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Mark Kearns stated that he owns the property at 261 Spring Street, located to the east of the project site He indicated that he attended the Work Session and still has the same concerns: the setback, the massiveness of the building, and the percentage of commercial versus residential. He noted that Charles Huff designed his building so it was a residential structure; it had a teardown permit already on it, and they were encouraged to bring it back to its original state. He pointed out that they could have torn it down and built a two -story building or whatever they wanted since a demolition permit was already issued on it, but they decided to go back to the way it originally was, with four parking spaces and a handicapped space, all for a 1,000- square -foot office. Mr. Kearns stated that his biggest concerns are the setback of the building and parking. He noted that the building is too massive and cuts off the entire rest of Spring Street from the Downtown. He added that more parking has to be provided. He pointed out that there currently are about ten cars in that parking lot at any given time of the day; two of his five office staff park all the way down at First Street because there is no available parking on Spring Street. He stated that that if this site is going to be developed as proposed, it has to be downsized, have more commercial and less residential, and provide more parking. Mr. Kearns stated that he does not know if he will have his pest control company there forever; he is renting a space on Serpentine Lane, and it may not make sense for him to remain on Spring Street. He noted that there are not too many lots left in the Downtown area for commercial expansion, and he would like to see Spring Street grow into a commercial street with restaurants and other commercial businesses, go over the railroad, and right into to the Firehouse Arts Center. Jerome Blaha stated that he has known Jim Knuppe for about 19 years, and every project Mr. Knuppe has done is first class, such as the storage units in Castro Valley, which initially had all types of objections until it was completed and 20 Redwood trees were planted for aesthetic reasons. He added that Mr. Knuppe tries to find ways to improve the area and makes sure that everybody on the site enjoys the benefits of his project, whether it be retail, office, or residential. Mr. Blaha stated that when he went to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1968 to study the economic development of Latin America, he saw the brilliance of the design along the Avenida Fifth, where the ground - floor, all on the road, is retail; the second and third levels are offices; and the fourth to the sixth levels are residential, and the people who want to live there are those who want to go to those offices. He pointed out that it is self - serving when residential, office, and retail are in the same unit. Mr. Blaha stated that he has a personal reason why he would like to see this project approved. He noted that he opened his office in the Signature Center in 1989, where he was the first tenant, and has been there for 25 years. He indicated that he has looked at and actually put an offer on three different properties on Spring Street: one was across the street where there were two apartments in the back; the second was down the street and had units in the back; and the third was this project site where he was trying to work out a deal with the neighboring business to make everything compatible but was unable to. He added that he is glad he did not spend many years doing what Mr. Knuppe did just to have a building, but he would like to be able to rent PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, December 9, 2015 Page 20 of 40