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Councilmember Sullivan confirmed that the 47 units are required under State law. He said <br />the General Plan policy discussed in the Land Use Element that talked about units being <br />moved toward areas of either affordable or TOD, and since this has not been adopted, it <br />does not apply; however, Mr. Iserson said the principle still applied. If the holding capacity <br />is not approved on this site, by State Law, the City needs to find another location to <br />accommodate those. He said a number of sites have been identified as receiver sites if the <br />Council feels the plans are otherwise acceptable and approvable. City Manager Fialho <br />said staff identified 20 units which must meet the affordable housing needs for the City; <br />however, beyond that, the Council has the ability to determine where the placement of <br />those units should go and to what degree they should provide housing for in this <br />community. Councilmember Sullivan confirmed there were no entitlement that those 47 <br />units would be built. <br />Councilmember McGovern referred to the East Bay Regional Parks letter and questioned <br />whether they believe the project goes along with the City's General Plan, quoting under <br />Land Use, Policy 12: "Preserve scenic ridges and views of Pleasanton main and southeast <br />hills ridges." Conservation and Open Space: "Protect all large contiguous areas of open <br />space as designated on the General Plan from intrusion by urban development." <br />Conservation and Open Space, Policy 5: "Preserve as permanent open space all areas of <br />outstanding scenic quality or areas that provide extraordinary views of natural and man- <br />made objects." Conservation and Open Space Element 4.4: "Preserve large blocks of <br />open space land by encouraging the clustering of development." <br />Mr. Iserson said as staff went through the various policies that affect the site, on balance, <br />the vast majority were satisfied with what the project was proposing. <br />Councilmember McGovern referred to the Native Plant Society who indicates, "All three <br />soil types within the development footprint are classified as either severe or very severe <br />erosion hazards by the USDA." Mr. Iserson said there were erosion issues with the <br />project and a lot of geotechnical work has been done, with additional study to be required <br />on a lot by lot basis. <br />Councilmember Cook-Kallio said she was astounded in how much work has gone into the <br />project, complimented everyone involved, said she walked the ridge and one thing that <br />helped her understand the development was seeing where the pads were actually going <br />and how carefully they had been placed. Mr. Inderbitzen discussed lot placement, said the <br />smallest lot was 30,000 square feet and the average lot was 45,000 square feet, so 20% <br />was 9,000 square feet which was a very generous area for location of homes. He said <br />other grading was done to stabilize landslide areas and he felt the package was very <br />complete. <br />Regarding fill areas, Councilmember Cook-Kallio confirmed that 600,000 to 700,000 yards <br />of dirt would be spread and incorporated into the topography. A large portion was kept on- <br />site into a barren tree site area, benches are cut into it, it is stabilized, compacted, roll it, <br />vegetate it and it will mirror what was already there. She confirmed new trees would be <br />monitored five years after their planting under the Tree Mitigation Plan and a bond is to be <br />posted. She said it was her preference to determine how to create affordable housing <br />rather than taking in-lieu fees. <br />City Council Minutes 18 September 4, 2007 <br />