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and residents and that, when it came to BART, it was felt that its position was best suited to the <br /> advisory group. He advised that if the Council proposes to appoint a union representative to the <br /> task force, it do the same with BART. <br /> Councilmember Thorne said there seem to be misconceptions that the City Council and <br /> Planning Commission will be relinquishing a certain amount of decision making ability through <br /> this process. <br /> Mr. Fialho confirmed and said that the policy makers are a part of this task force because they, <br /> in addition to staff, are most familiar with the new General Plan. He said that the <br /> recommendation that comes out of this task force will be forwarded to the Planning Commission <br /> and then ultimately to the City Council. <br /> Councilmember McGovern reiterated concern over the directive that the task force "will <br /> articulate a vision and goals statement for development of sites adjacent to the BART station <br /> and park as a whole." She said that this seems to indicate development over and above what is <br /> being contemplated here and is not in line with the development of safeguards for monitoring <br /> and protecting the City's growth and quality of life standards. She said that Hacienda Business <br /> Park has a currently approved capacity for roughly one million square feet more of commercial <br /> space, and that she cannot agree to the idea of the park as a whole until capacity has been <br /> addressed. <br /> Mr. Fialho explained that some of this planning process may have collateral impacts which have <br /> a broad effect on the entire park. He referred to page five of the staff report and cited some of <br /> these impacts as pedestrian access, traffic, and common amenities. He suggested that any <br /> concerns about this leaving the door open for other properties should be mitigated by the <br /> upcoming Housing Element update. He said that the discussion of those properties, new RHNA <br /> allocations, and where those units will go are all part of that equation and that the next two <br /> years should provide a clearer idea of where those rezonings will occur. <br /> Councilmember McGovern said this seems to be a prime example of the "cart before the horse" <br /> on several fronts. She said this is an issue of reciprocity and asked that it be made clear that the <br /> Council, in the scope of this work, is not looking to increase the capacity of the business park at <br /> this time. She asked what the vested rights of the three sites in question are. <br /> Mr. Dolan could not confirm exact build out numbers but referred her to the last meeting's <br /> discussion on FAR at those sites. He clarified the term "vested rights," noting that while the <br /> property owners have a right to build office space as opposed to residential, there is still an <br /> approval process that any development would have to pass. <br /> Councilmember McGovern suggested that a capacity similar to the square footage currently <br /> allowed for each site be considered. She said that the task force could certainly request <br /> additional square footage if it found it appropriate. She explained that this would give the public <br /> the assurance that the capacity is not increased while also acknowledging that the infrastructure <br /> in place was built with that capacity in mind. <br /> Councilmember Sullivan said there is a lot of prehistoric discussion on the rezoning of Hacienda <br /> to mixed -use, one of those concepts being the idea of no net impact increases. He said the <br /> three sites in question have existing development allocations and that any change to that land <br /> use plan should consider how that changes the impacts. He suggested that if those impacts are <br /> increased, a decrease in commercial space elsewhere in the park could be considered. <br /> City Council Minutes Page 9 of 21 November 3, 2009 <br />