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road. She noted that in the Vineyard Avenue Corridor Specific Plan regarding the tank <br />property, the EVA was supposed to go over the hill to Berlogar’s. Because of the <br />steepness of the road, the developers and the Fire Department wanted a different <br />alternative. Part of the EVA went up her driveway and noted that large fire trucks could <br />navigate her driveway. <br /> <br />Melanie Bentley, 23 Grey Eagle Court, noted that she had never been a “no-growther” <br />and generally liked Pleasanton’s posture as a City of Planned Progress. She believed this <br />project because she believed it could be done well and asked the Commission to continue <br />to listen to the community’s concerns. <br /> <br />Mr. Inderbitzen noted that this project has been largely an attempt to understand what the <br />community at large would benefit from, and how they could provide it in a way that <br />minimized impacts as much as possible on the surrounding community. He noted that <br />they ended up with 496 acres of publicly accessible open space and that they would build <br />trails that would be available to the community at large. They also provided an end to <br />development in that portion of the community and a beginning for several thousand acres <br />of open space as a part of the community, which would be free of charge to the <br />community. He noted that they had to make compromises on the immediately adjacent <br />neighborhoods to meet that goal, and in order to minimize the impacts, they elected to <br />stay out of the drainages, out of the trees, away from the biological impacts, and <br />restricted the development as much as possible to preserve the maximum open space <br />component for perpetuity. They were aware that the visual impact would be the most <br />significant impact to deal with. He emphasized that this was a lot project, not a home <br />project; they did not propose to build a single home with this application. He noted that <br />compliance with strict design guidelines was required before a single house could be built <br />and that multiple approvals must occur before any single house could be built. He noted <br />that the City controlled the visual analysis because otherwise, every resident in every <br />adjacent neighborhood could do their own photo analysis without the rigors imposed on <br />the City to ensure they were standardized. He noted that the only truly valid visual <br />analysis for this project that complied with the CEQA requirements was the one done for <br />the CEQA study by the City’s consultant. <br /> <br />With regard to the EVA, Mr. Inderbitzen noted that the access to the property line for this <br />project currently exists and is owned by the City; the City already had the right to use it <br />independent of this project. He emphasized that they did not want to be inside Grey <br />Eagle Estates, doing anything to the existing City-owned easements. He believed that the <br />City has gone to great lengths to assure Grey Eagle Estates residents that they would not <br />go into the neighborhood and remodel the EVA. They believed that it met their <br />requirements, and that it was adequate to provide service to this property. He noted that <br />there were already access situations for public safety through private developments in <br />Pleasanton, such as Golden Eagle Farm. <br /> <br />THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS CLOSED. <br /> <br /> <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES June 27, 2007 Page 22 of 28 <br /> <br /> <br />