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January 28, 1986 <br />Planning Commission Minutes <br />Downtown Pleasanton is the hub of the City and should be <br />protected. <br />Al Bronzini, Vice President, Downtown Association, 719 Main <br />Street (Furniture Mart), spoke as a member of the Downtown <br />Association and as an independent citizen. Mr. Bronzini asked <br />that the application be denied because of the negative impact <br />approval would have on the Downtown Business District. While <br />developers argue to the contrary, they even suggest development <br />approval would enhance the activity in downtown, Mr. Bronzini <br />said this would not be borne out by experience in other areas. <br />Whenever you have too many big shopping centers located near a <br />small business district, the small business district seldom <br />survives. Mr. Bronzini felt that the sales tax revenue generated <br />by the approved development would be balanced by the diminishing <br />business of the downtown area. Vacancies would be created <br />downtown which would devalue the properties. There is a <br />revitalization plan underway and Mr. Bronzini asked for the <br />support of the Planning Commission and others to keep the <br />revitalization going. Revised drawings for downtown <br />revitalization may be presented as soon as next week. <br />Construction of 400-450 Main Street inspired other downtown <br />merchants to improve downtown. <br />Gene Finch, President, Pleasanton Downtown Association, presented <br />a petition with 600+ signatures urging denial of this project. <br />The petition reads as follows: <br />"We, the undersigned, would encourage the denial of the <br />permit to build a retail shopping center now proposed by the <br />Santa Anita Development Company on the 18+ acre Stanley <br />Boulevard site. A general plan has been set in place <br />recently which has designated this area for General <br />Commercial. The required zoning change to Retail would <br />represent an unnecessary divergence from the general plan and <br />eliminate the only space allocated in our City for General <br />Commercial Development. Also the existing dense traffic in <br />this area aggravated by gravel trucks does not lend itself to <br />the addition of large numbers of cars and delivery vehicles <br />needed for a large retail center. North Pleasanton is <br />currently limited to LOS D traffic congestion while this <br />addition would possibly bring this area to LOS E thereby <br />exceeding acceptable limits. Finally locating another <br />shopping center at this location would create an economic <br />hardship on our downtown by direct competition, loss of <br />potential new tenants and stripping off of current tenants in <br />favor of a new center. We are concerned about maintaining <br />the viability in our historic downtown area and would <br />recommend the City conduct a marketing forecast of the entire <br />City so future projects that are submitted and are necessary <br />and can coexist with existing businesses." <br />Mr. Finch urged denial of the rezoning and development plan <br />approval request as filed under Case PUD-86-16. Mr. Finch <br />referred to staff's report that there is 1800 sq. ft. of retail <br />space available in the downtown area. While walking through <br />- 5 - <br />