13 - Laserfiche WebLink

The City's GMO has been in effect for over 40 years, but amendments in the last 10 years have altered its applicability in relation to affordable housing. While housing costs in Pleasanton have increased over the last 10 years, those increases have been consistent with trends in Alameda County (see Housing Needs Assessment Figures A-40 and A-43). However, the cost of housing is higher in Pleasanton compared to Alameda County overall. The difference in housing cost is affected by many factors including scarcity of developable land (also see Urban Growth Boundary discussion below), high scoring schools, abundant services and recreational opportunities, high quality infrastructure, easy accessibility to major employment centers, and desirable location and setting, which have likely been primary factors driving housing prices in Pleasanton. Also, the rate of housing production in Pleasanton has exceeded housing growth in Alameda County as a whole. Since 2010, the total amount of housing in Pleasanton has grown by approximately nine percent, while total housing growth in Alameda County grew by approximately five percent. This suggests that there were no significant adverse impacts on housing production resulting from Pleasanton's GMO relative to housing production in Alameda County. The GMO could add a layer of processing to development review if development applications require decisions related to borrowing, reallocation, and other growth management approval options. The added time to process a development adds cost to a project. However, the cost to complete a project is not likely to affect the price of homes, as the price of housing is based on what the market is willing to bear, and the added costs are more likely to reduce the profit for the property owner rather than increase the price of a housing unit on the market. The Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (Senate Bill 330, Government Code §66300) prohibits jurisdictions from implementing any provision that limits the number of housing unit approvals or permits that can be issued or acts as a cap on the number of housing units that can be approved or constructed over any period. The Housing Crisis Act went into effect on January 1, 2020 and remains in effect until January 1, 2025. Urban Growth Boundary The Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) is a line, adopted as a component of the General Plan, that delineates the outer edge of land planned for future development at General Plan buildout. The UGB is included in Pleasanton's General Plan and distinguishes areas generally suitable for urban development and the provision of urban facilities and services from areas considered more suitable for the long-term protection of natural and scenic resources (particularly ridgeline views) and open space uses such as large lot agriculture and grazing, and parks and recreation. The UGB also helps to define and create open space buffers between communities to maintain a distinct edge and separation between urbanized areas. The northern boundary and parts of the eastern boundary lines represent other jurisdictional limits, the cities of Dublin and Livermore, respectively, beyond which Pleasanton cannot extend. The western and southern boundaries, comprised of steep slopes and ridges, reflect the joint policies of the City, Alameda County, and the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) to avoid development in topographically and environmentally constrained lands and encourage development within infill areas of existing City C-24 I City of Pleasanton Housing Constraints