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Mr. Raty then discussed the Chamber's business role in the Downtown and its business perspective, stating that in the mid -80's, the business community led the way in its desire to have clarity and consistency with regard to the quality of future development in the Downtown. He added that the Chamber worked with the City during this time and created the Downtown Design Guidelines as a standard that served the City very well for over 35 years. He indicated that shortly after that, the Chamber also helped create the PDA and launched it as a self - governing group of people who put their money, their time, and their reputation into the future of the Downtown and its promotion. He noted that today, the PDA is very solid and at its strongest in its history, and he believed this is worth mentioning because over many years, business has been involved in its own backyard, working hard as an organization and taking ownership in the future of the Downtown. He added that business has done a really good job and tends to hold itself in this town to a very high standard, and when it has gotten into the detail and into the minutia, it has come out with some things that have been pretty good for this town. Mr. Raty urged the Commission to give consideration to what the PDA and the EVC recommends and which the Chamber also supports. He pointed out that these organizations are excellent stewards of the Downtown, and the City is 90 percent there with just a few more little things that need tweaking to come up with some very, very good standards for moving forward to give business the kind of clarity it wants and needs to be confident in making the decisions to be a part of this Downtown. Commissioner Olson asked Mr. Raty if the Chamber is in favor of the Transition Area as adopted by the Task Force on page 7 of the Guidelines. Mr. Raty apologized that he did not have a copy of the map with him but that it looked good. He noted that the biggest point was really the decibel ratings and added that he would defer to whatever the PDA would bring forward to the Commission with regard to those specifics. Ms. Ott stated that the PDA and the EVC were supportive of the map. Melanie Sadek stated that she was a member of the Task Force representing the PDA where she is a member of the Board of Directors. She explained that she was originally a member of the PDA when she owned Murphy's Paw in the Downtown but has been as associate member since she sold her business. Ms. Sadek clarified that her role on the Task Force was to represent the non - restaurant businesses. She noted that as a retail store owner, there were lots of opportunities for her to hold functions at her store and would actually need to go to the City and get a permit to hold those functions. She urged the Commissioners to keep in mind as they look at this report and the recommendations that it does not apply just to restaurants and bars but also allows all the stores Downtown such as Studio 7 and Murphy's Paw to have the opportunity to do a little bit extra without actually having to go and get a permit. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, September 12, 2012 Page 17 of 35