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DRAFT Frank Spindler, 1338 Benedict Court, strongly supported this project and asked the neighbors to look at the Church's benefits to the community by the activities, be they athletic, spiritual, and educational. He noted that the additional activity would be a small percentage ofthe overall existing Church activities. He added that the scope of the building was a fraction of the existing Church, and he believed it was well scaled. He believed the additional traffic impact was also small when compared to existing traffic. He noted that this was not a taxpayer-funded or corporate-funded project; it was funded entirely by the members ofthe Catholic Community of Pleasanton. Greg Thome, Co-Athletic Director, CYO program, 1745 Paseo del Cajon, described the educational benefits of this program. He noted that the City was the largest scheduler of youth activities within Pleasanton and that the CYO program was co-sponsored by the City. He added that the school system was the second-largest scheduler, and that the Church worked closely with both entities at those times. He noted that the City did not allow 18 hours of play at any of their facilities, and that they were asked to leave the middle schools at 9:00 to 9:30 p.m. Rather than talking about the fear of what could occur, he suggested examining what has happened over the last 20 years that he has been personally involved. He noted that rules had been followed and maintained, and noted that there had been great adherence to responsibility and respect in connection with the activities. He noted that, for example, Diocese-wide rules state that are not allowed to use the existing gym before 12 noon on Sundays because it would conflict with church services, or at any other time which would conflict with services and mass. He noted that they had a demonstrated history of respecting the rules and the neighborhood. He described the traffic patterns in the neighborhood and noted that much of the traffic was neighborhood-related. Chuck Wiedel, 7225 Valley Trails Drive, spoke in support of this item and believed the positive aspects of this proposed project far outweighed the negatives. He noted that Church staff had spent many hours preparing this project and added that the Catholic community of Pleasant on had committed millions of dollars for the completion of this project. He added that the entire City would benefit from this project and acknowledged that change in a neighborhood was difficult. He believed the Church would continue to be a good neighbor. Responding to the neighbors' concerns, Mr. Miller asked staff how high the hackberry trees required for street trees would grow. Mr. Otto noted that the hackberry trees would be replaced by evergreen trees on Rheem Drive between the sidewalk and the street. Mr. Miller noted that this was not a convenient neighborhood to come through, and with the fence and landscaping, he could not see how regional people would park in the neighborhood and walk around to the building. He believed they would try to park as close to the activity as possible. He noted that the Church had been concerned about skateboarders and has tried to eliminate the skateboarding issue. He noted that in each iteration of the Master Plan, there had always been a building proposed on that site. He noted that the parishioners and the Church had always taken great pride and ownership in the care of the facilities and that they respected what they already had. He noted that the windows on the side of the gym had been removed, and skylights had been installed so there would be no sound coming from the side of the building towards the homes. The church had created a buffer between the site and the neighborhood, and that it was 100 feet from the back of the gym to the rear residential property line. DRAFT EXCERPTS: PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, November 29, 2006 Page 8 of 11