EAST PLEASANTON PLANS

At the May 19, 2015 Pleasanton City Council meeting, a motion was made by Mayor Thorne and passed with a majority vote to halt all plans for the largest housing development in the history of Pleasanton. Thorne’s motion also required the City to put this massive project proposal on the Ballot in 2015 for an advisory vote. Keep your promise to the residents, let us vote!  

In 2015 the East Pleasanton Specific Plan (EPSP) included a 1300 housing project stopped after 1000 angry residents attended 3 neighborhood meetings plus City Council meetings, demanded an end to massive EPSP residential development.

Without a vote of the residents, the Council is considering a slightly modified EPSP development. The City is working with developer Ponderosa Homes, on a plan of approx. 1900 houses on 1100 acres in East Pleasanton. This area is east of Valley Avenue and north of Shadow Cliffs Lake and extends up to El Charro (near the outlet mall).

Pleasanton has met ALL of its state mandated housing requirements until 2022/2023, beyond that date, the next state requirements are unknown. This information will come to the City in late 2020. Let’s wait until we know the facts.

We want the Mayor and Council to keep their commitment, let the voters decide!  

We agree with Mayor Thorne – “direct staff to initiate the process to place an advisory measure on the November 2015 ballot asking whether the planning process should resume prior to the 2022 RHNA cycle.”
Council minutes 5/19/2015

We agree with Vice Mayor Brown – “she is impressed with the intelligence and engagement the public has demonstrated and that she trusts them to make smart decisions based on what they value about Pleasanton.”
Council minutes 5/19/2015

We agree with Council member Narum – “her position also evolved throughout the meeting and that she is now inclined to agree with the Mayor and Vice Mayor.”
Council minutes 5/19/2015

We agree with Council member Pentin – “He agreed that the process should stop because of the drought and that other issues such as traffic and schools” 
Council minutes 5/19/2015

HOW EPSP DEVELOPMENTS AFFECTS US ALL:

1. Shortage of safe Drinking Water: Pleasanton shut down Well 8 which provides 10% of the City’s drinking water due to PFA contamination that may be toxic at very low parts per trillion levels. Also impacting our water supply, Zone 7 shut down Mocho Well 1 for PFA contamination.  For more information go to www.CityofPleasantonCA.gov .
2. Traffic on local roads: Traffic is worse now in 2019 than it was in 2015. A possible 1900 additional houses on Pleasanton’s east side will create an estimated 19,000 new car trips per day leading to worse gridlock on City streets. The East Bay Times reported on 12/1/2019, typical weekday traffic rose 80% from 2010 to 2017 on Bay area roads. 
3. Over-Crowded Schools: Voters in Pleasanton approved school bond I1 in November 2016 to update schools and build a new elementary school. Due to rising costs the school district needs more money to complete their projects. A new school bond requesting $323 million will go to the ballot in March 2020, but will not fund schools for additional East Pleasanton students.
4. Urban Sprawl:  Our small town is disappearing as the East Pleasanton Specific Plan would push development outside our City Limits and outside our Urban Growth Boundary (put in place by voters in 1996). 
5. Extension of El Charro Road:  The former EPSP project included a 4-lane road connecting I-580 at El Charro (by the SF Outlets) south to Stanley Blvd. allowing cut-through traffic throughout Pleasanton. This may be a considered under a revised plan
6.  Leave the land zoned as it is: This land is zoned for industrial use. It is perfect for small business parks and local jobs.

THE PAST COUNCIL MOTION SHOULD BE ENFORCED. LET US VOTE NOW! The City Council agreed on a 3:1 vote and City staff was ordered to let the voters decide at the November 2015 ballot. 

 The City Council Agenda and more details are available on item #12 (labeled #13 from the 11/19/19 meeting) at City Council Agenda

Please attend this Tuesday’s City Council Meeting at 7:00 pm at 200 Old Bernal Ave and email council members no later than 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 3. The Council's email address is CityCouncil@CityofPleasantonCA.gov

On March 31, 2017, the Pleasanton Weekly published a Point/Counterpoint article titled “Studying El Charro Road”.  The following is an excerpt by PleasantonVoters.com President, Kelly Cousins. For the complete text, go to: http://www.pleasantonweekly.com/news/2017/03/30/pointcounterpoint-studying-el-charro-rd 

Hundreds of community members made it very clear through 300 emails to the City Council and by speaking at public meetings that we do not support a plan for massive residential developments in East Pleasanton. Additionally, we do not support an extension of El Charro Rd from I-580 to Stanley Blvd. It is imperative to wait and see the full impact from 2,000 new apartments and houses already under construction and how it will affect school over-crowding and traffic congestion. Recently, the Council unanimously conceded to voter pressure and deferred planning of the East Side for the next two years. Shortly before the close of the public meeting, however, Council Members Narum, Pentin and Thorne approved a last minute feasibility study for the construction of an El Charro Road extension. This critical addition to the City's Work Plan was approved without adequate notice and input from the public. 

An extension of El Charro has many negative impacts. It facilitates building the largest residential development in Pleasanton and it would be a conduit to I-580/E Dublin area, bringing even more traffic to our city streets. The estimated cost of El Charro is a staggering $90 million-the equivalent of three new elementary schools. Who foots the bill? Perhaps our ½ cent sales tax, Measure BB funds, could be used but how does this benefit Pleasanton with more cut-through traffic? Isn't it funded by our tax dollars? This is a lose-lose proposition. Extending El Charro from I-580 to Stanley Blvd. does 2 things: It funnels cut-through traffic from I-580/680, and is a first step for a massive East Side Development. Pleasanton residents can direct and influence the future of our city. Email your concerns to CityCouncil@CityofPleasantonCa.gov and visit www.PleasantonVoters.com to learn more about what is going on in Pleasanton. 

