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entire General Plan so traffic is dispersed through the city instead of just one or two locations. Max Malini indicated he did not see the extension of Stoneridge Drive as being a benefit to the whole community. He believed as long as I-580 and 84 are congested, Stoneridge would be used as an alternative route to commuters. He noted as a commuter through Milpitas, he takes the fastest routes and does not patronize their businesses. He believed Pleasanton and Milpitas are similar in that they are both between two major highways. Once the floodgates are open, they cannot be closed. Mary Roberts referred to the extension of Jack London to EI Charro, which she believed would occur sooner than expected because of the outlets to be constructed in Livermore. She felt it was logical that traffic going to Livermore on 580 would exit at EI Charro to go to Livermore on Jack London. She asked how that would affect the Santa Rita to Valley left turn, which is mostly traffic to Livermore. She asked if there would be a reduction in traffic at that intersection if traffic were to use the EI Charro/Jack London connection. She supported doing the Stoneridge modeling now. Also, she noted her concern regarding the constrained gateways. She felt there may be a danger of making the General Plan internally inconsistent because of the community character element, which calls for beautiful gateways. If you take out landscaping to make wider streets to keep traffic moving, then the community character element may have to be changed to support broader roads; not medians and trees. Brad Hirst congratulated the Council and Commission for wading through the pages and pages of material regarding the General Plan. He stated there has been discussion about the Triangle Study. He noted that Highway 84 could have been improved as a toll road at private expense with no charge to Livermore or Pleasanton residents. However, twenty years ago the Councils of Pleasanton and Livermore stopped that proposal. He believes if study after study continues with no completion, nothing will happen for the next twenty years. He urged Council to model the Stoneridge extension sooner rather than later. Regarding the constrained gateways, he asked what happens to the streetscapes off the freeway interchanges. One of the things that made Pleasanton pleasant is its streets. He has brought many visitors looking at Pleasanton for potential development. There are three major things people comment on: street landscaping, parks and downtown. He implored Council not to delete any landscaping along major arterials in order to increase the traffic flow. Regarding the Stoneridge extension, he indicated there are eight intersections, excluding downtown that will be at LOS E or F following improvements. He noted Santa Rita north of Valley Avenue carries 43,000 cars today. South of Valley Avenue it carries 26,000. He said 40% of the traffic or 17,000 cars a day on southbound Santa Rita are making a turn either left or right. Valley Avenue west of Santa Rita has 16,000 cars a day and east of Valley there are 26,000 cars. That is a 60% increase in traffic volume. He commented there are proposals in various stages to construct significant improvements on the Staples Ranch property: a senior housing facility, the Hendricks Automotive and the Sharks Ice Recreation Facility. He believes if Stoneridge is not extended the local residents who want to use any of those three venues will be forced onto the freeway. Nancy Storch, said from her review of the staff report, it appears the developments on the east side of EI Charro were not included in the model. She believes people who live and work in Pleasanton and want to use the commercial facilities on EI Charro will have to go around. Many of them will be going through Santa Rita and Valley as well as I- City Council Minutes 9 January 30, 2007 Joint Workshop