 1953 the Garattis Winery on Saint John Street was the largest business concern in Pleasanton with over 1.2 million !C<'llons of wine storage and numerous affiliated vineyards.2' 21 McGown,JE. "Progressive Pleasanton, 1902," the Pleasanlolt Times, 1902. 22 Lmc, Bob and Pat, The Amador Livermore Vallry. a Pic/anal His/ory. 1988, p. 59. "Ibid.p.71. 24 The Pkasonlon Times, August 13, 1910. 2$ The Pleasan/on Times, September 24, 1954, page 1. (:On ()S I'kml"t. r.C 01\2<)(10, rcJlinc VII-23