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Robert Cordtz, 262 West Angela, agreed with the letter from Ms. Rathbone. The City needs to take a stand and no longer go into residential areas and change the zoning. If he had that property he would surround the house with victorian style housing. He said the area is already congested with the existing development. He would like to see that this property remain residential and do something with the Downtown Specific Plan. Sue Axton, 225 Ray Street, felt her property value might go down if the property is developed as commercial. She agreed about the sound wall. She felt the primary function of a sound wall was to block out freeway noise not people noise. A sound wall will not help with the noise late at night. She asked, when the signs are posted for the special events could there be flashing red lights to identify that Ray Street is closed. She reiterated that she does not want the parking located near her home and does not want this project approved. Craig Scharton, 235 Main Street, said the Pleasanton Downtown Association in accordance with the agreement with the City, has been reinventing itself along the model suggested by the National and California Main Street programs and thus has created a design committee. This is a committee that will be seeking to have a greater input into the design of the downtown area. He said this project was brought to the committee for its input and the recommendation is in the staff report. The committee supported the Downtown Specific Plan which called for pedestrian oriented, mixed use, commercial. type development for the proposed project. There is an inherent conflict between suburban style residential development as it is placed into a downtown type setting. He is looking forward to policy decisions on the role of the Downtown Association. He said to add more suburban style residential into the downtown are will only make the problem worse. He asked for Council to consider the Downtown Specific Plan during. the discussion of the priorities. ; Glen Higgins, 159 Ray Street, said he can not back out of his driveway or enjoy his roses in his front yard. Item 4 in the negative declaration says the project would have a significant impact on air quality and emissions in the neighborhood. He has noticed a significant increase of dust in his home. The project' s impact on parking and traffic congestion would be significant and everyone has agreed with this. The developer acknowledges that there will not be enough parking involved in the project to meet the needs of the business and is willing to pay in-lieu parking fees in order not to reduce the size of the building. The developer is not interested in the impact on the neighborhood. The proposed building dwarfs the surrounding properties. There is no place for deliveries, so the trucks will park on Ray Street and back the traffic up. The current noise problems will only increase with this proposed project. He also said no one tried to contact him. This project affects the whole area and asked Council to deny the request. Mr. Tunney said he is not surprised about the comments he has heard here this evening. All the issues have been discussed since day one. Pacific Ventures has property it would like to develop but has not been given any specific directions. Pacific Ventures has been working with the neighbors regarding the hours of operation, the uses, the masonry wall and the design. Pleasanton City Council 13 09/01/98 Minutes