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they were able to distinguish, and on ground level, create a base level for retail and <br />live/work and volume space for the storefront, with a height of about four feet. He <br />added that there are awnings on the ground level with live/work and retail, and the <br />ground level can be defined without necessarily creating a deliberate base. He noted <br />that what they want to do with a mixed-use building is have layers of information, <br />something integrated that the materials used for the live/work are also in the tower so it <br />does not look like they built a retail space and put housing on top of it, but an <br />intentionally created mixed-use building. He then presented a photo showing the added <br />tops along the building and elements along the edge; entries into the building ground <br />level with stairs along one side and stairs and elevator on the other side; the front of the <br />building exterior, emphasizing the entries into the lobbies by using taller elements and <br />changing the materials to draw attention to either being retail or entrance into the <br />building itself. <br /> <br />Mr. Yau then showed the elevations of the buildings behind, the three-story garden, <br />which do not have an elevator but are instead served with stairs along the front and the <br />back of the building. He explained that when they do a setback on the street they have <br />units along the ground level with more landscape space in front, and within the elevation <br />itself, they are using enhanced materials to represent the stair tower and creating a <br />different color to emphasize building entrances. <br /> <br />Commissioner Pentin referred to the buildings without elevators and inquired whether <br />they were ADA-accessible. He further inquired if the idea is a percentage requirement <br />in the building. <br /> <br />Mr. Yau replied that the ground level units are ADA-accessible and explained that if an <br />elevator is not provided for the building, the units above the first level are not required to <br />be ADA-accessible. He noted that the building has been designed accordingly. He <br />added that because the four-story building is an elevator-served building, all units are <br />ADA-accessible. <br /> <br />Mr. Yau then presented a slide of the building along Owens Drive which includes four <br />live/work units along the ground level. He indicated that they raised the building to have <br />a 12-foot clearance on the ground level. <br /> <br />With respect to Site 2, Mr. Yau stated that they took a different approach in terms of <br />what they are putting along the street. He explained that where Site 1 is a little bit more <br />urban, and denser buildings along the street up against BART seem appropriate, Site 2 <br />has a two-story residential context, they have put three-story buildings along the edge <br />and the higher density buildings towards the Kaiser campus and Shaklee site at the <br />back, with a park and the central open space in the middle of the project. He indicated <br />that they also explored internal streets on this site, and noted that with the central <br />courtyard in the middle, internal streets would create a small space that then becomes <br />an island and is not usable open space anymore. He stated that without the internal <br />streets, they still accomplish what they want to do in terms of a walkable community, <br />with the existence of pedestrian access, the access all around the central open space, <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, October 17, 2011 Page 16 of 36 <br /> <br />