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voluntary discharges as one speaker suggested. He spoke to the comments about losing the view of Mt. Diablo and reminded Council about the mature trees that already exist on the site and that there are four and five story buildings on Hopyard Road. The Providian building also exceeds the height of the two story portion of the proposed Thoratec building. He referred to the similarities in the Providian and PeopleSoft applications and to the questions regarding parking. He referred to the flyer sent by Mr. Garrett to the neighborhood and pointed out what he considered to be misleading and incomplete statements. He indicated Mr. Garrett no longer cites the Bank of America opposition, because it is neutral to the project. Mr. Garrett no longer cites the alevaluation of his property, since he has spoken to real estate agents who have said a retail and restaurant operation would do more to devalue the property than the Thoratec application. Mr. Hirst referred to the statement that there was a petition signed by over a hundred people, including some children, but the signatures were not presented. Trustworthiness was mentioned several times by Mr. Garrett; Mr. Hirst asked if Council trusted city staff, the Fire Department, the Planning Commission, FDA, etc. He also indicated the figures for the employees were accurate in the staff report. Finally, Mr. Hirst showed a few slides of the proposed building and views of the surrounding area in Pleasanton, as well as slides of the existing Thoratec plant in Berkeley and the surrounding area there. Mr. Hirst thanked Council for its endurance and urged approval of the project and to allow development to start at the earliest possible date. The mayor closed the public hearing. Ms. Dennis requested Chris Boykin to address the hazardous materials aspect of the application. Chris Boykin, hazardous materials consultant for the City, indicated a complete list of chemicals has been given to her. Some are classified as toxic, highly toxic, flammable, combustible, or irritants, but there are no explosives, radioactives, or unstable reactives. Those materials are not unlike the chemicals typically used in R & D facilities, pharmaceutical or biotech type companies. She believed the manufacturing operation was on a very small scale. There is a maximum of two 55-gallon drums of a flammable or toxic material. That will be used in a room with full controls including automatic fire sprinklers. The ventilation requirements include directing the ventilation to a treatment system, like a scrubber system, so all fumes are captured. There is emergency power, alarms, etc. and is very well controlled. In addition, the Uniform Fire Code must be followed, which includes administrative controls for preparing a hazardous materials management plan, which has been done. There is a description of emergency response procedures and an emergency response team. They have training procedures for their employees regarding handling the materials. The Fire Department has an extensive plan checking and inspection process before and after occupancy. Ms. Dennis asked if there was anything that warranted an evacuation plan for a neighborhood. 09/03/96 -18-