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6. E -mail from Councilmember Cindy McGovern 6.1 The designation was applied to the entire business park for a couple of reasons. First, there was a recognition that Hacienda, on a macro scale, is currently a mixed -use development since it incorporates office, retail /commercial, research and development uses, as well as 1,530 residential units, a middle school, and public parks. There was also the thought that although the City could specifically designate the areas currently under consideration for residential development /mixed use, there could be additional sites which could support mixed -use development. The larger area provides the City Council with flexibility to consider additional projects within the residential cap, and also articulates a broader goal of creating a sense of place in the business park and making the area more pedestrian and bike friendly. To review, the Mixed Use designation, as described in the proposed General Plan Land Use Element, allows any combination of business park, office, retail, hotel and other commercial uses, community facilities, research and development, and residential uses in a single building, on a single site or on adjacent sites where the uses are integrated and include a functional interrelationship and a coherent physical design. Higher density residential uses (30 units per acre or more) are encouraged in locations proximate to BART stations, and other areas near transit, although such residential development is not precluded in other areas designated Mixed Use." Therefore, although residential development may be allowed in the entire area and encouraged in certain locations, by no means is it assumed that residential development would be part of all future mixed -use development. Staff agrees with the commenter that not all areas in Hacienda may be appropriate for residential development. 6.2 The proposed General Plan would redesignate the Applied Biosystems site from General and Limited Industrial to Business Park. This change is being proposed because the Business Park designation better reflects the Applied Biosystems development compared to the General and Limited Industrial designation. The redesignation of the site to Business Park would result in no physical change to the site and it would not allow more development than the current Planned District approval allows. Applied Biosystems, like any owner, could sell its property or could apply to modify its development approvals. The approval of any future development would be guided by the description of a Business Park in the proposed General Plan (p. 2 -24) which states: "Intended primarily to accommodate high quality, campus -like development, including administrative, professional office, and research uses. Retail commercial uses are limited to those primarily serving the business park employees." Because the site is zoned Planned District, any new proposal would be subject to City Council approval. 6.3 This designation can certainly be added to the list of land uses being considered in East Pleasanton. 6.4 See response 6.1, above. Although it is a general a rule of thumb that Transit Oriented Development should be located within a half -mile of a transit center, the proposed General Plan (which designates land as Mixed Use rather than Transit Oriented Development) does not include such a restriction. final response to comments with throw pages 29