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their establishments can have music and can remain open longer. She stated that Ms. Olson's comments makes sense because the PDA wants to bring vitality Downtown and the restaurants want to have music and be open later, but yet the small number of residents Downtown complain constantly about, which is such a shame because Downtown Pleasanton need to be more vibrant. Commissioner Piper stated that she is definitely good with mixed -use residential and commercial /retail. She indicated that she does not see this project as a full retail project but pointed out the likelihood of a resident moving into that building and later sitting right here in this room complaining about noise coming from the establishment next door. Commissioner Piper stated that she can live with the number of units, although she would have liked to have seen one unit less or the square footage a little bit less to create more parking. She noted that 2,000 square feet is a lot of square footage for a townhouse. She added that people living in townhouses oftentimes use the garage for storage rather than as an actual parking spot, and that will probably be true in this case, thus leaving only one parking spot for the unit. Commissioner Nagler thanked Commissioner Piper for her completely practical, balanced, caring, and unbiased point of view, which is what Pleasanton is going to miss when she leaves the Commission. He continued that it is interesting how, every so often, a project comes along that is just a challenge, how things just do not line -up right for there to be an easy answer. He pointed out that this piece of property, which he walks by every single night, just glares or calls out for something, and staff's findings on the basis that this Commission should make its considerations are all correct. He noted that staff and the applicant have attempted very hard to strike the balance to make something happen that is of interest to the applicant to pursue while following the DTSP and the design guidelines. Commissioner Nagler stated that having said all that, he personally thinks that no matter how well thought -out this project may be, he personally does not think it is yet fully cooked because of the unique challenges that the Commission has been talking about round and round. He added that no matter how hard the Commission tries, those concerns are not going to be addressed or resolved this evening or with this specific design, as terrific as it is and with as much support for the mixed -use as the Commissioners has indicated in varying ways, whether or not it could be flexible with retail on the ground floor and residences on the second floor. Commissioner Nagler stated that in the end, parking is actually the issue to him, and it is not even the same parking issue that the Commission has raised on other projects. He noted that Spring Street is almost like a micro - climate zone, and parking on Spring Street in particular is already so congested; yet, on the one hand, one could say that other applicants have been able to build on Spring Street and they park on the street, so this applicant should not be held hostage. He indicated that the problem is, there is a tipping point, and the fact that tandem parking is the way that the setback occurred exacerbates the problem; and the Commission has not even had a conversation about the parking required for the people who are going to visit the retail space or the law office. He pointed out that this is yet a whole other problem or demand on parking, and he believes the current residents and businesses on Spring Street have a completely PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, December 9, 2015 Page 30 of 40