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Vie Holbrook, 28 Diller, asked if this would be his only opportunity to speak on this project, and Vice Chairman Verdone said, "Probably not. I am sure there will be many meetings." Mr. Holbrook said he owned a property within the Franklin Street Area Plan. He described his experience with the Redevelopment Agency when his gun shop on Jefferson was acquired through eminent domain, "It wasn't a very pleasant experience the last time." Mr. Holbrook said he hoped it would be better this time. He said he wanted to talk to other property owners before the process goes too far. In response to Planning Commission questions, he said the Agency had been no help in finding a suitable relocation site. He said he had not been made whole and that process is on-going. Vice Mayor Howard. thanked the Planning Commission for the opportunity to participate in this discussion. She said, "We have an opportunity here to have a really wonderful project. We have three first quality developers who are interested in coordinating a site that has been an eyesore for some time. Not only that, we have input at the very beginning of the process to let these developers know what we would like to see happen on that site. And having the input of all the different groups here this evening, I think will be most beneficial." Vice Mayor Howard agreed with Councilwoman La Berge, "when she talked about the feel of a village, an urban village. We've been reading a lot about sustainable communities, and how do we create sustainable communities.... I think there are some concepts that were brought up this evening that certainly allude to that: day care, circulation through an area, open space, an attractive setting, sornewhere where people feel like it is safe and it is home. I'd like to let you know some of the things that are important to me in regards to this infill project. In sustainable communities of this size, we are talking about almost 500 units, day care is a must. Day care on site... or possibly adjacent, although I'm not aware of there being a site adjacent that would sustain a day care. The retail might be where you'd want to locate that day care. It would be important, though, with the regulations of day care, and we have our child care coordinator here this evening to address any questions you might have, that we have open space. That's required. I think there is room in the project to have that. Day care is important because if you are going to locate the day care, or provide in lieu fees for day care off the site of this project, you are creating more traffic which is what we are trying to get away from.... If we can plan this properly, they can take their children within the site and go off to their jobs... We have done it at the city center plaza, and I think it will be very successful. There is an operator in place, from what I understand, and... 25 spaces. We have an opportunity to really help the people who are going to live and maybe work in that complex to provide them with child care. I think we have an obligation to do that... I'd also like to (speak about) the importance of park and open space, not only within the complex, but adjacent to it. There is some city land across the street, on the other side of Maple, that may be we could look at for creating a downtown park. If we are going to encourage people to live, work in the downtown area, here is the time to plan for a park. I do hear people say, why would anyone want to live downtown if there is no green space, no park like there is on the other side of El Camino. Let's create one. Let's use our imaginations now and create one. That triangular space, and I understand there is another space... (let's) talk about how we could do that, close the road, or do what is necessary to create a park on that site. The CalTrain corridor is important to address, and several other Council Members have talked about that. .. Let's have it look as beautiful on one side as it PLANNING COMMISSION STUDY SESSION WITH COUNCIL PARTICIPATION OCTOBER2l,1997 STUDY SESSION MEETING MINUTES MINUTE BOOK NO. 55 PAGE 10 Page No. 612