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would be permitted to use furniture and customize interior finishes in a manner of its choice, subject to review and approval by the City. Having a pre-approved design would ensure the aesthetics from parklet to parklet are consistent and enhance the downtown streetscape. The City would provide future parklet applicants with a standard specification for the platform, with the parklet designed to incorporate readily available materials and common/simple construction methods. The parklet applicant would be responsible to build to the specification provided, and then the City would inspect the parklet once it is installed. While there will be an initial investment from the City to design the parklet, and somewhat less flexibility for businesses in parklet design and construction, it will simplify the review process and future applicants would benefit from streamlined permitting and design professional cost- savings. Standardizing the structures also simplifies Design Review, City Plan Check Review, and City Inspections. Further, it will ensure no permanent modifications to the City street occur, and structures meet minimum safety and maintenance requirements. Lastly, it will allow the City to guarantee a minimum design standard is met and as with other amenities in the right- of-way (e.g., trash cans and benches), there will be consistency among the parklets. If the Planning Commission supports this approach, the City can engage with a design professional to determine cost and timeframe to develop a base parklet model. Exhibit B shows some examples of parklets in other cities that include elements which may be part of the City's template design. Staff encourages the Commission to review the attachment and provide feedback on the designs included in order to focus the design work. Staff acknowledges some of the existing pop-ups may meet both the design and location standards outlined by staff, however, staff has not reviewed any engineering or structural plans for the existing pop-ups. If businesses would like to use existing structures, they will need to provide staff with the required documents (e.g., load calculations, site plan with sizes, etc.) to confirm the pop-ups meet the parklet guidelines listed above. Staff may require design modifications and may deny pop-ups that do not meet the parklet standards. Staff recommends any "new" parklets (i.e., structures not previously installed during the temporary pop-up program) must use the City's pre-approved design. Lighting Pursuant to the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department (LPFD), any lighting proposed on parklets will need to be hard wired. Temporary power solutions (e.g., cords overhead or on the ground) are not permitted with permanent structures. As such, cords extending to the adjacent buildings would not be permitted. The City suggests permitting only solar or battery-operated lighting. The City can explore if allowing for connections to power at the City's streetlights is an option — this would allow the power to feed directly to the parklets from the City streetlights. However, this will require load calculations of the streetlights, determination of how these connections will be provided, and an in-depth review by the Operations Services Department, and potentially retrofit of modification of the streetlights to allow for connections to be safely made. This type of evaluation may be a future Capital Improvement Project (CIP) to properly budget for the evaluation and modifications. Parklets Planning Commission 6 of 12