CCMIN082906 - Laserfiche WebLink

Councilmember Sullivan indicated he was comfortable with Alternative B with the road extensions or non-widenings identified in the staff report. He believed this made sense as a starting point for a model and then alternatives can be reviewed. There were many comments regarding the Stone ridge extension, West Las Positas and Valley Avenue and he felt a need to respond to them. Alternative B is a model without the Stoneridge extension or the West Las Positas interchange. These are difficult issue for everyone and people support or oppose an improvement depending on how it affects their neighborhood. The reason he got involved in politics was because of his opposition to the West Las Positas interchange during the last General Plan update. He understands the issues and concerns about neighborhoods from a quality of life and safety standpoint. He said there will be a model to understand the implications of these improvements. There will also be regional transportation models associated with the Triangle Study previously discussed. There will be discussions regarding the interaction of the regional transportation system and local streets. Although the data is not yet available, he had a pretty good feeling the reason for the problems is because the regional transportation system cannot handle the traffic load. People want to go someplace other than a gridlocked 1-580 or 1-680, so they get on the streets of town. In addition, Pleasanton adds to the problem because of the big business park in town. People go east when going home from work. With all that, he felt we needed to start with this model and then model the alternatives, such as EI Charro to Stanley or Busch to Valley, both in and out of the network. He also wanted to focus on the area of Valley between Santa Rita and Stanley; the effects of Home Depot, the water park, and whatever else happens on the east side. He wanted to look at that area as a transportation corridor and see the big picture. In the long term, efforts will be made to solve the problems that occur and will help that area. The focus should not be to solve the regional transportation problems on Pleasanton's city streets. He also wanted to look at the short-term problems, such as the truck issues, the pedestrian traffic to schools, etc. to make that area more livable for the residents until we get to the bigger issues. He indicated he was still comfortable removing West Las Positas interchange and Stoneridge Drive extension. There will still be an easement on Stoneridge to EI Charro and a right of way in perpetuity with an emergency vehicle access, so that if someday we solve the transportation problems and it makes sense from a community standpoint to extend Stone ridge Drive, the ability will be there. That is a high hurdle and he felt the city was a long way from crossing that hurdle. He also agreed with the Mayor on modeling the transit-oriented development (TOD) for Hacienda Business Park as part of this. He believed there would be benefits from that TOD that would help with the problem of so many cars trying to get in and out of the business park. That is a piece of this puzzle that should be part of this analysis. In the preferred land use model, there were two alternatives to model and one of those was the TOD for Hacienda. Council member McGovern believed the community has reached its saturation point regarding traffic. People ask why the city keeps developing. She asked if the purpose of the model was to increase the amount of housing reserves to try to keep control of traffic until a solution to the problems is found. Director Iserson said Council had directed that staff create a reserve of 200 units for the land use plan. Councilmember McGovern clarified that the model was for 29,000 units for the city. She asked for a list of assumptions being used for the model. She reiterated her request for a copy of the definition of cut through traffic. She also wanted to take out Santa Rita at Black. General Plan Workshop Minutes 24 August 29, 2006