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Commissioner Balch noted that there are four uses in this building: residential, <br />commercial, office, and retail. He inquired if "office" is defined in the Municipal Code. <br />Chair Allen inquired if they are highly interchangeable <br />Mr. Weinstein replied that "office" is being considered "commercial." He stated that staff <br />is making sure that this project adheres to what is approved tonight, and if the project is <br />approved as proposed, the 975 - square -foot space in the front of the building is actually <br />identified as retail, which is undefined and would be subject to staff interpretation. He <br />noted that staff is on the same page as the Commission in terms of what retail actually <br />means in practice. He added that if the Commission desires, a condition could be <br />imposed that absolutely restricts that space solely for retail uses. <br />Commissioner Balch inquired, given the slight ambiguity discovered by staff at this time <br />and as initially proposed, whether staff is suggesting a condition for each of the three <br />uses — retail, office, and commercial — or for only retail; and whether staff is not going to <br />suggest a condition at this time. <br />Mr. Beaudin clarified that there is a distribution of commercial floor area analysis in the <br />Downtown Specific Plan (DTSP), and the use categories are retail restaurant; hotel; <br />commercial services, which is broken down into beauty services and other personal <br />services; office space, which is broken down into three categories; and government. He <br />noted that while the categorization exists in the DTSP, there are no exact definitions; <br />however, staff has certainly been working with these definitions or categories for long <br />enough since 2002 when the DTSP was adopted to know how much of this type of <br />space was available in Downtown. He added that there are a lot of examples, and the <br />background document from this document identifies exactly which spaces were <br />included in what categories. <br />Mr. Beaudin stated he does not think a condition needs to be added; however, it adding <br />a condition will makes the Commission feel more comfortable with an action this <br />evening, staff can certainly try and put some parameters around retail and around <br />office. He reiterated that the framework is certainly identified in the DTSP; it is just not <br />defined. He clarified that the phrase "active ground -floor retail' is commonly heard, and <br />that basically means that it is selling something, and there is a lot of foot traffic or <br />in- and -out traffic. He noted that the ground floor in the front part of the building could be <br />a restaurant or a shoe store or a jeans store, and the back half and the second floor <br />would be office categories, whether they be a mortgage company, a financial institution, <br />a legal, medical, or real estate office or other private office. He stated that he did not <br />think it necessary to split hairs for this project, but if the Commission would be more <br />comfortable to define retail, staff can put together a sentence or two tonight. <br />THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS OPENED. <br />Galen Grant, Applicant, stated that he is very proud of this project and would like to walk <br />through it, addressing the issues the Commission raised at the Work Session and <br />getting as close to the guidelines suggested for as possible, through a PowerPoint <br />presentation: <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, December 9, 2015 Page 14 of 40 <br />