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modern office building and did not look good. What ended up was a very good project which was more of a classic design which will look good for a longer time into the future. Design guidelines can be used to improve it and he encouraged staff and BRE to look closer at them to improve this. Regarding Site 2, he believed it was better but needs some of the same kind of work. They also have to be cognizant of the residential units across the street and asked that they match surrounding residential units. Regarding the issue of narrowing Owens and Gibraltar, he asked for more discussion on this and to think creatively, as his concern is that those modifications would be made on only one side of the street which will not be helpful for retail success on Owens. The key is having a narrow street that is walkable with on-street parking and he suggested more work be done with this. The BART issue has bothered him from the beginning because they never could commit and the City should get together with them again and find out what their plans are. Concerning internal and external walkability, he wants to make sure there are separated sidewalks or true pedestrian circulation where people are not walking into car driveways. Councilmember Sullivan said he was happy to hear from the union workers. For most of these projects that are non-union and low bid, the workers come from the Central Valley and are coming into town, going home and not spending dollars in Pleasanton. Part of this concept is workforce housing, but the City never talked about the flipside of it, which is how do workers afford the housing which must be part of this equation. There are other benefits other than people making a living wage, and his understanding is that some of the agreements negotiated between unions and developers include things like internships or apprenticeships from local high schools to get into the trades. The developer should provide local jobs for local people so dollars stay in Pleasanton and he hopes those discussions can be fruitful. BRE is also looking for a 5-year development agreement with conditions for the project, but typically the City approves 2 year agreements. He felt there must be a benefit for the City in a development agreement and to him this could be one of those benefits which could be the basis for a 5 year development agreement. He would like these conversations to continue. Councilmember Sullivan asked if William Fleissig looked at the plans and provided any comments. Mr. Dolan said staff did have them conduct an informal review of the project. Councilmember Sullivan asked to receive a copy of the results and thinks he should be engaged in the project to work through some of the issues, especially on the live/work issue. Councilmember Thorne agreed with Councilmember McGovern that the trees have gotten bigger because they've had 9 years to grow. He first thanked the Planning Commission for all their work that went into the project. He thinks they have done an excellent job in asking all the right questions and thinks the project recommended to the Council will be appropriate. He has two general concerns; maintaining affordability of the project. They wanted transit-oriented development but also affordability. He would have a concern with putting so many restrictions on the project such that it becomes infeasible. In this case, it might revert back to an office building and the City has come too far to allow that to happen. This also leads into the live/work space. He is not comfortable in making general statements that retail can be successful. People who do this sort of thing tell us that it is not and he is not qualified to say it is feasible. The 30 foot depth makes more sense, as well as keeping the parking spaces, and he thinks the City should pay close attention to what its original objectives were which is to have an affordable project, feasible to build, so that the developer can move forward. Vice-Mayor Cook-Kallio referred to the narrowing of Owens and Gibraltar. She recognizes the fact that if BART is coming in to do something, it makes sense to wait so the money is spent wisely. However, if they are going to be slow moving, she would like to investigate looking at something else. She thinks part of what will make the retail work is that it is appealing. Regarding the connection of the trail on Site 2, she thinks there needs to be something worked out. She likes the idea of increasing the size of the park, as well. She agrees with Commissioner Blank's comments about wanting more data on the depth City Council Planning Commission Page 10 of 11 February 8,2012 Joint Workshop Minutes