The End of "Pleasant" In Pleasanton? Part 1

According to all the “best for families” and “best place to live” lists, Pleasanton is a great place to live. There’s a real sense of community here, with great schools, active service groups, beautiful parks and liveable neighborhoods. But that the Pleasanton City Council and the Planning Commission seem to be taking that all for granted, and now are making moves that will ultimately take the “pleasant” out of Pleasanton.

They have looked around at neighboring communities, and caught a bad case of “retail envy.” Now that they have built homes to attract a large population base, they are intent on increasing the tax base further by importing all the retail they can. In their frenzy to grow revenues, they are embracing the pending rezoning and deal to add Costco to a prime, visible location along Johnson Drive that will forever change the way people perceive Pleasanton.

In a recent Pleasanton 2020 Forum hosted by the Chamber, a rep from developer Nearon basically told everyone that the Costco lease was a ‘done deal’ and that nothing could be done by those who opposed the plan.

What Do People Really Think?

In their zeal, the Planning Commission staff has forgotten to ask what people in the community think. Do people really want more traffic clogging up already busy intersections such as those along Stoneridge Drive and in the Owens Drive/Hopyard area? Are they so desperate to save the 10 minutes it takes to get to the Livermore Costco that they would give up their sense of community and the lively small business sector that has built their community? Are they willing to let Costco bully them into acceptance?

In the absence of any organized polling to find out what ordinary residents think, one local retailer who sees a lot of in-and-out traffic at his businesses in the Hopyard Road and Santa Rita areas has been taking a non-scientific but reality-based poll of customers to see what they think about Costco coming to Johnson Drive.

Of the 700 people polled, 63% expressed major reservations with the plan. Overwhelmingly, the first objection offered was “no more traffic!” Many felt that Costco could be a good addition if it was located away from major arteries and busy intersections. Others worried about the potential impact on established small businesses and on the environment. Still others thought it was needless since there were so many other Costcos nearby.

Of the 28% who responded positively to the idea, they were split almost evenly between those who “love shopping at Costco” and those who thought the jobs the company would bring would be welcomed. And of course, there was the 9% who didn’t seem to care either way or had no opinion.

A Perfect Storm of Traffic

In the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) prepared by the Planning Commission staff on the project, known as the Johnson Drive Economic Development Zone (JDEDZ), they admit that people are right to be concerned:
“The analysis in this SEIR indicates that development facilitated by the EDZ would generate air emissions that would result in a net increase of criteria pollutants which would conflict with implementation of the applicable air quality plan, and increased traffic which would affect levels of service for freeway ramps at merge/diverge areas within I-680. These impacts would be significant and unavoidable, even after incorporation of mitigation measures.” (To read the entire report, go here.)

The EIR reports that weekday daily trips in the Johnson Drive corridor would increase to 12,160, and Saturday trips would go up to a whopping 15,630. Good luck trying to get to Patio World or the Doubletree Hotel on the weekends. The report doesn’t deal with the prime retail period of Christmas, when between Costco and Stoneridge Mall the I680 interchange and Stoneridge Drive could become the ‘perfect storm’ of traffic nightmares.

Elections Coming

Of course, we’re in an election year with the mayor and two council members up for election. It seems like the approval process is lightning-fast--the plan first emerged last fall and is planned to be decided by this Spring. (In contrast, the Lund Ranch development approval took years to decide). This makes sense if you don’t want to have Costco become one of the major issues of the campaign.

It may be time for the Pleasanton community to take matters into their own hands, by demanding a referendum on this important issue. There is too much at stake for the issue to be decided by an extremely motivated developer, a huge corporation with little stake in the community, and a planning commission that is out of touch with its own residents.

To see more about the negatives on Costco coming to Pleasanton, check out nocostcohere.com website or the Facebook page.