CCMIN041696 - Laserfiche WebLink

Ms. Dennis agreed she would like to see what the Specific Plan will include. When a sensitive property is being dealt with, she felt more comfortable having a consultant hired by the City rather than a designer serving the interests of the developer. She likes the work of Mr. Calthorpe and would want to look carefully at the work of any other consultant before changing consultants. She felt the advanced planning for guidelines on a project like this will pay off in avoiding problems later. She wants a Fn'm groundwork so future developers are clear on what the expectations are for an acceptable product, what the streetscape/landscape expectations are and the look and feel desired. Ms. lVlichelotti wanted direction on whether the design guidelines would apply to every parcel in the 508 acres or are we talking about the Village Center area only? Do we expect all neo-traditional on the west side of the freeway? Where is the flexibility? Are we saying every parcel will be designed in neo-traditional style? We need to know exactly what that is. People said they wanted a plan that replicated Pleasanton. Pleasanton is not made up of just one type of housing development or design. It is a patchwork. Mr. Tarver felt the only way to see if that is what we want is to have Mr. Calthorpe work on the guidelines. He was certain there would be flexibility and variation and the design guidelines could accommodate that. We really don't know what we will have until we go through the process. Ms. Michelotti referred to the Laguna West project (in Sacramento) and felt it was having difficulty because it was so restrictive in the guidelines. Mr. Pico was excited about the work of Mr. Calthorpe so far and felt his work was continually evolving to come up with a Pleasanton plan for the San Francisco property. He looked forward to seeing the next version and felt it was premature to enter into an additional contract until we see that. He wanted to continue to cooperate with San Francisco and felt its requests were reasonable. No final decision needs to be made tonight. Ms. Mohr did not think the general public was familiar with 'new urbanism". She requested staff to gather sample streetscapes for Council to use in discussing this with the public. Mr. Tarvet agreed with that idea. He suggested a formal presentation of the concept at a Council meeting when the Council reaches the decision point. Ms. Acosta indicated staff needs to know what the next step will be when Mr. Calthorpe completes the 'master plan'. Staff believes the EIR would then start its process. If that is not what Council plans, staff needs to know how to plan the next steps. Ms. Michelotti asked how many alternatives would be looked at in the ErR? 04/16/96 -9-