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Page 14-3 <br />Commissioner Olson sensed that the City’s relationship with ABAG has been strained at <br />times and inquired why the goals were being removed. <br /> <br />Ms. Stern replied that they were in the Background Section and were not necessarily <br />adopted as our own City goals. ABAG does a lot of different work, such as RHNA <br />numbers, regional housing needs, and other planning in which we have been involved. <br />Pleasanton is probably following most of these goals. Our development is probably <br />consistent with ABAG goals since Pleasanton is not annexing land outside of our <br />boundaries; it is doing infill development, and the City is increasing our housing supply. <br />But if the Commission has issues with these, staff can certainly rewrite this accordingly. <br /> <br />Commissioner Olson noted that his sense was that ABAG had applied some pressure <br />relative to affordable housing and the number of affordable units. He noted that in <br />relation to the Economic Development section, he did not believe there was a strong <br />enough relationship developed in this document regarding the linkage between affordable <br />housing and economic development. He believed the point should be made more <br />strongly that there should be more linking between affordable housing and economic <br />development. He was concerned how that would look outside the City if it were <br />interpreted that the City was not cooperating or listening with respect to ABAG’s <br />suggestions. <br /> <br />Commissioner Blank agreed with Commissioner Olson’s comments but was not sure it <br />was an ABAG issue because there may be other agencies involved as well. He would be <br />in favor of stronger support for the value of affordable housing and transportation <br />alternatives in the Policies section. He believed that it was important to note that <br />affordable housing was an important part of the City’s economic vitality. <br /> <br />Commissioner Pearce inquired whether the removal of the ABAG text was meant to <br />make the document more Pleasanton-centered. <br /> <br />Ms. Stern replied that the reason that information was taken out of page 14-3 was because <br />all of those planning documents from ABAG were outdated. More recent work has been <br />going on, and new references are discussed on page 14-4 with information about the <br />Focusing Our Vision project and with information about existing communities. The <br />policies on page 14-4 are the more recent policies, discussing such things as including <br />development on a more regional scale and locating development near transit. <br /> <br />Chairperson Fox said that the text is confusing. Ms. Stern mentioned that there are also <br />some additional supportive goals that could be included. <br /> <br />Page 14-4 <br />Chairperson Fox said that bullet points should be added to 14-4. <br /> <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES March 14, 2007 Page 6 of 21 <br /> <br /> <br />