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Brian Griggs stated that he thinks there are concerns brought out which the <br />environmental documents hopefully have explored. He indicated that certainly the last <br />thing Workday wants to do is be perceived as an unfavorable partner with the City. He <br />noted that there are some concerns about timing if this project were to be delayed; he <br />indicated that Workday has commenced drawings to actually be able to bid the project. <br />He added that the uncertainty as to start of construction really has to do with flexibility <br />and should not be perceived in any way as an indication that Workday is going slow. <br />He indicated that they have spent a lot of money and will continue to spend a lot more <br />speculatively to try and have the ability to start in a fairly timely manner. <br />Mr. Griggs stated that Workday certainly has alternatives to find space, and they did <br />look. He noted that there are a couple of very large vacant projects both in Pleasanton <br />and outside Pleasanton. He further noted that the culture that Workday is founded upon <br />really is indicative of an inclusive culture, and that was one of the reasons they wanted <br />to be proximate to the other two buildings they occupy and, pretty soon, possibly part of <br />a third building in the complex. He indicated that having the ability to keep the company <br />together is really what the main emphasis of this will be. He added that candidly, <br />Workday has a very good partnership with the City of Pleasanton, having employed a <br />lot of residents and planning to continue to employ residents as they grow. He asked <br />the Commission to take this into consideration and to not delay the project. <br />THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS CLOSED. <br />Commissioner Allen asked staff to address the process for creating some of the <br />assumptions that were used around air quality and the miles traveled. <br />Mr. Dolan replied that there are really two points in Ms. Dennis' letter: the first relates to <br />air quality /greenhouse gases (GHG) issues, and the other one is about the housing <br />inventory. He indicated that he would address the first issue on environmental. <br />Mr. Dolan stated that the air quality analysis is the traditional analysis staff has been <br />doing for years in CEQA about specific contaminants. He indicated that there are <br />models that are approved for this, and the normal model was used. He added that <br />there are some averages there that are assumed and that it is accepted practice to use <br />the default settings for a project like this. He explained that the idea is that if one is too <br />high in a certain situation and the other is too low, it is going to average out. He noted <br />that that is completely different from the GHG analysis: the first one is relatively routine, <br />and the GHG analysis is something that is relatively recent. He pointed out that when <br />the City did its General Plan, the City was sued over its Housing Element, and there <br />was another lawsuit that included an inadequate GHG analysis of the City's overall <br />development. He noted that collectively, the State and the region have come up with an <br />approach to that; and one of the things the City was asked to do was prepare a Climate <br />Action Plan (CAP), which it did and added it to its General Plan. He continued that once <br />a Climate Action Plan is done, individual GHG analysis for every project does not need <br />to be done; all the City needs to do is analyze whether the project that is being <br />proposed is consistent with the Climate Action Plan. He pointed out that the <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, April 23, 2014 Page 7 of 27 <br />