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Mr. Winter explained the long range plan was to have his father-in-law live in the house, then when the kids left, they would move downtown and live there, with their business downstairs. Ms. Dennis asked how many offices were in the building. Mr. Winter said there is a real estate appraisal office, a real estate office, and a company occupying two-thirds of the downstairs area. Mr. MacDonald clarified that after they discovered the Building Code requirements for a mixed residential and commercial use, they no longer considered doing that. Michael Peel, 3713 Smallwood Court, indicated he is a co-owner of two business downtown. He related a bad experience with City staff when he tried to put a pool in at his residence. He felt the key to this issue is the zoning of the property. 216 Spring Street is zoned residential and commercial therefore staff should have known that that building could be commercial the day after it was finalized. He urged Council to vote in favor of the Winters. Michael O'Callahan, 3425 Arbor Drive, indicated he has been a builder/developer in town for almost thirty years. He has closely watched the development of the downtown specific plan process for the last two years and is working on a subcommittee with the Downtown Association in addressing its recommendations for the specific plan. He has talked to many business and property owners within the downtown area. The complaints about City staff expressed by Mr. Kimber, Mr. Winter and Mr. Peel are consistent and need to be addressed. He has been involved with numerous remodels and it is not uncommon for a total tear-down to be necessary once a remodel project is started. Basically, one puts up the same building and he was surprised the Planning Department characterized this as an addition. It was legal to begin with and he did not think the Winters should have agreed to acknowledge 900 sq. ft. as an addition instead of just 102 sq. ft. He disagreed that this remodel should be considered new construction. Parking is key to the future of downtown and he strongly disagreed with the staff report that the three spaces proposed are inconsequential for the parking issues within the downtown. He did not think the staff report was objective. He was very concerned about the lack of a user-friendly atmosphere and redevelopment of other business downtown. Ms. Dennis asked why a person would choose to remodel a building versus totally tearing it down and rebuilding. Mr. O'Callahan said there are a number of reasons. Them are many constraints within the Building Codes and City ordinances, and sometimes it is more beneficial to remodel to avoid some of the more stringent restrictions on new construction. In addition, sometimes tearing down a building draws a lot of negative reaction from surrounding neighbors. Ms. Dennis asked if he had experience with conversion of use in conjunction with a remodel. Pleasanton City Council 13 09/18/01 Minutes