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Chair Allen added that its assessed value is under $1 million, according to the County's property records. Commissioner O'Connor noted that the lot next door is very similar; it has a much smaller commercial business in the front and either an office or a residential unit in the back. He added that the City cannot continue to burden the rest of the Downtown when there is no parking; this has to stop somewhere. Chair Allen acknowledged Commissioner Ritter's comment and stated that she too has been struggling with the same question. She shared an article headlined "Investors Eye Makeover for This Site" about a development in Santa Cruz that is very similar to this one but a little bit larger at just under half -an -acre. She stated that it is a long, narrow spot in a residential kind of neighborhood that has a little bit of small business, and they are turning it into a three -story building with cafe artisan shops on the bottom, service businesses on the second floor, and studio apartments on the third. She added that the reason they are doing these kinds of developments because they have been so successful at turning these little alleyways or vacant lots into little mini - Rockridge areas with a cafe and a wine shop or maybe a bakery or something like that, and then going up with studios. Chair Allen continued that her big picture is about a PUD and this property. She indicated that there needs to be trade -offs, but the trade -offs need to have something that the community is also going to perceive as a huge value and get excited about. She added that she would personally be much more open to beginning to waive and loosen up on parking and other things if she could foresee that there is a greater community benefit. She pointed out that this is huge pedestrian- oriented site and it would serve a lot of the local businesses on Main Street who have employees that right now are walking four blocks right up to the Tully's area or the hair salon on a 30- minute break. Commissioner Ritter acknowledged that the Commission is struggling with this site because it is in Downtown Pleasanton, and he is personally struggling with the Downtown parking issue. He noted, however, that the Commission's job is to zone, not to develop or build, and he does not think the Commission should hold up an opportunity where a developer is interested in providing a service that will help Pleasanton. He recalled having a WorkDay person coming in and saying that they are hiring lots of people who want to live in Downtown Pleasanton, people who will probably be able to afford the $5,000 -a -month rent and might spend hundreds of dollars at restaurants Downtown. He indicated that he is in favor of the project and would like to make a motion to approve the project, but would like to raise the in -lieu parking fees from seven spaces to ten. Ms. Seto indicated that on page 14 of the staff report, there is a discussion about the findings the Commission would need to make in order to provide the credit for the demolition of the existing building, which is the equivalent of three parking spaces. She noted that if the Commission decided that, based on some of the concerns raised by the Commission or by other speakers such as massing or the loss of the residential character of this one area, it cannot make one of those findings and that the three PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, December 9, 2015 Page 27 of 40