PC 111815 - Laserfiche WebLink

Bill Wheeler, owner and operator of Black Tie Transportation on the corner of Commerce Drive and Johnson Drive right in the middle of the proposed Johnson Drive Economic Development Zone project, stated that he has owned his building for 15 years and has been doing business in Pleasanton since 1988. He indicated that he has 150 employees, mostly from the Tri- Valley area, many of whom live in Pleasanton and whose children attend Pleasanton schools. He stated that he is a 15 -year Pleasanton Partners in Education Board member; a past president of the Pleasanton North Rotary, once the greatest club in the world; a current Board member of Visit Tri - Valley, which is the Pleasanton Convention and Visitors Bureau. He added that he also participates in just about every charity in Pleasanton through in -kind fundraising for many great causes. Mr. Wheeler stated that he is here tonight to voice his concerns about the SEIR, and he wants to be sure that the City and Planning Commission understand the impact this will have on the daily lives of Pleasanton residents, the businesses in this corridor, and Downtown businesses as well. He indicated that besides the obvious problems at Johnson Drive and Stoneridge Drive, it does not appear that consideration was taken for the other side of Johnson Drive at Owens Drive and Hopyard Road, which would be the obvious route of someone coming from the east. He noted that the I -580 westbound exit at Hopyard Road that goes over the overpass to turn right onto Owens Drive is already a bottleneck, and his equipment sometimes waits two cycles at Owens Drive to turn left onto Hopyard Road. He indicated that he is very familiar with congestion in this corridor, and his company has been purchasing 500 to 600 gallons of gasoline every day from Carl Cox Shell for over 20 years. Mr. Wheeler stated that another area that is already heavily travelled is the 1 -680 northbound and southbound feeding into Stoneridge Drive. He indicated that this could be horrendous with the addition of a Costco on Johnson Drive and will have a huge impact on the local residents during operation hours of 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., seven days a week, with a total of a maximum of 12,000 cars per day. He stated that it has been mentioned that part of this economic development is to diminish the amount of light industrial in this area, to beautify a gateway for Pleasanton. He indicated that if a Costco or WalMart is allowed to locate in this area, they will most likely have a tire facility in addition to the already proposed gas station, as is the case in all of their other stores. He pointed out that this will bring an additional 3,000 cars for fuel, and this fuel station will directly impact Carl Cox and Safeway, two local partners who have been serving this community for many years, who also sell fuel in this corridor. He added that to mitigate traffic, three stop lights will be added to Johnson Drive: one at the In -N -Out Burger, and the other two less than 150 feet apart, one at the corner of Commerce Drive and Johnson Drive in front of his building, and the other in front of Costco. He indicated that this would completely box -in his company, and he has no idea how he would depart from that property. Mr. Wheeler stated that his employees sit at lights, many for overtime, and this equates to tens of thousands of dollars each month on payroll alone. He stated that this will force him to move his employees, who spend their hard earned paychecks in this valley, to Hayward or Castro Valley, and this could be catastrophic for his family employees. He stated that this is an important point for the Commission to think about. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, November 18, 2015 Page 4 of 34