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Becky Dennis, a Pleasanton resident, expressed her interest in the economic and fiscal analysis as it pertained to agenda item 4t, which she believed hinged on Affordable Housing Week and the Vision Statement for the General Plan update. She was glad to see the City is undertaking a fiscal analysis of the new General Plan. The sustainability aspect of the General Plan Vision is an important analysis as many of the environmental enhancements that the City has implemented over the years were possible only because Pleasanton has financial resources. The City needs to develop a plan for economic stability with input from all of Pleasanton'~ ~takeholdem. Independent, objective analysis is key to the credibility of the Plan to ensure the long-term economic success of this community. She was hopeful that the process of formulating the Plan would eliminate the war that exists between Pleasanton's residential and its commemial stakeholders. As the City approaches residential build out, maintaining Pleasanton, as an attractive location for business investment is key to minimizing the future costs to residential property owners in sustaining the quality of life. Residents must define the acceptable level of impact from increased business activity or alternatively, plan to shoulder the increased financial burden of foregoing economic growth. The community should be able to look to Bay Area economics for accurate analysis that will result in a plan that is both economically and politically realistic. Pleasanton did this on a small scale with the Vineyard Corridor Specific Plan, which proved acceptable and beneficial to all of the stakeholders. During this analysis, she asked Council to consider Pleasanton's investment in affordable work force housing as a tool for business attraction and retention. Pleasanton has adequate infrastructure to support a high quality of life for its young families and many more parents work in Pleasanton than can afford to live in our community. For too many large employers, a decision to leave Pleasanton for a less expensive location would only put them closer to their own employees in addition to lowering facilities costs. Council should also consider how much more Pleasanton's businesses would be involved in supporting schools and community enhancements if more of its employees lived in this community. A greater commitment of Pleasanton's resoumes to the creation of affordable work force housing will help the City remain competitive as a business location in tough economic times and it will reduce environmental impacts within this community and the City may grow economically while retaining the ~small town" feeling when residents spend more than 25 percent of their time commuting. She encouraged Council to involve residential property owners from different areas in the community during this process and analysis so that they and their neighbors clearly understand the long term costs of maintaining their property values and their quality of life, and how these costs could be minimized through policies that support commemial growth and how impacts of growth can be minimized through planning. In response to an inquiry by Ms. McGovern, Mr. Fialho said the City has approximately six to eight million dollars in reserve that is undedicated for affordable housing opportunities. As part of the Council's priorities for the current year, Council authorized staff to prepare a plan on how this revenue is strategically used to maximize affordable housing opportunities throughout the community. Staff anticipates returning to Council with this plan in the fall. Mr. Sullivan pointed out that one of the programs the City has available that enhance affordable housing is a solar affordable housing program that was enacted by Grid Alternatives with the assistance of block grants from the Pleasanton Community Development Funds. The first series of solar installations would be conducted later this month and he believed a celebration would be appropriate. Mr. Brozosky asked staff to provide a brief background as it related to agenda item 4p, quitclaim to the City of Dublin property adjacent to Tassajara Road. Mr. Fialho said in the mid to late '80's, the City made several improvements to the interchanges along 1-580 in recognition of Hacienda Business Park, which included the Pleasanton City Council 2 06/07/05 Minutes