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Beaudin: There's a room on the first floor that could be a live/work situation so I think this gets <br /> us back to the earlier concept that we were talking about very early in the discussions where <br /> you could theoretically have someone with a home office who has the ability to operate there <br /> with a pretty small footprint on the ground floor of an office space. <br /> Commissioner Balch: So the City allows you to be self-employed or live/work in your <br /> residence, but they don't allow you to have employees in a residence, correct? <br /> Beaudin: So that's true for Home Occupation, but live/work is a little bit different. We don't <br /> have live/work in the Code right now. I think it's something we could certainly explore for <br /> downtown when we get into the Downtown Specific Plan effort. In a PUD scenario like this, we <br /> have a little bit of flexibility to play with that concept, particularly because we're trying to get <br /> this project into an 0 district and I think, if I could just take the opportunity while I have the <br /> opportunity—the idea of creating that taller plate height and getting those transom windows in <br /> there, what you start to see is the possibility for a space that can evolve with the neighborhood. <br /> So we're talking about it in the context of an Office district but we're being mindful of the fact <br /> that when we get into this Downtown Specific Plan, the 0 district is likely to evolve to <br /> something else. So the kind of design that Tim and Mike are putting forward tonight really is <br /> flexible. And so if it evolves to a retail use in the future or to an office, I think it's going to be a <br /> pleasant space for this corner. What we're trying to do is get a great design for a corner space <br /> that is flexible. <br /> Commissioner Balch: Okay, so I apologize then because the staff report talks how they would <br /> like offices on the ground floor of all four buildings. Is that still where staff is at? <br /> Weinstein: It's a judgment call, right? I think staffs default is to make this project as consistent <br /> as possible with the Office district, keeping in mind what Gerry just said, which is that it is <br /> possible that the Office district will evolve in the future and that the office space might be better <br /> used as retail space. But, we're sort of employing the same principle that we used on the <br /> Spring Street project, right? That was a C-C district project which calls for, if you're a strict <br /> constructionist of the Downtown Specific Plan, it calls for all ground floor retail space on the <br /> Spring Street side. We realized on that site that covering that entire ground floor space with <br /> retail was not really practical. It was a really long, narrow lot. So the compromise we came up <br /> with was a strong commercial presence right on Spring Street and then whatever you wanted <br /> to do in terms of residential on the back and on the upper floors, so we're trying to employ that <br /> same principle here on this site. So our suggestion in talking with the applicant earlier was to <br /> have the street-fronting buildings have a strong office or maybe retail presence and then do <br /> whatever housing you want in the back buildings that are not actually on the streets. So we <br /> were trying to employ that same principle that we used on Spring Street to this site to be <br /> consistent with the Specific Plan. <br /> Commissioner Balch: So slightly different that the written staff report. <br /> Weinstein: Again, this is a workshop and we're presenting the project that was proposed but <br /> we try to steer applicants to do projects that are consistent with the Specific Plan. <br /> Commissioner Balch: Okay, thank you. <br /> EXCERPT: PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, May 25, 2016 Page 10 of <br /> 22 <br />