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Chair Allen noted this would be the case if all bedrooms were used by independent people. She added that she was surprised to see the zoning requirement of 1.5 cars for a two- bedroom unit but that one and two bedrooms are probably being blended and ends up using 1.5 as the average. Commissioner Balch commented that it could be a child. Ms. Wallis stated that parking requirements in the Downtown Specific Plan Core Area actually have reduced parking requirements than elsewhere in the City because housing units and walkability are being encouraged in the Downtown. Commissioner Piper referred to the applicant's statement that there is currently no existing parking on -site and inquired if that is accurate and if that is because there is a whole huge lot to park in. Ms. Wallis replied that there is a driveway but no garage or covered parking; there would just be open parking in the back. She added that there is no parking on the street as well. Commissioner Piper commented that there certainly is a lot of space for parking currently. She then stated that she appreciates Ms. Cintrone's statement about low- income because these are certainly not low- income units, which she believed was the intent here. She commented that what the applicant probably meant was that these would be smaller units and, therefore, would fetch a smaller amount of rent. She asked staff if that was correct. Mr. Weinstein said yes, that it is a conjecture. He explained that there is this concept called "design for affordability," and what staff has typically seen in the City in looking at rents versus apartment sizes is that there is a correlation between apartment size and cost. He noted that it is not always direct and not always consistent for every single apartment built in the City, but generally, the smaller the unit, the cheaper the rent will be. Commissioner Piper noted that Downtown Pleasanton is an exception. Mr. Weinstein replied that smaller units in Downtown will typically be less expensive than bigger units. Commissioner Piper noted that it makes sense. She then stated, for the record, that it is quite a narrow street and that when she drove by the subject property, she actually did have to pull over in order to allow another car to pass so. Commissioner Balch stated that he is not hung -up on the parking issue — seven bedrooms with six on -site parking with one person parking directly on the street; but he is toying with the idea of looking into punching out the back and reducing the massing PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, July 22, 2015 Page 8 of 15