RES 90110 - Laserfiche WebLink

14. Cancellation of the Williamson act for the Garms property is in the public interest based on each of the following findings: A. That other public concerns substantially outweigh the objectives of the Williamson Act. The relevant objectives of the Williamson act are, in summary, as follows: (1) preservation of limited agricultural land to maintain the agricultural economy of the state and adequate food for the future; (2) discouragement of premature and unnecessary conversion of agricultural land to urban uses benefits urban dwellers as it discourages discontinuous patterns of development which increase costs of community services; and (3) agricultural lands have value as open space constituting an important physical, social, esthetics, and economic asset to existing and pending urban developments. The relevant objectives, as they relate to this project, are not overwhelmingly significant. The benefits of the proposed project clearly offset each of the relevant objectives. The project will add housing consistent with the city's growth management plan and will off-set the jobs/housing imbalance which has been projected through rapid commercial/industrial development in north Pleasanton. The open space/grazing use and aged orchard on the Garms property add little to the State's existing and future food supply. Development will not be discontinuous. Lastly, permanent open space has been provided for in the City's General Plan, sufficient to provide the physical, social, and esthetics assets needed by present and future residents of Pleasanton. Indeed, the proposed project will include significant open space in its development plan based upon the significant portion of open space shown on the general plan map for this parcel. The ripeness of the Garms parcel for development in the late 1980's and early 1990's was not known in the 1970's and could not have been known at that time. The city's dream of significant commercial/industrial development in north Pleasanton really gained momentum with the approval of a number of business parks in 1981 and 1982, particularly the 573 acre Hacienda Business Park opened in June of 1982. A large increase in local employment throughout the mid eighties led to gradual absorption of previously available residential lands to the point that this parcel is now the logical next parcel for development in the City within the low density residential classification. Given the 650 units per year limitation on the number of market rate housing units which can be built pursuant to the 6