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Gary Schwaegerle, 189 W. Angela Street, said he loves this town. The San Francisco property might be a possible site or maybe a better site would be on Valley Avenue. The Fairgrounds was not a good site. If the City does not do something to secure a future site now, the station would become permanent. He suggested that the temporary station be portable to make the move in the future less expensive. He also suggested doing studies on other rail stations throughout the valley as to whether they are successful or not. The Planning Commission felt the San Francisco property was not feasible and he would like to know why it felt this way. San Francisco is coming into the City with a development that will impact the streets and residents and he felt it was okay to ask them to participate. There being no further public testimony, the public hearing was closed. Mr. Montgomery, in rebuttal, said the trains would not be long enough to block the intersections. The trains will be about four to five cars long and will stop on Bernal Avenue. The trains will go by the intersections rapidly. The trains are not heavy, so they are able to stop and take off rapidly. There will only be two trains for now. In order to get the $500,000 for the Pleasanton site, it requires a 50% match. This was obtained by use of the Alameda County land. That is why this particular site was picked. If the trains are successful, it might be possible to get a grant in two to three years to buy another site. The schedule for the trains is 5:52 a.m. for the first one and 7:22 a.m. for the second one. Ms. Dennis said she can hear the trains' whistles at the eastern part of town where she lives. Is it possible that the whis~e could be toned down? Mr. Montgomery said the whistles are mandated by Federal standards. Stacy Mortensen said there will be control over the crew on the trains and the whistles will only be blown as long as required. There has been a major effort to quiet the trains down, by using trains that have two different power sources. She realized that the station is a community issue and she is committed to working with the community. Mr. Pico asked if any specific noise studies had been done? Ms. Mortensen said no noise studies were required as this is a reinstatement of a passenger train that had run on this line. Mr. Pico felt the major concern he had heard this evening was that the interim station would become permanent. He asked what plans were being taken to look at other sites for the permanent station. Ms. Mortensen said other sites are being looked at. The reason this site was picked was that the infrastructure was already in place. It has a parking area that accommodates traffic circulation and has a major arterial for access. She understood that some of the overflow might Pleasanton City Council 9 07/01/97 Minutes