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site, there is going to be a lot of sound reflected back where the trees are towards the residents. He indicated that although they would like a wall for improved privacy and to reduce the noise that comes from the development, they will also face a competing problem which is the reflection of sound that could come from Hopyard Road and from the sports park, and they may actually be increasing the noise level that they experience now apart from whatever noise comes from the development itself. He indicated that the nature of the acoustic properties of a flat masonry wall is to reflect more noise directly back at the residents, from sirens and cars on Hopyard to soccer goals at the sports park. He stated that there are two ways to address this issue: one is to create a wall that diffuses sound that could still be made of masonry; and another is to make the wall out of material that is more absorptive of the sound. He added that a combination of both of those is best, and asked that a study be made by a professional acoustic engineer on how best to reduce the negative acoustic properties of that wall. Mr. Bowen stated that the remaining points he has are that they strongly object to access to the Arroyo on the north side and the impact on water. He indicated that a very rough estimate of the water usage of this one property is about 10 million gallons of water a year. He noted that there is a precious reserve in Zone 7 and asked that that concern be addressed. Doug Giffin, Chamberlin Associates, owner of the commercial property immediately to the west of the new Summerhill project, stated that the buildings along West Las Positas Boulevard currently interact very well with one another. He indicated that each of them tends to have three fronts so no matter where one is on these multi- tenant buildings, that person would be staring at the front of another building and would not feel that he or she is somehow tucked away or hidden in the back of a property. He noted that currently, a quarter of their 94,000- square -foot building, or about 25,000 square feet of the building is continuous, full glass in the front of those spaces, and they all directly face the Summerhill property. He pointed out that their current view now from the front of their single -story attractive building with Spanish tile roof and a great context is the parking lot. Mr. Giffin stated that one of their concerns early on and why they were so heavily involved in developing the development standards was because of the relation between both the use of the adjacent property and the visual impact of the fence. He indicated that the new building will be 20 feet closer to their property and quite a bit taller; so the two things they worked very hard to have incorporated into those standards were the 50 -foot setback within the structures and the stepping of the buildings. He added that, to Summerhill's credit, he thinks they have done a great job in designing an attractive project; and without the carports there, he thinks it achieves the goal that both planning, the Business Park, and Chamberlain thought was necessary to maintain that visual appeal for their tenants. He added that early on, Mr. Ebrahimi asked him if Chamberlain would consider carports, and Chamberlain wanted to be able not to mind and see what Summerhill would come up with. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, January 22, 2014 Page 9 of 22