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-- Leslie Mitchell, Site Acquisition Manager, McDonald's Corporation, noted that they were the adjacent business neighbor and spoke in support of this project. She believed the project's use was compatible with McDonald's and the surrounding neighborhood and believed the site layout to be well thought-out and designed. She encouraged the Commission to support staff's recommendation, to approve the design review and conditional use permit, and to forward the project to the City Council. Bob King, owner, Diablo Auto Body, noted that his business is located across the street from the project. He supported the project and believed that it would be good for the area. He liked the first design better but could support the current design. He would like to see a gas station with a competitive price structure and believed the traffic would be either neutral or reduced because local residents would not need to travel across Pleasanton to purchase gas. He believed the environmental aspects of the car wash were being handled well and that the recycling of the runoff water would be an improvement over people washing their cars in their driveways. John Corley, 699 Peters Avenue, noted that he was the attorney for the property owners (Frank Auf der Maur) and Konrad Rickenbach and wished to address the traffic issue. He recalled the history of this site from 1988 and noted that they donated the land for the extension of Bernal Avenue/Valley Avenue. They also dedicated the land for the acceleration lane on the east side of Stanley Boulevard. He felt that since they had helped to resolve the traffic issue for the City, they should be allowed to develop the site. THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS CLOSED. Commissioner Sullivan requested clarification for the paragraph on page 12 regarding the traffic study. Mr. Knowles replied that it was written by Brian Swift and noted that the gas station was modeled as if it were a retail use. He believed that very few people would patronize this gas station that were not already passing by. Chairperson Roberts inquired whether the traffic model counted the number of people that would come south on Bernal Avenue, make a U-turn on Utah Street to avoid the left-hand turn. and go right on Stanley Boulevard. Mr. Knowles replied that the model was very good at U-turns and noted that medians often prohibited U-turns. In response to an inquiry by Commissioner Maas whether he could think of any other mitigations for that area, Mr. Knowles replied that there were adequate gaps on Bernal Avenue south of Stanley Boulevard to accommodate U-turns. They did not plan on U-turns there, but there was also enough visibility and there had not been a history of collisions. He did not believe there would be a safety problem with the additional 39 cars, although congestion would be incrementally increased. Commissioner Maas noted that with respect to the petition, she and her family were business owners, but not property owners, in the business park. She noted that the manager of their business, who was neither an owner nor a tenant of the building, had signed the petition. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES September 8, 2004 Page 8 of 14