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There being no further speakers, the public hearing was closed. Ms. Michelotti said this is near to her heart and related her family experiences. This area is sorely lacking in this kind of facility. The design is beautiful and she supports the project with the Affordable Housing Commission recommendation. She agreed with the Planning Commission regarding the deceleration lane. There is not a lot of traffic in and out of these facilities and she felt people coming from the community will use Old Santa Rita Road. She did not want to lose the existing trees and landscaping. She supported the staff recommendation except for the deceleration lane. Mr. Tarver believed we need to have more affordable units at a lower cost. He appreciated this facility and the need for the facility. He talked to staff and the applicant about the deceleration lane. It seems there is a disagreement on whether it is needed and he wanted to know what the Council will do if there are accidents and we have to modify the project to get the deceleration lane in the future. He agreed if the trees are removed, they should be replaced, but that is not a reason to delete the deceleration lane now. He had hoped to get more affordability from the project, but will not vote against it. Ms. Ayala asked staff if the deceleration lane is not there, will it cause accidents? Mr. Swift stated that any time traffic is traveling at the speed it does on Santa Rita Road, with the volume existing, when a car slows to turn there is the potential for a rear end accident. In other areas, it is more critical than here, because there are three full lanes of southbound traffic. There are other instances on Santa Rita Road, both northbound and southbound, where there are driveways that turn directly from the through lane and have far more traffic using those driveways than this facility will. All that being said, staff likes to provide deceleration lanes on major thoroughfares when possible. This is a close call; there are many trees to be removed and those that would be replanted would be much smaller; and it will take about 19 years for the new trees to reach the size of the present trees. The deceleration lane could present the confusion Mr. Bland referred to with the acceleration lane for the Rose Pavilion exit. He agreed there is potential conflict of cars using the Rose Pavilion driveway. There is no perfect solution without redesigning the project to move the driveway well away from the Rose Pavilion site. Staff has explored every option with the applicant and this design lays out best the way it is presented. It is not the end of the wo~d if there is no deceleration lane. Widening the driveway is a good alternative recommendation. Ms. Dennis agreed traffic does go relatively fast, but she felt a deceleration lane that is distinctly for this project would be better than one that looks like another lane. When people get to the other side of the driveway, people will be confused. She agreed with the wider driveway option. Pleasanton City Council 15 07/21/98 Minutes