I usually do vent the springs when I work on my front suspension.
I don't pull the solenoids though. I leave the air ride switch on, jack the front up just a bit, roll down the drivers window, and key on and off a few times to let the springs vent. For some reason, the gen 2's only vent a little bit at a time, so you have to key on and off many times to vent.
If you don't hear the solenoids click after a few vent cycles, just jack it up a bit more and try some more.
When the springs feel kind of soft, turn your air ride switch off and finish jacking up the car and put your jackstands under the car.
When you are done, just be carefull to slowly let your jack down, so the car is just a little below normal height, turn the air ride switch back on, and key on to let the airsprings fill back up. You might have to cycle this a couple of times.