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I\Ilr. Ho-vis noted that the highest elevation of the slide "V'Vould be 13 feet" vvhich vvould decrease as the slide vvent doVV"n the hilL :E-I:e ru:~ted that the acciderLt irL COrLcord changed many sta..ndards in vvater parks and added that many parks had emergency stop buttons at the top nnd bottom of "the attrac"tions. The vvater vv-ol..-dd be stopped "V'Vithin se-ven seconds. He added that the Concord park had management issues that had alloVV"ed the same incident to occur and escalate over the course 01 several years. II1 response to an inquiry by Commissioner Sullivan", lV1r. lserson noted that staff had rl.ot been avvarc oft.he elimirl.ati01""1 o:t-tl""1e .AquadruIl.-:J. and Sidevvinder f'eatures and added that it vvas incumbent upon the applicant to in.form staff of changes to the plan. Hebelie-ved that a condition of' approval sll.ould be inclu.ded that tl-:J.e applicant should clarify vvhat vvas in "the plan and to specify the phasing details. Commissioner Sullivan noted that the traffic study focused on capacity and that he vv-as concerned abou-t the increase i1"1 t.he number 01-- daily trips on sensiti-ve streets su-ch as r~irst Street" Bernal A-venue", Stnnley Boulevard", and Valley A-venue. He inquired hovv- 1T1a.1-:J.Y more trips per day "V'Vou-ld resu-It: from this project. 'V"Villiam van Gelder" traf:t'ic cons-ultant", noted that traffic capacity vvas addressed because the General Plan examined the quality of life in a city. He noted tl""1at the percentage of-- capacity "V'Vas a good indicator or hovv traffic a:tTectcd quality o:t- life; hence", it is continually cited in the staf:t~ reports. He believed the impact on the vv-eekends needed clari:t'ication and vvas an import.an.t factor :tor the residents. He agreed vvith staff's opin.ion that """"the vv-ater park expansion project vvould meet the City"s traffic policies gi-ven the appro-ved mitigations."'''' He n.oted that lTlitigations vvere already a.pproved aI1d t.hat they "VVere included in the CUrre1""1t traffic model. l\/1r. van Gelder noted that there vvas some conrusion vvith respect to 1T1ajor eVe1""1ts vv-ith a discrete en.trance time" such as a Raiders garn..c. He acknovv-Iedged that the amount of traffic on First Street or Valley Avenue vv-as a concern", but noted that there vvas no race: to get to the VV"at.er park. He noted that t.hey l"1ad studied nearby VV"ater parks", the existing vvater park", and the patterns of arrival and departure rates. F-Ie vvished to assure the Commission that those rates did not approach a Raiders or Uni-versity o:t-lV1.:ichiga..n game", vv-here 100,,000 people traveled to aI1d from a stadium vv-ith one start and end time. He 1""l.oted that tl""1is park:. vvo-uld bring 200,,000 people per year" not per C-VCJ:1t. 1'V'1r. van Gelder acknovv-Iedged that the Fourth of July traffic "V'Vas a problem because oT the lack of parking. He noted that if:- 50 cars vv-ere backed up one-quarter of a mile", a properly "V'Vorking traf:Iic signal could clear those cars in 100 seconds. He noted that they vvould not ha-ve that peak traffic every day a..nd that nOJ:1e of the other parks experience that amoun.t oftraff:'ic either. He displayed a chart "VVhich detailed the projected traffic f1ovv. Commissioner Sullivan inquired about the nurnber oT additional cars on "the peak traffic day on First Street and Bernal Avenue. l'vlr. VaJ.""1 Gelder n.oted that i"t vv-ould be roughly PLANNING COl'Vll'VlISSION rvIINLJTES December 10, 2003 Page 21 ---_._._._-~-_.__.__._...,_.~-.- -- _.._~- r -, -,--,-