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Draft 2.0 Land Use Element to achieve the optimum potential benefits associated with the park's proximity to BART. The Plan will focus on both improving convenient connections to transit and carefully locating the most transit-supportive land uses in proximity to the station. The area would be designated "mixed-use" on the General Plan and would rely on the Specific Plan to specify detailed land uses. Additional residential development at densities that facilitate affordable housing is anticipated within the limitations of the 29,000-unit housing cap. 2. East Pleasanton Specific Plan. In 1998 the City initiated a planning process for this area, which in 1999 the City deferred in order to complete the Bernal Property Specific Plan. This area includes approximately 1,000 acres in East Pleasanton and consists of lakes (reclaimed sand-and-gravel pits) now owned by Zone 7 Water Agency and land formerly owned by Hanson (Kaiser) Aggregates and Kiewit Corporation. This area, which the Livermore Airport impacts with aircraft noise, may include development of commercial, residential, and office/industrial uses, as well as use of lakes for flood prevention, groundwater recharge, habitat, and recreation purposes. In addition, the Specific Plan would also define a circulation system for the area, including improvements to El Charro Road, would plan the extension of utilities, and would create a funding mechanism for the infrastructure required to support development. GROWTH MANAGEMENT The orderly growth and development of the city together with the preservation of an open-space frame has been a high priority for the Pleasanton community. The City has used several tools to attain this goal including the adoption of an Urban Growth Boundary, a Growth Management Program, and a cap on residential development. Urban Growth Boundary The General Plan Map designates an Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) line around the edge of land planned for urban development at General Plan buildout. Pleasanton voters ratified the Urban Growth Boundary in 1996. The line distinguishes areas generally suitable for urban development where urban public facilities and services are provided from those areas not suitable for urban development. Areas outside the Urban Growth Boundary are generally suitable for the long-term protection of natural resources, large-lot agriculture and grazing, parks and recreation, public health and safety, subregionally significant wildlands, buffers between communities, and scenic ridgeline views. The Urban Growth Boundary is intended to permanently define the line beyond which urban development will not occur, although the initiative also described some circumstance under which the Urban Growth Boundary could be adjusted. Note that one existing development is located outside of the Urban Growth Boundary: the Little Valley Road neighborhood in Alameda County's jurisdiction south of Pleasanton and designated as Rural Density Residential. Because this neighborhood is an existing partially developed area, the General Plan allows five-acre minimum parcel sizes without the provision of standard urban water and sewer service, subject to public health and safety considerations. LU element 082107 clean 2-14