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Ms. Phalen stated that there was a lot of discussion between residents and businesses during the Task Force meetings, and her personal feeling is that businesses were probably not represented in a big enough way. She indicated that as a commercial real estate broker, she thinks that having fewer Conditional Use Permit processes would be really good as they are very expensive and time consuming. She noted that when she brings people Downtown to show them a property and tells them they will need a Conditional Use Permit, to hire an architect, and do some other things, she sometimes never hears back from them. Ms. Phalen stated that she was also personally involved in the PDA process and that she thinks Pleasanton has to realize there is a lot of noise in town with trains, the Fair, traffic, and all kinds of other things as well. She added that she really does not see that the Downtown noise is all that much worse than a lot of those other things. She indicated that when she was going through those meetings, her impression was that the discussion was more around how to increase noise to the right kinds of levels rather than any discussion of too much decreasing of noise. She also indicated that she supports the choice of word "policy" because this is going to involve code changes and thinks that would give a kind of smaller backbone to whatever is finally decided on. Mike Peele, member of the Pleasanton Downtown Association Board, stated that he moved to Pleasanton 40 years ago when he was a young man and his plans are to move to Second or Third Street sometime in the very near future. He indicated that his wife and he go out a lot and most of that time is spent in Livermore. He stated that two weeks ago, they went to Harry's Hofbrau in Livermore before going to the movies, and when they got out of the movie theater at around 8:55 p.m., they drove down First Street in Livermore and for about 5 or 6 blocks there was no parking space available. He added that all the restaurants were full and the outdoor dining was packed. He noted that it was very vibrant and the hospitality was great. He continued that they drove back to Pleasanton, went down Main Street, and half of the parking places were empty with the only vitality area being Alberto's and Tully's Coffee Shop. Mr. Peel stated that he fully supports the Guidelines. He noted that he believes in less regulations and that he voted for the Guidelines because I think it was a fair and decent compromise. Pamela Hardy -Alpert stated that she is serving on the Economic Vitality Committee along with Ms. Phalen and that she has also served on the Downtown Specific Plan and a few other committees where the Downtown was a considerable part of that discussion. She indicated that when the EVC looked at the Guidelines, the over - arching question they asked was, "Does this'Policy' or'Guidelines' contribute to the vitality of Pleasanton ?" She noted that there are bits and pieces of the Guidelines that she maybe individually does not agree with, but taken on the whole, she believes the Guidelines is a balanced approach that sets the level of expectation for the Downtown area and gives the business owners, and to some extent the residents, some predictability and consistency. She indicated that this is a really great start and sets up PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, September 12, 2012 Page 23 of 35