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i approximately 80 community member attendees, asking questions and expressing their opinions and concerns to the High Speed Rail Authority. He also spoke about the vertical alignment alternatives, grade separations, and the unique challenges in Redwood City given the creeks; and, the conceptual plan and the impacts. The general preference is to keep Caltrain and High Speed Rail low and covered as much as possible, to try to avoid grade separations, and to maintain as much community connectivity as possible. Mayor Ira acknowledged and thanked the Council Ad Hoc Committee Members, consisting of Council Members Foust, Gee, and Pierce. One Council Member commented on the difficulty in following and visualizing the recommendations and options, and that graphics would be helpful. He had questions on the trench options, the creeks, the freight trains, keeping the streets at grade, and what neighboring cities prefer and what the impacts may be for them. Mr. Chang said that the preference is to try to keep the street at the existing grade, and the Caltrain and High Speed Rail trains at either under or below street level, and that all intersections would need to have grade separations. Mr. Chang said that it would be a challenge for freight trains to share the track with Caltrain, and if it is at grade, it would be easy to catch. If there is a change at Redwood Junction to either below grade or aerial, there would have to also be a change up or down for the freight train to catch it. They do not yet know the magnitude particularly through the Chestnut area that is mostly Redwood City and unincorporated (San Mateo) County areas. There was a question about the removal of the berm option. Mr. Chang said that staff concluded from their analysis that with the berm option, they would have had to raise or widen it and that that both Redwood City and San Carlos were happy with the removal. Another Council Member commented on the good work done with the community and putting together the information. He spoke about keeping in mind for the future the possibly of beginning to daylight some of the creeks, especially Redwood City creek in terms of going under the creeks. He asked about how this tied into any work the County has been doing in the unincorporated area. Mr. Chang replied the impact for the County would be that Caltrain has to stay at grade through the unincorporated area past Fifth Avenue. In response to questions about studying internal processes, internal planning and any funding by the Authority for them, Mr. Chang said they are not aware of that but they can ask; he said that each agency has been funding it themselves. In response for clarification on what the perceptions and expectations are once the letter is sent in terms of moving forward, Mr. Chang said that each agency's preferences and proposed options will impact each other as the Authority collects the information and they will have to look at how each individual city's options can be linked together. Therefore, we cannot fully anticipate what will or will not work, and to keep as our goals for Redwood City to not divide the city and to keep everything below. Another Council Member had questions about how deep Cordilleras Creek is in relation to the how deep the trench will be when it crosses underneath. Mr. Chang said the creek is 15-20 feet below surface, or that it has to be 20 feet from the top of the trench box to the existing grade, and that the creek will be somewhere in between. He said the creek is now about 5-7 feet in those areas. In response to questions about daylighting, Mr. Chang JOINT CITY COUNCIL/REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOARD June 14, 2010 MEETING MINUTES PAGE 5 MINUTE BOOK NO. 63 Page No. 107