CCMIN041696 - Laserfiche WebLink

Mr. Swift said the excursion trains on that corridor were not addressed in the General Plan ErR. Mr. Tarvet expressed dismay that even though Council has supported the excursion train on three separate occasions, the concept had not been included in the General Plan environmental analysis. Ms. Michelotti asked if Bill van Gelder had comments on this, because there was action recen~y to put a parking lot on the corridor. She felt the concept was great and supported getting it as far as Bemal, but she had concerns about it going further downtown. Mr. van Gelder indicated it was the intent of the proposed environmental study to assess parking in downtown Pleasanton and 'that was included in the scope of work for which the Council has funded a loan. The recent Council decision approved parking near the Corridor on a temporary basis without permanent pavement. Staff felt there was a way to make the parking and train operation compatible. Mr. Tarvet was very upset that even though Council had supported this on three occasions, the draft environmental impact report and a general plan update did not cover this project. Now we are loaning the PRA $30,000 to do another environmental study on the same thing. Ms. Mohr indicated the prior Council approved the concept of bringing the train to Pleasanton but never addressed how far it would come into Pleasanton. Staff has never had a specific project approved. She felt the train was like apple pie and motherhood and would be delighted to support it if it stopped at Bemal. What concerns her is tearing up Bemal to lay track across it. Mr. Tarvet felt they were debating the project and not whether to put it on the ballot. Mr. Churka indicated he had gone to General Plan committee meetings and brought up the fact that they were ignoring the train project. Jack Hovingh, 4250 Muirwood Drive, was opposed to the City Council enabling hobbyisis to advance their goals by placing the matter on a ballot. He felt they should gather the required number of signatures to do this. He felt if Council approves an initiative, it should state ~Shall the Pleasanton Locomotive Association mna steam train from Sunol to Bemal Avenue on two Sundays per month?' If they want to run it further downtown, then the downtown merchants could form an assessment district to fund it. With regard to f'mancing, he proposed wording for the ballot that said ~ShaH the steam train extension to Bemal Avenue be funded solely from private funds?' The definition of private funds should be non-public (not city, county, state, or federal). He just paid his taxes and does not want to support someone's 04/16/96 -32-