CCMIN101795 - Laserfiche WebLink

Howard Neely, 448 Amador, stated he is a teacher at Hopkins school in Fremont, which has 1000 kids in attendance and two Walnut Grove schools could be installed on the campus he works at. He briefly reviewed a history of school planning in Pleasanton. He felt maybe the public should vote on whether or not this site should be sold and rezoned. Janet Bilinski, 5931 Cone Venado, stated that even though she would like to see Walnut Grove school benefit financially from this development, she was concerned about the land swap. She felt the community has lost out on the school that was promised and now this is going to become a safety issue. She is concerned about crossing the street to get to the park. Black Avenue is already a busy thoroughfare. If Council does agree to go ahead with this, she asked Council not to consider the land swap. Where would the soccer games go to that are being held there? If a four-way stop is installed, will a crossing guard be hired while construction is in progress. Fred Bates commented on the land swap. This was not the developer's idea. The idea resulted from neighborhood meetings and requests of the neighborhood. The Park and Recreation Commission has decided that Hansen Park is as large as it needs to be for a neighborhood park. He also stated that the development is below the mid-point for medium density residential. He mentioned that not long ago some of the trees were removed and he didn't think the trees at the site were Heritage trees. While there is an update going on for the General Plan, this property is receiving individualized attention. A greater scrutiny was given to this than it would receive in the General Plan Update. Ms. Michelotti mentioned the median landscaping along Black Avenue and if there were any comments to that issue. Mr. Bates stated that they are supplying street lighting for the park area, putting in curb and gutter on the street, and putting in a connector walkway. They would be happy to take a look at that median and add concrete or planting inside of it. Mr. McDonald stated that this process began with an offer to the City to buy this land for park land, which Council decided not to do, so it went up for a public bid. The School District did follow the legal process and formed the Bright Committee. Every member of the School Board since that time has supported the sale of the Del Prado site. If there is going to be a reduction in class size, you don't build more schools. The amount of money needed to build schools is in the eight million dollar range. Mayor Tarver asked if the land value would have been greater if a General Plan amendment had growth management approval associated with it. Mr. McDonald said it is unclear. The problem at that time was there was no inclination on the pan of the City to proceed. The School District needed somebody to carry a proposal that could be taken to the neighbors and to the City Council. In order to sell it to the neighborhood, they needed to see a specific proposal. 10/17/95 -15-