2,000 new housing units are currently under construction or in the planning in Pleasanton. At a special meeting of the Pleasanton City Council on Tuesday, March 14 at 6:00 p.m., the Council will consider adding the planning of the last large undeveloped parcel of land in the city (the East Side) to its two-year priority list.

The meeting is open to the public and will be held in the Remillard Room in the main administration building of the City’s Operation Services Center, 3333 Busch Road in Pleasanton.

A potential developer has already launched a paid marketing campaign to sway community support and City Council approval for this prospective project, which entails the construction of approximately 900 new homes. The campaign includes form letters of support and newspaper advertisements for the project, which could ultimately bring more than 3,500 new residents to Pleasanton.

As residents and voters, we have the ability to defer the planning and ultimate construction of a massive housing project that will further compound traffic and add to commuter cut-through traffic, school overcrowding, and water use in our city. Just send a simple email and your opinion will be counted too!
 

SAMPLE EMAIL that can be sent to citycouncil@cityofpleasantonca.gov.

 Dear Pleasanton City Council members:

Please consider my request NOT to include prioritizing planning for the east side in your 2017/18 work plan. Our community should experience the impacts from the 2,000 new housing units that are currently under construction or in the planning before we approve another large development that is not mandated.
 

Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Address 

UPDATE: CITY OFFICIALLY STOPS EAST PLEASANTON DEVELOPMENT PLANS 
 

Tuesday evening, June 16, the City Council voted 3:0 to stop the East Pleasanton Specific Plan.  
This is a historic victory for Pleasanton residents.  While Council member Karla Brown consistently opposed this development plan, which ranged as high as 2,279 new homes from the outset, each time continuing the EPSP came to a vote all other Council members voted to continue this plan.

It was the residents of Pleasanton who turned out by the hundreds to express their opposition to this massive development in our already resource constrained city that ultimately caused the City Council to vote to put it on the ballot.  Knowing they had a losing cause if the residents got to vote, the land owners pulled the plug on continuing to pay for any further EPSP planning costs, which led to the Council agreeing to stop the entire process and put it in "Deep Freeze" until, at earliest, the drought is over. 

Our city still needs to digest the 1,700 new homes approved for construction as part of the State mandate, most of which are currently in the process of being built.  And Dublin has 8,787 MORE homes approved for building that have yet to be built.  We have more challenges to come as our demand for water increases, more children come to our overcrowded schools, and much more traffic further clogs our streets.

Right Now: Pleasanton leadership is planning the East Pleasanton Specific Plan (EPSP) of up to 1430 new residential homes and 1.6 million square feet of new commercial development.  Plans show part of the project will be located on over 100 acres outside of our UGB!

We think the majority of Pleasanton residents would NOT support this HUGE project, which is not required by any outside agency – and is being pushed by Pleasanton’s own elected officials.  Please help us educate you and other residents by giving us your email address for future updates, and pass along the emails of others that may be interested.  The power to protect Pleasanton is in our own hands. 

The City has been working to develop a "Specific Plan" for the open land on the eastern side of Pleasanton.  In the coming months the City will be presenting a plan to rezone 1,110 acres of currently open land (with the exception of the transfer station) to allow for major development.  This planned rezoning and development includes both an expansion of our Urban Growth Boundary of 112 acres, as well as the use of reclaimed quarry land in a manner expressly contrary to its intended use as open space and a buffer of separation from Livermore.

We oppose changing the usage of this land for several reasons:

• URBAN SEPARATOR:  This land was never intended to be developed.   Much of this land is reclaimed quarry land.  Our 1996 General Plan specified that, "The quarry lands create a valuable urban separator between Pleasanton and Livermore.   This land should be carefully studied during a future  General Plan update., and its qualities as an urban separator  should be substantially protected.  Agriculture, recreation, open space, and water management should become its primary uses as opposed to residential."
  
• MOVING THE URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARY: The people of Pleasanton approved ballot measure FF in 1996 which established with clarity the intention that the UGB's purpose is to, "distinguish areas generally suitable for urban development...from areas generally suitable for protection of long-term protection of natural resources, large lot agriculture and grazing, parks and recreation, public health and safety, sub-regionally significant wildlands, buffers between communities, and scenic ridgeline views."  Moving the UGB eastward by 112 acres for residential development violates the intent of the General Plan and also does not meet the five criteria necessary for a "minor adjustment" to be made.  The following five criterion must ALL be met in order to make a change to the UGB - (1)  are otherwise consistent with the goals and policies of the General Plan; (2) would not have significant adverse impact on agriculture, wildlife areas, or scenic ridgelines; (3) are contiguous with existing urban development or with property for which all discretionary approvals for urban development have been granted; (4) would not induce further adjustments to the boundary; and, (5) demonstrate that the  full range of urban public facilities and services will be adequately provided in an efficient  and timely manner." We believe that at the very least the proposed East Pleasanton Specific Plan does not meet criteria 4 and 5 and would therefore not qualify for expansion of the UGB.
  
• LAND USE WITHIN UGB: The General Plan also makes it clear that Lower Densities should be encouraged along the inside edge of the Urban Growth Boundary to provide a transition/buffer for preventing potential conflicts with uses immediately beyond the boundary such as agriculture or wildlands.    The proposed Plan for East Pleasanton does not incorporate lower densities along the inside edge of the UGB.  This is yet another area where it does not comply with our City's long held plan for progress.