The BART parking lot along Owens Drive on the Pleasanton side of the eastern Dublin-Pleasanton BART Station on a Thursday midmorning in August 2025. (Photo by Jeremy Walsh)
The Pleasanton Planning Commission examined early design proposals for the Dublin-Pleasanton BART Station housing redevelopment project that, depending on final designs, could bring anywhere from 870 to just over 1,300 new homes.
Even though the city of Pleasanton won’t be approving the project in the future — the BART Board of Directors will have final say on design specifics — the commissioners voiced their support for more housing in that area and appreciation for the transportation agency’s willingness to listen to the community regarding the overall project.
“We should take advantage of this opportunity … this could do a lot of relief for our city with the Housing Element,” Commissioner Brandon Pace said during the Oct. 22 meeting. “Finding the right ways to do that are going to be really important.”
When the city adopted its sixth-cycle Housing Element in 2023, one of the locations identified for high-density housing was the eastern Dublin-Pleasanton BART Station, located at 5835 and 5859 Owens Drive. The identification of potential housing for the site also included a program to prepare a concept plan for the station, which is what the commission reviewed last week.
According to staff, the process for developing the plan was meant to develop a consensus between BART, the city and other stakeholders around the parameters of the development before the transit agency puts out its request for proposals for potential developers.
The process of developing the conceptual plan included months of assessing the site, weighing out future opportunities regarding retail and constraints surrounding things like an existing fuel pipeline, and bringing up these issues and proposals to members of the community and city leaders.
During the Oct. 22 commission meeting, staff presented several aspects of the conceptual plan, including the two options for what housing would look like at the BART station.
“One of the things that we’re committed to, through this process, is to really make sure we try and get it as right as possible,” city community development director Ellen Clark said.
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 building 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 as little as 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.
All of the proposed housing would most likely be for rent and 20% of the homes would be designated as affordable housing, according to staff.
Rick Williams, a partner at Van Meter Williams Pollack urban design and planning firm, went over the specifics of the two options and noted how viable the area is for this type of high-density housing.
“If you think about Pleasanton in general and where larger-scale development can occur without impacting surrounding residential neighborhoods, this is really the place to work on a lot of your Housing Element needs and this would be a good opportunity for looking to achieve highest densities that you generally could fit on a site,” Williams said.
Other aspects of the conceptual plan include a centralized plaza where BART wants to use as a destination space for not just visitors to use, but also for future residents to enjoy. Williams also went over potential plans for retail spaces both in the plaza and at the kiosks surrounding the BART station.
Even though many on the commission noted how those kiosks have been mostly empty over the years and how hard it is to find viable businesses for those spaces, Williams said it all depends on the developer and how much that developer actually wants to build with retail in mind.
Other details from the concept plan included improved bike lanes, drop off zones, better signage, upgrades to the Iron Horse Regional Trail and updating how circulation would work within and surrounding the middle section of the project where the plaza would be located.
However, one of the main points of contention from several of the commissioners had to do with parking and how the overall project would take away parking spaces from the BART station.
“We’re making a decision here to take away parking and it’s a big decision,” Commissioner Anurag Jain said. “A lot of residents have reached out to me … all of them are concerned about parking.”
While Jain, much like the rest of the commission, appreciated many of the other aspects of the conceptual plan, he wanted to make sure the city has as much information about the impacts reducing the number of parking spaces would have on the community and future BART riders who might have trouble finding parking spaces.
Similarly, Commission Chair Ken Morgan agreed that parking would be the crux of any future input from the commission, which is why he called for the parking management and station access study — which the city received a grant to conduct — to be done sooner rather than later.
In the end, the commission did not vote on anything during the meeting but did signal that continued collaboration between the city and BART will be important as the project slowly moves forward.
“As a commission, as a council, as a city, we have to be clear about what we need and then figure out a way to get there,” Commissioner Vivek Mohan said.
Following last week’s meeting, the Pleasanton City Council will discuss the project during a study session tentatively scheduled for Nov. 18. Staff will then integrate all of the recent feedback into a draft framework plan before returning to the commission and council for a pair of hearings set for January and February, respectively.
