Thursday, January 17, 2002 - 3:02:48 AM MST
Council wants new Bernal property plan
By Matt Carter
STAFF WRITER
PLEASANTON -- It looks like it's back to the drawing board for two
citizen task forces helping decide how Pleasanton should use 318 acres
of public land on the Bernal property.
Saying voters are unlikely to approve preliminary plans because they
carve the land up into too many isolated pieces, Mayor Tom Pico and
other council members are requesting a more integrated plan for one
large park with different uses scattered throughout.
"This whole thing is getting so chopped up," Pico said at Tuesday's
City Council meeting. "If we want to have any hope of the community
approving this, we need to have a big chunk of open space."
Councilwoman Kay Ayala said she hoped a new plan could be developed in
time to gauge the opinions of voters in November. "I have no doubt
that if this preliminary plan goes to voters, it will get voted down,"
Ayala said.
In exchange for allowing development on part of a 500-acre piece of
land along Interstate 680 and south of Bernal Avenue, the city gained
control of the land that was left over.
Two task forces were formed to come up with separate land use plans --
one for a 50-acre community park, and the other for the remaining 268
acres.
The preliminary plan for the 50-acre community park would set aside
land for three soccer fields, five baseball diamonds and a
12,000-square-foot community building. Because Pleasanton residents
already were believed to be in favor of a community park, the plan was
to be drafted quickly for approval by the council, but not voters.
On Tuesday, the City Council reviewed a second, larger plan, which it
intends to bring to voters for approval. As drafted, the plan would
allocate land for uses including arts facilities, affordable housing
and an ACE train station.
Those and other uses -- 20 altogether -- were suggested by a task
force, which chose what it felt were the best ideas from a list of 42
proposals submitted by the public. Projects that didn't make the top
20 list included a public cemetery, an indoor swimming pool and a
course for flying plastic discs.
Pico said he agrees with the uses both task forces have come up with,
but wondered if they could be better integrated in a single, unified
design.
"We may have made a mistake to create two task forces in our haste to
get the community park developed," Pico said. "We need to look at this
as a park as a whole."
The larger plan calls for setting aside land for a youth center, for
example -- a project that might benefit from being situated amid the
sports fields in the community park, Pico said. He encouraged the two
task forces to get together to work on similar ideas.
There already seems to be public support for that approach. At a town
hall meeting Jan. 8, some residents complained that they did not want
to see the Bernal property cluttered with too many projects.
Resident Marilyn Kane, for example, urged the city to build a park
with wide paths, extensive landscaping and benches modeled after
Lithia Park in Ashland, Ore. At Tuesday's City Council meeting, Kane
said she's now gathered the signatures of 832 people who support the
idea.
Pico told her to keep at it.
"You're going to be our secret weapon" when the plan for public uses
of the Bernal property goes to voters, Pico said.
Although there was talk of keeping more of the property as open space,
few on the council proposed projects that might be eliminated.
One major exception was the preliminary plan's allocation of 40 acres
to the Pleasanton Unified School District as a site for a high school
or other educational facility. Before setting aside that much land,
some felt the city should have a better idea whether the school
district intends to acquire land elsewhere.
Ayala also opposed setting aside any land for affordable housing,
while Councilman Matt Campbell objected to reserving an 8-acre parcel
for religious facilities. Campbell said he did not want the city to be
in the position of having to choose which religions would be allowed
to use the land. Councilwoman Sharrell Michelotti also said she was
opposed to setting aside land for a cemetery.
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