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6. PUBLIC HEARINGS AND OTHER MATTERS Item 6a Review of the l)raft l)owntown Specific Plan, Related General Plan Amendments, and Final Environmental Impact Report for the Specific Plan (SR 02:053) Mayor Pico and Ms. Michelotti left the dais and abstained from participating in the decision. Jerry Iserson presented the staff report. Vice Mayor Dennis declared the public hearing open. Jessica Penland, 4413 Comanche Way, said she would like to see the noise and air quality studies that justify excluding the train from downtown. She said Mr. Iserson indicated such information is available and she wanted to see it. Mr. Iserson said there were many issues involved as part of the train study. Many were addressed in the committee process and information was included in the environmental impact report. Ms. Penland referred to a statement by Pamela Hardy that there were air and noise studies regarding the train that were instrumental in the Committee recommending against the extension of the train. She said she had contacted the Planning Department and Mr. Iserson said no in depth studies had been done as they were not priority issues at this time. She felt the recommendations against the train have been without any scientific analysis and are based only on opinion. In addition, there are no air and noise studies on the ACE train. It runs through several residential areas and a proposed park more than thirty times a week. It has larger and faster locomotives than the excursion train. The only thing done in regard to the ACE train was a negative declaration. She felt there are far greater impacts from the commuter and freight trains through town than from a train coming into downtown three or four times on the weekend at a slow speed. She believed further scientific studies should be made before deciding against the financial and historical contributions of the train. Ms. McKeehan indicated the debate about the train has been more about parking and trails than anything else. It was her understanding that the Committee discussed air quality and noise, but the focus has always been the impacts on parking, trails and parks. She acknowledged that some people, like the seniors at Ridge View Commons, have great concerns about noise. Mr. Iserson indicated the EIR is a program EIR and looks at some of these issues more generally. The train was an option only. The EIR concluded that there would not be a significant impact on air quality, however, noise could be an impact. Should the concept of the train be approved, then the Pacific Locomotive Association would have to put together all the details of where the train would go, frequency of trips, etc. and at that time a more detailed environmental analysis would be conducted. Pleasanton City Council 6 03/05/02 Minutes