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