Pleasanton planning commission backs new ‘innovation-based business’ zoning, recommends council approval

Pleasanton Planning Commission on July 23 recommended that the City Council adopt zoning-text changes to create a new “innovation based business” (IBB) land-use category and find the text amendments exempt from CEQA under CEQA Guidelines §15061(b)(3). The proposed changes add IBBs to a range of industrial, office and planned-unit-development districts, prohibit IBBs within the downtown specific plan area, and retain review tools — minor conditional use permits (MCUP), conditional use permits (CUP) and design review — for projects that could affect neighbors. The commission voted unanimously to forward the package as revised by staff. Why it matters: The city’s five-year economic development strategy prioritized zoning and permitting changes to attract high-value technology, life-science and advanced-manufacturing employers. The IBB category is intended to reduce regulatory barriers for those industries while preserving site-design, noise, setback and height controls intended to protect established neighborhoods…