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Commissioner Maas questioned whether it might be possible to treat this area like the ridgelands ..-- and place custom homes in areas that are buildable and do not require a lot of grading. Mr. Swift advised that the road would still need to be installed and the project would result in the same configuration whether or not custom homes are built. He noted that with custom homes, people want usable yards and a swimming pool, so they still need to do the grading but would have no options for off-hauling the dirt. He advised that if just a few houses were to be scattered on the site you would still get similar grading and houses that are just as visible. Chairperson Sullivan stated that he assumes that there is some balance point or break-even point for example where you can have 25 medium-density houses and ten custom, low-density houses, and make the same amount of money. Discussion ensued regarding the possibility of reducing the number of medium-density houses and adding custom lots. PUBLIC HEARING WAS OPENED COMMENTS FROM THE APPLICANT Trece Herder representative for Centex Homes, stated that they have tried to focus on the visibility issues, as well as the design impacts. She presented the previous design and the proposed redesign. She stated that they also looked at the concerns related to density and relocated the two most prominent lots. She advised that additional trees are being saved and that they have responded to concerns about noise by reorienting as many of the lots as possible. She noted that all of the pad areas have been designed to be flat pads. .--. Steve Perkins, the landscape architect, presented the tree replacement plan, noting that they have made significant strides in saving trees as compared to the original plan. He advised that the visibility issues were considered from three points: the existing Vineyard A venue which will be the trail, the new Vineyard A venue, and a distant location such as Stanley Boulevard. He stated that because of the grading of the slope and the planting within the easement along the existing Vineyard Avenue, the houses would be pretty well buffered from the users of the trail. He noted that 225 replacement trees would be planted to replace the 13 trees that will be removed. He further noted that the replacement trees will be a native species and are shown on the plant palette. He noted that in order to mitigate views from the new Vineyard A venue, they are proposing to move some of the trees up the slope so that they are planted higher up on the flat pad area. Commissioner Maas questioned the type of fencing that is being proposed. Mr. Perkins advised that solid privacy fencing is proposed for the flat area of the pad, with open fencing down the slope. Alan Menzies, the project architect, presented the effects of what happens when step-pad/sloping yard solutions are applied to the actual house designs. He noted that when you use a step down- hill or step up-hill house there is more building mass visible from off-site, than with a flat pad. Ms. Herder stated that they favor a flat pad orientation because it gives them a greater opportunity for landscaping and vegetation along the edge. /"' PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES February 28,2001 Page 11