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he bought this property as a residential home about 10 years ago and developed it, and he was pushed to go to commercial. He noted that it is a 1,100- square -foot building with an approximately 40 -foot setback. He added that his driveway is to the far right, and he provides his own parking. Mr. Kearns stated that he feels these commercial buildings at two stories right on his property line totally excludes Spring Street altogether. He further stated that to make it a viable commercial street like the original plan was, that structure would need to be reduced in height. He added that he would really like to also see this building not on his property line, three stories right on his driveway. He stated that he was a former member of the PDA Board of Directors, and the goal then was to try and make this more of a commercial street, with a ratio of 20 percent commercial to residential. He noted that he thinks this proposal is currently 2,100 square feet of commercial and five 2,000 square feet of residential. He stated there are not too many sites like that have the ability to bring commercial to the side streets. He added that there are arrow signs on Main Street pointing to side streets for additional Downtown shops. Commissioner O'Connor asked Mr. Kearns how many parking spaces he has on -site. Mr. Kearns replied that he has whatever is required by the City, about five or six spaces, with handicapped parking space. Charles Huff stated that this is one of the very last sites near Downtown on Spring Street that keeps bringing people in over the past 15 or 20 years, and he has represented probably five or six of them, all seem to have a grand plan to develop this in some different way with houses or commercial on one side or the other side of the lot, but they seemed to not have a business plan. Mr. Huff stated that when the Knuppes came along and purchased this property, they had a vision of developing it in a way that would be not only aesthetically pleasing but something that worked out on paper, and they have done this many, many times not only around the Bay Area but also in Hawaii. They have gone the extra mile to accommodate staff and people that come to the podium to make all of their projects work, such as that on Peters Avenue and Angela Street. He noted that the proposed project is something that is aesthetically pleasing and also accommodates the request from staff to put a certain amount of commercial space on the front of the project. Mr. Huff stated that this neighborhood is historically one of our oldest subdivisions ever in town, built in 1925 or so; it started out to be a residential district, and somehow or another, the idea of commercial has crept into it. He indicated that he is on the PDA Board and understands these things, but the need to have a certain amount of commercial space facing right on the street is always interesting, and there have been some staff requests to have even more commercial space. He pointed out that the City is trying to bring diversity to Downtown, putting them in some type or form of housing Downtown, whether townhouses or condos. He stated that be believes that this project addresses all of those issues and meets all the criteria. Robert Byrd stated that he has lived in Pleasanton since 1952 and owns both commercial and residential buildings Downtown. He indicated that he does not personally know of anybody who wants more ground floor residents in the commercial PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, August 26, 2015 Page 32 of 43