PC 11/26/85 - Laserfiche WebLink

Minutes Planning Commissio November 26, 1985 The public hearing was opened. Ted C. Fairfield, Consulting Civil Engineer, P. O. Box 1148, Pleasanton, CA, presented exhibits and indicated he represented the Walter Johnson Foundation, the owner of the property. Mr. Fairfield explained that while Mr. Johnson passed away in 1978 the property is still in the Johnson family. He then proceeded to review the history of the property. Mr. Fairfield indicated that in 1962 he was retained by the City on a consultant basis to act as City Engineer. At that time he became familiar with the property. The property included 560 acres including the 230 acre City park which has since been dedicated to the City. This acreage was included as part of a water assessment district with assessments based upon the General Plan of the City at the time. Several hundred dwelling units worth of water were paid for in that water assessment. IN 1963 Mr. Fairfield met with Walter Johnson and Johnson's sons-in-law on behalf of the City to encourage annexation of the property. The Johnson family was not in favor of this annexation at the time. In 1965 the Johnson family changed their mind. The City convinced them that annexation was essential as part of the natural growth of the City as it would protect the west side of Foothill Road against the possibility of coming under the influence of Oakland or Hayward. There was an annexation agreement signed which stated in part that it was mutually contemplated the development of the property would be Medium Density for everything east of Foothill Road with a 4.7 dwelling unit/acre average. The west side of Foothill up to the basic tree line was to be Low Density Residential. It was mutually anticipated then that there would be between 600-700 dwelling units on the Johnson property. It was also agreed that the City would use best efforts to reserve sewer capacity for development. The sewer moratorium slowed things down. In 1965 Johnson was approached by the Televue Company and he allowed a community antennae on his property for the use of Pleasanton residents. In 1967-69 Mr. Fairfield worked on behalf of the City and negotiated with Mr. Johnson for the 67-1 assessment district which would build a sewer system for west Pleasanton from Highland Oaks south including all of the development on Foothill Road, including Castlewood Country Club. Johnson paid for and received 716 dwelling unit capacity in that system. In 1971 Walter Johnson sold 230 acres to the City for $1.00 for their use as a park on the ridge. This was one-half of his land holdings. He intended access to the park would come about as the surrounding property developed. The City then had a sewer moratorium and amended its General Plan to drastically reduce the holding capacity for the entire area and downzoned the property to 191 dwelling units. Staff comes up with a lower number of dwelling units than this. Mr. Fairfield indicated they discussed their application in July 1984 and more than 12 versions of the plans have since been submitted. An effort was made to resolve differences as described. His design team consisted of professionals in the fields of traffic, water archaeology, geology, botany, land planning, civil engineering and environmentalists. He felt he - 4 -