11 ATTACHMENT 8 - Laserfiche WebLink

Kay Ayala, 4514 Gatetree Circle, noted that this project mystified her and wondered why anybody would want to build on these slopes and hills. During her tenure on City Council, she was consistently told by staff that the City was not obligated to let building go forward on this piece of property. She understood that when the Lins chose to develop Kottinger Ranch, they split the property in order to complete the first part of the development. She noted that the landowner would not lose property rights. She looked in the archives for the conditions of approval of Kottinger Hills, but they were not available. She was very concerned because of what she had been told by several people she had called regarding owners' property rights and that if this project were not built, something else would be built. She noted that Pleasanton had a voter-approved housing cap and that there was pressure from the State for affordable housing units. She believed that the approval of this project, with 12,500-square-foot homes, was ludicrous and was not what Pleasanton needed at this time. She would like to see more affordable housing so the City's teachers, police, and firefighters could live in town. She did not believe the amount of time required for a referendum would be a reasonable proposition for community members to affect the construction of this project. She would like the Commissioners to share with the community any discussions they have had with any elected representatives regarding this project. She asked the Commissioners to consider whether this was the type of housing stock that was needed in Pleasanton with the approved cap. If this was not the type of housing needed, she did not believe the project should be approved. In response to an inquiry by Chairperson Fox regarding further clarification of the referendum process, Mr. Roush replied that it was pursuant to State law and that it was not imposed by the City; referendums were included under the Elections Code. Once a project has been approved, if the citizens did not think that that was an appropriate project for the City Council to have approved, the citizens have 30 days to collect approximately 3,500 signatures in order to put the matter on the ballot. Following that, it would take approximately four to five months after the referendum petition qualified for the ballot before it would go to the voters. If the referendum were to pass, the project would be set aside. In the case of the Busch property, once the signatures had been collected, the developers decided that they did not want to pursue the project at that time and withdrew the application. If a project were approved and not set aside by the voters thereby being effective, the Development Agreement would vest the entitlements; the option to have the project set aside by a subsequent act of the Council by the voters would be negated by reason of the Development Agreement. Chairperson Fox disclosed that she had responded to Jennifer Hosterman's questions regarding the project and had expressed some concerns that the project cannot move along quickly enough; she also discussed some visuals with Ms. Hosterman. Chairperson Fox indicated that she had also spoken to Mr. Roush the Friday before that conversation because she had understood that she might have spoken to some of the other Commissioners about the project. She had asked Mr. Roush to ensure that the topic did not come up. Commissioner O'Connor disclosed that he had a conversation with former Mayor Pico when they walked the project approximately one year ago. EXCERPTS: PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, June 27, 2007 Page 4 of 17