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Mr. Hirst expressed his appreciation for the people who came down and added that starting next week, he will reach out individually to all those who spoke, who sent in emails, and who called Ms. Soo. Mr. Hirst stated that most of the objections that were stated by the three speakers are for conditions that already exist. He indicated that the children walk to school now; they do not walk on the north side of West Las Positas Blvd. because there is no crosswalk on the north side of the intersection. He noted that the children walk on the south side of Las Positas because there is a crosswalk. He pointed out that some of those children are customers of this business because this business sells candy and children buy candy. He noted that children buy candy across from Hap's off of Main Street, particularly on Friday afternoons, and that does not seem to be a major problem. Mr. Hirst stated that the ingress and egress traffic issues that were alluded to have been the ingress and egress for 41 years. He added that the stop signs have been there; maybe a couple of ones on West Las Positas Blvd. have not been there for 41 years, but they have been there for as long as he could remember. With respect to the traffic accidents in that vicinity, Mr. Hirst stated that the record speaks for itself, and he asked the Commission to inquire of the City's Police Department if those are traffic accidents. He agreed that Fairlands School is within a short distance, a long block, and stated that he went to the Principal's Office at Fairlands Elementary twice, left a letter with the Principal and received no comment from the Principal at all. He noted that he did reach out to the neighborhood behind the service station, and he stated unequivocally that he left a letter or spoke to every single resident there. He also stated unequivocally that he is more than a little offended that somebody would say that he does not have the interest of this community, noting that that what he has been doing for 45 years speaks for itself and that he does not intend to even acknowledge that any further. Mr. Hirst acknowledged that there was a 7- Eleven application on First Street which was withdrawn, and another convenience store operation has been approved at that location. He noted that there is alcohol being sold near the freeway now; the Shell Station at Hopyard Road and 1 -580 sells beer and wine. He noted that it is pretty easy to buy beer anywhere and get on the freeway and that beer sales and freeway access is no big deal. He stated that he happened to walk through the new Walmart store one day just to look. and he saw some young people loading up all their beer. He stated that he asked what they were doing, and they said they were going camping at Yosemite. He noted that at his count, they had eighteen 30 -packs of beer, and they were getting on the freeway to drive to Yosemite. Commissioner Posson disclosed that he met with Mr. Hirst, who briefed him on the project. He noted that he heard a number of comments from the community objecting to the proposal and asked Mr. Hirst why he feels this is good for the community. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, September 25, 2013 Page 10 of 45