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the road as it did in year one. He added that these projects represent about $160 million in investment and that BRE has a vested interest in them as does the City, in making sure they look good and create a livable environment for the residents. Mr. Wayland stated that the BRE project staff have diligently worked with City staff to comply with the Design Guidelines, and he thinks they are 95 percent there. He noted that they have the trail and park dedication, the open space requirements have been met, there are more retail and live/work than was originally anticipated, and they have tried to make efforts to accomplish all the goals. He indicated that they are asking for some exceptions, which they have thoroughly vetted out with staff and internally, and that these exceptions are based on what they believe would make the project successful and a better environment for the residents who ultimately are writing the rent checks. He noted that they have always defaulted in that direction in cases where they really thought it was a toss-up. Mr. Wayland stated that they look forwa. He indicated that Bob Linder, also from BRE, is present and may also be answering some questions. He then turned over the floor to Irwin Yau, Project Architect. Due to equipment failure, Chair Narum called for a break at 8:10 p.m. and resumed the meeting at 8:20 p.m. Mr. Yau thanked Mr. Dolan for his thorough presentation and indicated that he would go through some slides really quickly and touch on different aspects that were not brought up. He stated that the two sites are within the Hacienda Business Park district, and, therefore, the project is designed accordingly in the context of a business park, with Site 2 being a bit more sensitive to the residential areas located along its south side. He then presented an aerial photograph of the area showing what the community would look like once all the elements are built out. Mr. Yau presented a photo of Site 1 against the BART station and explained that the way it was laid out was to try and create more of an urban environment with a higher density and urban buildings flanking the plaza space. He indicated that this is where taller four-story buildings exist with retail inside, and the rest of the building is more of a campus style behind that, which serves as its backdrop. He stated that there are 5,000 square feet of retail along the corner, a plaza space about the size of half a football field, live/work along all of Owens Drive, angled parking along the front, a landscape median that will protect users from backup into that space, and street sections which comply with the TOD Guidelines. He indicated that they are trying to create a community that is centralized amongst a central open space that also has a connection with a plaza space. Mr. Yau stated that, as Mr. Dolan mentioned, they explored putting in the internal streets and looking at how it would affect the project itself. He presented two different plans: the first proposal includes the plaza on the corner and one large main open space with green sails that wrap around the whole space, but without internal streets; PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, October 17, 2011 Page 14 of 36