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turned the floor over to Colin Burgett, traffic generation expert, to discuss the <br />parameters used. <br /> <br />Colin Burgett of Nelson Nygaard, a transportation planning consulting firm, stated that <br />his firm has worked quite a bit with BART on different TOD planning efforts and for this <br />particular project, because it was very fast-tracked, one component of their scope was <br />to identify a level of development that would fit within el <br />already assumes and then make some assumptions for how that traffic generation <br />would change based on different mixes and matches with all the different development <br />scenarios that have been identified. <br /> <br />Mr. Burgett stated that the traffic assumption for the BART site that was included in the <br />General Plan model, based on a placeholder assumption of what might be reasonable <br />at that time for the site, is that there would be a little under 300,000 square feet of office <br />space, a 200-room hotel, and about 1,500 square feet of retail. He noted that at that <br />time, the traffic model did not assume a trip reduction for being next to a BART station, <br />so these are raw numbers based on standard traffic generation in the suburbs. He <br />stated that there are 600 trips in the peak with that level of development, but when the <br />20-percent trip reduction credit is applied, which is also applied to the Hacienda sites, <br />each of those numbers can increase by 20 percent and wind up with about 340,000 to <br />350,000 square feet of office and a 240-room hotel; and if the hotel is taken out of the <br />mix, there would be 430,000 square feet of office. He also presented the numbers if <br />there was a decision in the future to consider a 40-percent trip reduction credit next to <br />transit. <br /> <br />Mr. Burgett stated that a lot of research on how many trips can be eliminated by being <br />next to a large transit station continues to evolve. He noted that by the time this <br />development comes back with a developer and a plan, there might be some new data <br />suggesting that being this close to the BART station, the higher end of the range might <br />be appropriate. He further noted that this level of development is not based on any <br />assumptions that this is what is allowed for the site or exceeding this would specifically <br />create impacts, but that these trips are already in the model. <br /> <br />Mr. Burgett stated that the main benefit of the station not being an end of the line station <br />would be that the parking structure will not fill up so easily, so more Pleasanton <br />residents will have more access to the garage a little later in the morning. He added <br />that the other benefit to these numbers might be less peaked, for example, if the parking <br />garage is not filling up between 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., i.e., if 1,200 cars arrive <br />between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. with a few cars arriving later, these numbers can go <br />up even further, simply replacing trips that are not arriving during the peak hours. <br /> <br />Mr. Williams stated that if the BART extension were to take place, he foresees that as <br />development occurs, the area will become more pedestrian, and there will be other <br />opportunities for people who live to the east of Pleasanton and who will want to get on <br />BART to not have to drive to this station. He noted that the idea of shared or multi-use <br />parking allows for that evolution to occur. He added that from a planning point of view, <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, May 25, 2011 Page 10 of 21 <br /> <br />