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GRO44TH MANelGEb1ENT ELEMENT INTRODUCTION Pleasanton has been one of the fastest growing cities in California. The city's population increased from 6,200 in 1965 to 30,350 in 1973. The rapid growth was predominantly residential development. Single family subdivisions sprang up quickly throughout the city, scattered from one city boundary to the other as developers built where land was cheap and available. These subdivisions were frequently physically separated from the old city center by agricultural fields passed over in the initial rush to develop. Certain areas were physically separated by Interstate Freeway 680, and remain so. The growth in new residential dwellings was not matched by a simultaneous increase in commercial and industrial development. The new develop- ment was commuter-oriented and Pleasanton turned rapidly from a small but essentially self-sufficient town into a bedroom community. The rapid growth and its manner of development placed strains on many city services. Parks could not be improved to meet the burgeoning demand. Roadways connecting the far-flung subdivisions remained primarily the rural roads they once were and were quickly overloaded. The city together with other valley communities and agencies scrambled to secure additional water supplies and water treatment facilities to meet the demand. City services were upgraded and expanded as quickly as possible, staying always one jump behind the rampant growth. The strains placed on all the city°s functions first reached the breaking point in connection with sewage treatment facilities Both the city's Sunol Sewage Treatment Plant and the Dublin San Ramon Services District (DSRSD) Secvage Treatment Plant (which serves roughly one-half of Pleasanton) have had connection bans periodically imposed upon them by the Regional Vlater Quality Control Boards since 1971. Due to the periodic imposition of sewer connection bans and the tightening of sewage disposal standards, the city°s growth has followed an inconsistent pattern. As sewer connections became avail- able, development would spurt ahead only to regress as new standards or restrictions were imposed. Pleasanton has grown to 33,650 persons in 1977, the new residential development coming in fits and starts coinciding with the unpredictable availability of sewer connections. New development in this period has continued to be primarily resi- dential in character, still commuter-oriented, and still haphazardly located throughout the community. Commercial and industrial develop- ment has again lagged behind residential development. The new growth in this period, while slower than before, was not directed to ease .any of the strains created by the earlier rapid growth. It was, rather, a continuation of the same type and manner of development which had created the original strains.