|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Pleasanton City Council expressed strong support Tuesday for the initial concepts of a proposed high-density residential development at the eastern Dublin-Pleasanton BART Station, which could produce as many as 1,300 new rental units.
The project, which is still in its early design phase, is slated to replace a significant portion of the surrounding land, including much of the parking area, on the Pleasanton side of the transit station with anywhere from three to four residential buildings that could range from five to eight stories high.
During Tuesday’s informational discussion, there were questions from the dais about the design and concerns raised over parking and other specifications regarding potential retail. But overall, the council agreed that this site is the city’s best option for tall buildings and high-density housing.
“I think this is a development that’s in a part of the city (where) height’s not going to bother a tremendous amount of people,” Councilmember Matt Gaidos said during the Nov. 18 meeting. “It’s not next to residents; it’s not next to really anything that’s going to cause a lot of public outcry, so if we don’t allow height there, where would we ever allow it?”
Back when the city adopted its most-recent Housing Element in 2023, one of the locations the city identified to rezone for high-density housing was the eastern Dublin-Pleasanton BART Station, located at 5835 and 5859 Owens Drive.Â
“Of all the places in Pleasanton that don’t impact other neighborhoods, this might be the place to get your RHNA numbers and think about getting the maximum out of a transit-oriented development,” said Rick Williams, a partner at Van Meter Williams Pollack — the urban design and planning firm behind the early concepts.
BART owns the land and ultimately has the final say in approving the bigger picture aspects of the designs for the housing project, including unit count, scale of the project and other details such as parking. However, the agency has been committed to working with Pleasanton to develop a consensus around the parameters for development.
Williams went over the site’s reuse options on Tuesday that included two main “test fit scenarios”.
The first housing scenario that was presented includes four individual buildings — two five-story buildings and two seven story buildings — which would total anywhere from 870 to 1,088 potential homes. One building would wrap around a garage and could have up to 150 homes, another would be more of a courtyard building with up to 210 homes and the last two would be seven-story podium buildings that would each range from 280 homes to as many as 380.
The second scenario would be three buildings that would total anywhere from 1,047 to 1,309 homes. Two of the buildings would be seven-story podium buildings while the third could range from five to eight stories high and could see anywhere from 450 to 735 homes. The latter would also be a building that wraps around a garage.
Williams noted that the units will likely be for rent and that the goal — although city staff will further discuss this detail — would be to require at least 20% of the homes built on this site to be affordable to lower income households.
Williams also said the goal is to have about 50% of the units be a combination of two to three bedrooms.
“There’s many, many, many different ways that a developer may take a look at that in responding to an RFP, but these provide a sense of bracket of what this site could hold with an overall capacity of somewhere between 870 and 1,300 units and a flexible amount of BART parking,” Williams said.
While transit parking was a concern brought up by both the council and by planning commissioners in an October meeting where they looked at these plans, Williams pointed out that BART is waiting on a parking study that will help evaluate the amount of parking required on the Pleasanton side of the station.
He added that the cost of building parking — both in a garage and above or below ground — could range from $80,000 per space to as high as $125,000, which is why the transit station wants to wait for the parking study to finish. He also noted that, regardless of the amount needed, additional grant funding will be needed to pay for construction of a parking garage.
The overall concept plan includes a new plaza, different options for interior vehicle circulation and other improvements to roads and bike lanes. But one major detail, which councilmembers Jeff Nibert and Craig Eicher doubled down on, was the proposal to include mixed-use retail space.
Nibert noted how the kiosks at the current site have never been active with tenants for too long and both he and Eicher were worried about new tenants occupying future retail space.
However, Williams pointed out that aspect is going to depend a lot on seeking developers who know how to curate the overall design of the project to appeal to future retail tenants.
Among Councilmember Julie Testa’s feedback, she maintained she didn’t want buildings to go over six stories high and said the project should focus on building housing for families and including spaces for kids to play.
Eicher and Mayor Jack Balch both expressed preferences for the design that included four buildings. Additionally, everyone except Testa said they would be open to taller buildings, but likely nothing higher than seven stories.
Following Tuesday’s informational session, BART’s design team will integrate the council’s feedback into a draft framework plan, obtain a grant needed for the parking management and station access study, and return for more hearings in front of the planning commission and the council sometime next year.
Pleasanton man accused of DUI in deadly crash on Crow Canyon Road in San RamonNovember 29, 2025 6:07 pm