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major heavy rail commuter station embedded in a world class technology center. I'm just proud to be part of it and as my agency BART is as well for the benefit of the public who owns this system. Thank you very much. Chair Ritter: Questions? Commissioner Nagler: Thank you very much. The result of this redesign is really impressive and the changes that are included in the BART station are significant and you know, to lead into the question I'm about to ask, and also for full disclosure, I'll tell you I'm very familiar with that parking garage and with that walk from the Stoneridge parking lot across the street because sometimes I'm forced to park over there. So the access that's going to be improved in all this is terrific. Having said that, my question is, a lot of parking is being constructed here, and improvements to the BART parking garage are part of the project, all of which are improvements. I'm wondering where in the conversation was included the inadequacy of the number of parking stalls that currently exist at this BART station? Rennels: That's a good question and when we first embarked upon this public/private partnership to bring the station out of the ground, my original development partners understood the importance of parking and that, in fact, they paid for and allowed us to put an additional half level on the parking garage beyond what was required by the EIR. So at the front end, we extended the parking over what was required for the EIR and as you probably know then, this parking garage is larger than the one that's on the Dublin side. Again, that was based upon the EIR assessment as well. We're doing some other things collaboratively in conjunction with the City and our neighbors, Stoneridge Mall, to look at the possibility of some shared parking arrangement there, as well. However, the bottom line is that in the Bay Area we have close to about 60,000 parking spaces as you have probably read in the press. The demand ridership keeps going through the roof and we are not adding more parking, so the bottom line is the way of looking at alternative ways of access which Workday is developing as a transit demand management program. That's something that needs to be pervasive throughout the BART system, looking at bicycling, looking at pedestrian opportunities, looking at shuttles, looking at bus and that's the reality. I wish I could say my pockets are full of cash and we could expand, but that really is not the reality. Commissioner Nagler: Well, let me just ask you this question. As a matter of policy and strategic priorities for the BART system, which has admitted inadequacy of parking at literally every station because you park at any BART station and you realize that BART riders are taking up neighborhood streets, shopping center parking lots, and certainly elsewhere and it's a real problem throughout the system, right? Rennels: Yes. Commissioner Nagler: So as a matter of priority, which is a higher priority to BART? To properly serve or adequately serve, at least in this context, the existing and growing BART ridership or is it to execute these public/private partnerships as is being presented here this evening? Which is a higher priority to the system? DRAFT EXCERPT: PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, April 13, 2016 Page 5 of 9