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Ms. Arango stated that her concern is really about safety and keeping it a safe neighborhood. She indicated that she has heard that the strip right behind the gas station is supposedly where kids go and fight, and she really believes that having a store open so late will not make it a safe neighborhood. She then handed the recording secretary some pictures she took of the gas station showing how poorly maintained the gas station is. She noted that it is just basically about maintenance, and she questioned how she can ensure that they will do a good job later on. She also questioned how realistic it is to have one person run a 1,900- square -foot store and have time to clean the bathroom, make sure the coffee machine has grounds in it, or go outside to help a person who cannot pull the pump. Ms. Arango stated that she is totally opposed to the proposal and that a lot of maintenance issues from the past were not addressed. She indicated that she did not think their opposition was not so much for a 7- Eleven and questioned if 4:00 a.m. is a reasonable time to open a store. She stated that this is not what their neighborhood needs; it is not what their community needs. John Kimber stated that he has been in this business for well over 30 years; he has been to many Planning Commission and City Council meetings, and there is always a procedure that is followed that he thought was not followed at the last meeting. He indicated that he thinks the public needs an explanation from the Commission as to why it made the decision the way they did. He stated that there was an almost unanimous outpouring of requests to not approve the project, and the staff had recommended not to approve it as well. He noted that it appeared the Commission was going to deny the project; however, there was what he called a "comfort break" that was taken, and after that break, Chair Blank came out and asked the applicant whether he wanted a vote or to come back with a new project, and the applicant of course said he would like to come back with another proposal. He questioned how that decision was made in private at a break without any public discussion, without any indication to the public as to why such a decision was made, when it was about a 99- percent certainty in most people's mind that there was going to be a negative vote. He questioned why Chair Blank would come back and ask the applicant if he wanted the Commission to vote now or come back if he did not think it was going to be a negative vote. He expressed concern that there was a meeting during the break which was not public, which was completely improper and should never have happened. He noted that if there had been a question of whether or not the Commission was going to offer an opportunity to come back, the Commission should have come back to the Chamber, have an open discussion with all people in the audience being able to hear what they were saying, and then make that decision there; but that was not done. He indicated that he felt that was improper and would like to know at the least whether or not that was the type of secret procedures the Commission wants to partake in. Mr. Kimber stated that he would like to bring up a couple of items regarding the proposal, first of which is that the project is not needed as there are plenty of places that people can go for a convenience store. He then addressed the question about the employees parking elsewhere and asked where that would be and if it would be across PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, March 27, 2013 Page 11 of 48