City of Pleasanton Pondering Transit-Oriented Housing Near BART, New Homes Near Mall

Transit-oriented development near theBART station and residential development at  are just some of the ideas being tossed around as the city of Pleasanton nears completion on its housing element update.

The city has a deadline of August to complete the nearly year-long task as a result of losing a lawsuit that was filed by Urban Habitat, an Oakland-based social justice advocacy organization.

Urban Habitat’s lawsuit successfully challenged Pleasanton’s growth limit, and the suit stipulates that Pleasanton must submit a finalized plan to the California Department of Housing and Community Development in August for state approval.

“It’s a process that city’s do anyway," said Vice Mayor Cheryl Cook-Kallio, who is one of the members of the city’s Housing Element Task Force.

"The difference is we were forced into a constricted timeline because of a lawsuit we lost."

The task force of 11 people also includes Councilman Matt Sullivan and nine other people from the Pleasanton Planning Commission and the public. The task force has been holding meetings and soliciting public input.

Pleasanton’s new housing element will require a total of 871 additional housing units between 2007 and 2014. City officials are looking at 55 acres throughout town to accommodate a mix of 23 units per acre for moderate-income housing and 30 units per acre for low-income housing. It is this last portion of the plan that drew dissenting crowds to a recent City Council meeting.

The city also needs to rezone land to accommodate 1,661 low-income households and 331 moderate-income households.

“The city lost the lawsuit, but because of the way the decision was written, it gave us some opportunity to have some say in how the Hacienda TOD (transit-oriented development) by BART will look,” Cook-Kallio said.

“We want to make sure we have as much control on how the city develops as we can.”

Pleasanton Planning Manager Janice Stern said the transit-oriented housing near the Pleasanton/Dublin BART station could be similar to the apartments and multi-family housing on the Dublin side of the tracks, but it wouldn’t be as densely developed as what’s in Dublin, she said.

Stern updated interested members of the public on the housing element at the Dahlin Group Architecture Planning offices Tuesday.

The moderate-income and affordable units in Archstone Apartments across the street from Wal-Mart on Owens Drive are similar to what could be built as part of the housing element, Stern said during her presentation.

“We need those types of higher-density developments,” she said.

But the city wants potential housing to fit certain criteria, such as being close to freeway on-ramps, and near schools and parks. Officials want infill projects consistent with the city’s general plan to name a few, Stern said.

Other potential sites include 38 acres where a Safeway was approved, near Interstate 680, south of Bernal Avenue; the expansive parking area of the Carr America facility near Wal-Mart and Rosewood Drive; and the Sheraton hotel site adjacent to Stoneridge Shopping Center. Stoneridge Shopping Center could have
housing built on its parking lot if a parking structure was built at the mall, Stern said.

“We got a lot of interest and feedback on the sites,” Stern said.

Pleasanton officials said the City Council will ultimately decide which sites to zone for housing, but what is built on the land is up to the developers and most likely the economy do decide. And the city will look at the impacts on traffic and other factors in deciding what areas to zone for housing.

“We are not in the business of building the housing ourselves; all we have to do is rezone (land) for it,” Cook-Kallio said.

For more information on Pleasanton’s Housing Element Update, go here.