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LIVE eo E LETTER 16 I December 5, 2008 r Janice Stem, Principal Planner Ni6EuVME) Corrmunity Development Department DEC 1 ?00Q N City of Pleasanton EE P.O Box 520 eN Pleasanton, CA 94566 PLANNING OIVISION Dear Ms. Stern: Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the update of the Pleasanton General Plan, The City of Livermore has the following comments: 1. On page 3.1 -6, second full paragraph, please note that land uses in the southwestern portion of Livermore include residential uses as well as neighborhood commercial, agricultural and viticulture uses. It is correctly noted that the unincorporated area between Livermore and Pleasanton is outside of Livermore's Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) and is Included in Livermore's General Plan Planning Area. However, it should also be noted that this area is within Pleasanton's Sphere of Influence (SOI). i, References to Regional Rail Plan on page 3 -38 in General Plan and on 3.2.8 in EIR should be updated. MTC adopted Regional Rail Plan in September 2007. Related to 15.1 Regional Rail, the High Speed Rail Program EIR was certified in August 2006 and recommended commuter service enhancements for the Altamont Corridor. A project specific EIR has begun to study alternatives. 2. Circulation Element Policy 5, which exempts Gateway Intersections from the City's standard of LOS 0, causes a potentially significant Impact that has not been adequately analyzed or disclosed In the Draft EIR. Although mitigations have been proposed in the DEIR that would achieve LOS D or better at the Gateway Intersections, the policy would exempt the intersections from LOS standard and therefore, provide no assurance that the proposed mitigations would ever be constructed by the City or required of the City or a developer to mitigate environmental impacts of specific capital improvements or development projects The EIR shows that if no improvements are done, the Buildout LOS at many of the Gateway Intersections would be LOS F, including the intersections of Stanley /EI Charro and Et CharroiStoneridge, which are of particular concern to Livermore. However, the impact of the potential of LOS F at Gateway Intersections has not been adequately disclosed. In particular. the effect of LOS F on queuing and safety has not been addressed. LOS F at Gateway Intersections could result in severe traffic congestion and/or safely problems due to queuing on major arterial roadways, at L El .ril 1.252 ..:Iili I.I',IIIU'IL :1 rat. I_I III ,'1.':1 45i 1 ,r•.., rrn •..._I c.