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<br />Alternative 3: Mixed Use Land Use Concept 3 Mixed Office Residential with Modest <br />Downtown Retail <br /> <br />Description of Alternative 3: The Mixed Use Land Use Concept 3 Alternative emphasizes a <br />large amount of medium- to high-density residential and commercial development with a more <br />modest amount of retail in the Downtown Area. This alternative would include 675,000 gross <br />square feet (gsf) of new office space, between 3,140 and 5,080 dwelling units, and 71,000 gsf of <br />new retail. <br /> <br />Assuming all projected dwelling units were constructed under the Concept 3 Alternative (5,080) <br />and the TOD Strategy (3,431), the Concept 3 Alternative would result in 1,649 more dwelling <br />units. Assuming full buildout of office space, the TOD Strategy would result in 43,240 square <br />feet more of office, which equates to approximately 124 more jobs. Assuming full buildout of <br />retail, the TOD Strategy would result in approximately 50,871 square feet more ofretail, which <br />equates to approximately 145 more jobs. Therefore, the net difference is that the Concept 3 <br />Alternative would result in approximately 270 fewer jobs, or employees, but 4,205 more <br />residents in the Strategy Area than the proposed TOD Strategy. On the whole, this Alternative <br />would result in a greater number of people residing in the TOD Strategy Area and a greater <br />amount of development overall. <br /> <br />Impacts/Feasibility of Alternative 3: This section qualitatively evaluates the potential <br />environmental impacts of Concept 3 Alternative for each of the environmental factors considered <br />in Chapter 4 of this EIR. The Concept 3 Alternative would result in continued urbanization of <br />the Strategy Area during the course of its buildout. Views to and from the Strategy Area would <br />likely change with the addition of residential and office development. A description of these <br />views is provided in Chapter 4.1 of this EIR. The existing views of the hills to the east may be <br />affected, though view corridors could be maintained. Under either scenario, several policies <br />would be applied to new development taking place within the Strategy Area to minimize the <br />potential for visual impacts. As a result, the impact on aesthetics resulting from the Concept 3 <br />Alternative is considered the same as the proposed Project. <br /> <br />This Alternative would not avoid the significant and unavoidable impact related to cumulative <br />emission and the attainment of applicable air quality standards. Like the TOD Strategy, the <br />growth projections of this alternative would exceed the ABAG 2003 Projections and therefore <br />the 2005 Clean Air Plan. <br /> <br />Due to the increased residential density envisioned under the Concept 3 Alternative, this <br />alternative could provide a greater level of location efficiency suitable for pedestrian access to <br />internal destinations and transit to external destinations. The amount and interface of <br />development of this alternative would also possibly provide more opportunity for internal trip <br />capture within the TOD Strategy Area. Further, the benefits to Air Quality of mixed-use design <br />encouraged by the Air District Guidelines would be more achievable under the Concept 3 <br />Alternative because density would be generally more intense and there would be more housing <br />units in close proximity to transit and jobs.e <br />33 <br />