Pleasanton council accepts layout for 500-acre airport property, sends plan to planning and zoning

The Pleasanton City Council at a workshop meeting approved "lots plan 4 layout number 1" as the preferred zoning layout for roughly 500 acres of city-owned airport property and asked the planning and zoning body to use that map as the starting point for drafting zoning classifications and ordinance language.

The layout presented to the council is largely a reproduction of a Stantec master-plan concept, with commercial frontage concentrated along one edge of the property, a set-aside civic parcel near the medical facility, and approximately 200 acres shown as open space and buffers between the airport and proposed residential areas. Council members and staff emphasized the need to respect existing FEMA floodplain boundaries when moving forward with zoning and any future engineering or site work.

Why it matters: The council’s vote sets the framework that planning and zoning will use to draft ordinance language and classifications for the newly acquired property. Council members said the map will guide decisions about which sections could be declared surplus and prepared for sale or development and which must remain public open space because of floodplain constraints.

Details of the plan and discussion Luis (staff member), who presented the layouts, said the first drawing is essentially the Stantec master-plan concept and identified the pink-shaded frontage as the commercial frontage and a separate 30-acre frontage band. He described a civic parcel (property F) of about 14 acres intended for public uses and said an area of about 20 acres near the medical facility was shown for medical-related uses. The presenter and other council members discussed a larger swath—about 200 acres—as open space and buffer between the airport and proposed residential parcels.

Council member Donnie asked if parcels could be divided into smaller tracts; the presenter said yes, noting that portions could be split to accommodate needs such as hotels, car lots or other commercial uses. A council member identified as asking about "property J" referenced a figure of roughly 14.013 acres for that parcel.

Several council members asked whether the planning and zoning commission had already reviewed the specific layout. The presenter and other council members said the planning and zoning body had seen the overall concept and had been working on simplifying classifications, but they had not formally reviewed this exact layout in ordinance form. The council agreed the layout should be provided to planning and zoning as a priority starting point while staff pursues a consultant engagement.

Floodplain and consultant work John (staff member) told the council that the floodplain shown on the drawings reflects currently accepted FEMA mapping and that the plan was drawn conservatively to avoid floodplain areas for potential development; areas in the floodplain would be retained for public open-space uses. Council members raised the possibility that later engineering studies could require adjustments, and staff acknowledged that future engineering could refine boundaries but maintained the map uses FEMA-accepted limits.

The council also heard that a consultant had not yet started because the city is awaiting a grant award from the GLO; once the grant is awarded, the consultant would work with planning and zoning on the comprehensive-plan integration and ordinance drafting.

Vote and next steps Mr. Greenberg moved to accept "lots plan 4 layout number 1"; a second was recorded and the council approved the motion by voice/raised-hand vote. The meeting record contains no roll-call tally or named vote counts. The council directed planning and zoning to prioritize drafting the ordinance and classifications based on the accepted layout and return with recommendations.

The council discussion and vote concluded without adoption of a final ordinance; additional technical work, consultant engagement (pending the GLO grant), and planning-and-zoning review were described as required next steps.