17A ATTACHMENTS - Laserfiche WebLink

This question was raised again at the May 20 meeting, and staff was asked to review the 1986 and 1996 General Plans as they related to this issue. The Land Use Elements of both the 1986 General Plan and the 1996 General Plan contain similar definitions of "gross developable acres", except that the 1996 General Plan excludes arroyos from gross developable acreage. Furthermore, the 1996 definition of gross developable acres provides, "The terrain of the land shall be considered when land use designations are given, so that land which is not feasible for development does not get redesignated to Low, Medium, or High Density Residential." Another change between the two General Plans relates to the Pleasanton Ridgelands. The wording of this entire section of the Land Use Element was re-written in 1996 due to the approval of Measure F (a General Plan amendment) in the intervening years (1993); the new language in the Pleasanton Ridgelands section of the 1996 General Plan reflects the language of Measure F. One of the changes was that the 1986 General Plan listed the four land use designations applicable to the Pleasanton Ridge area: Low Density Residential, Rural Density Residential, Public Health & Safety, and Parks and Recreation. The description of "Rural Density Residential" included language that Pleasanton Ridgelands property designated Rural Density Residential is less than 25% slope, and the description of "Public Health & Safety" included language that Pleasanton Ridgeland property designated Public Health & Safety is greater than 25% slope. All of these land use designations as they related to the Pleasanton Ridgelands were removed from this section of the 1996 General Plan; they still appear in another section of the Land Use Element but they do not reference slopes. Staff believes these changes were made because as stated, Measure F expressed the City's new Pleasanton Ridgelands policy and it was included in the 1996 General Plan and language concerning development on slopes of 25% and greater was addressed in greater detail in the Public Safety and Conservation & Open Space Elements. 5.13 Floor Area Ratio (FAR) calculation The issue was raised at the May 20 hearing concerning using different techniques to address house size in hill area developments. Since lot sizes tend to be larger in hillside developments and since visibility is an important issue with hillside homes, staff suggested a few different ways to use FAR to limit house sizes, such as using a lower FAR, eliminating highly sloped areas from the parcel size, and basing the FAR on the building envelope, not the entire parcel. A specific method could be selected if clarifying hillside regulations are developed, and the issue of limiting house size in sloped areas is addressed. 5.14 Grading style, building height, and visibility issues Grading style, building height, and visibility are interrelated issues with hillside development, and there are sometimes trade-offs among them. 17