14 ATTACHMENTS 03-07 - Laserfiche WebLink

ATTACHMENT 6 From: Doug Giffin SC\' ' .11 Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 9:44 AM To: Janice Stern Subject: RE: New Draft Housing Site Standards and Design Guidelines Hello Janice, Chamberlin Associates owns the 2 building single-story flex office project to the west of the Cannae property on West Las Positas Boulevard (formerly CM Capital property). As we have previously discussed, we have serious concerns regarding the adjacencies of our existing office and industrial space and the proposed residential development. We request that adjacency issues be minimized through landscaped setbacks combined with parking adjacent to existing commercial buildings as opposed to housing. In addition, stepping the buildings from one to two story to allow for a transition in mass between our single story buildings and the adjacent residential is critical. Currently, at the transition from 5860 to 5850 W. Las Positas Blvd, there is a 135 foot setback from the single story building at 5850 West Las Positas Boulevard. This is equivalent to a 70 foot setback from the property line to 5850 West Las Positas. Our tenants look out on grass, shrubs, and trees and enjoy direct morning sun over the top of the existing single story building at 5850 W. Las Positas. If the view is changed to looking at the side of a new multi-story residential building at the minimum setbacks, our tenants will be looking out at a wall and it will significantly impact our tenant's enjoyment of their space and our ability to lease and keep leased the tenant spaces in the building. We request that the following design criteria be incorporated into the design guidelines as strict requirements of development. • Maintain or increase the existing setback with a minimum 70 foot setback from the property line to any structures at 5850 W. Las Positas Blvd. o Utilize this buffer/setback area for landscaping and parking only. o This buffer would provide a separation between two relatively incompatible uses—industrial and residential. • Step all new residential structures from one to two story to allow for a transition in mass between our single story buildings and the adjacent residential. Design the depth of the steps to avoid blocking the sun that the current tenants of the building enjoy. Steps should be at least three times as deep as they are tall. • Maintain the current maximum height limits for West Las Positas Blvd (45 feet) • Maintain the current 2-story building limit for West Las Positas Blvd. • Design site circulation and modify West Las Positas Boulevard circulation to account for the addition of the traffic from the residents of the new high density residential being added to the existing heavy congestion present during school drop off and pick up hours. In order for these measures to be implemented, we feel that they should be included as detailed requirements of development, specific to 5850 W. Las Positas Blvd. Feel free to call with any questions and thank you for all of your efforts throughout this process. Regards, Doug Giffin Chamberlin Associates file:///X:/JaniceS/Housing%20ELement%20lmplementation/Housing%20Standards%20an... 5/30/2012