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Mr. Sapone said yes. He pointed out that traffic on Valley Avenue and Santa Rita Road <br />and traffic safety at that intersection were cited as important impacts that had a bearing <br />on the decision for the Home Depot proposal. <br /> <br />Heather Truro echoed Mr. comments on the three issues of traffic, air quality, <br />and traffic safety. She stated that she wanted to make sure that traffic studies are done <br />on both peak hours and weekends, as, opposed to the Home Depot project, this is for <br />residential development and the impact would be different from that of a retail project. <br />She noted that there would also be a difference between building the units after, versus <br />prior to, the construction of El Charro Road proposed for 2014. With respect to air <br />quality concerns, she noted that Sites 8, 11, and 14 would be affected by cross-town <br />traffic due to the distances to BART, the two freeways, schools, and Safeway. She <br />added that residents of these units will most likely have children walking to schools, <br />which would entail going through some very traffic-intense areas. <br /> <br />Chair Narum noted that the site numbers have been changed and clarified with <br />Ms. Truro that the areas she referred to are the former Home Depot site owned by Auf <br />der Maur, which is now Site 7; the Kiewit property, Site 10; and the Legacy Partners, <br />Site 13. <br /> <br />Mr. Dolan clarified that some sites have been removed and staff has renumbered the <br />remaining sites, which has caused a fair amount of confusion. He noted that the Notice <br />of Preparation map has the new numbers, but staff has decided to go back to the <br />original numbering and have gaps in the sequence, as people are having issues with <br />the new system. <br /> <br />not relevant to the Housing EIR. <br /> <br />Ivan Hendren, representing Roem Corporation in Santa Clara stated that they recently <br />acquired control of the Downtown mobilehome site, which is currently not on the <br />Housing Element list but which they would like considered for residential housing. He <br />requested that it be included in the EIR scope at this time instead of being added later <br />on and retroactively having to update the EIR. <br /> <br />Mr. Hendren stated that the site has very strong potential arguments to be added on to <br />list. He indicated that the site was initially on the list and was taken off because a <br />three-story, 30-unit-per-acre development would not fit into the fabric of the Downtown <br />area. He noted that they spoke with several local architects and verified that a two-story <br />building is possible for a 30-unit-per-acre development, especially if subterranean <br />parking is utilized. He noted that the current zoning on the site is Commercial Freeway <br />(C-F) District, which allows for very impactful uses of 40-foot height limits and a <br />40-percent Floor Area Ratio (FAR), and that hotels, motels, office, medical office, and <br />self-storage facilities can be built there without a Conditional Use Permit. He added that <br />they ran some numbers for medical office buildings, which would incur five to six times <br />more than the number of parking stalls for a 30-unit-per-acre residential development. <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, May 11, 2011 Page 8 of 17 <br /> <br />