Laserfiche WebLink
The Housing Commission, at its February 18, 2016 meeting supported Ponderosa's <br />proposal of using its remaining IUCs for this project. The Housing Commission <br />unanimously recommended approval of the Affordable Housing Agreement (AHA) to the <br />City Council. Please refer to the Housing Commission staff report for a detailed <br />discussion (Attachment 7). With the approval of the proposed development, Ponderosa <br />Homes will exhaust its remaining IUCs. <br />PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION <br />The Planning Commission held a public hearing on March 23, 2016 to review the <br />proposed project. The draft minutes of this meeting are provided in Attachment 6. The <br />Planning Commission focused its discussion primarily on the proposed development <br />standards for the housing project. The Commission agreed that it could support the <br />proposed FAR range but would only allow five of the nine homes that were originally <br />proposed to have a bonus room option to be constructed with a bonus room in order to <br />minimize building mass. As requested by staff, the Planning Commission also added a <br />condition requiring specific home plans on Lots 1 -5, the result of an agreement between <br />Ponderosa and residents to the east of the project site. The Commission unanimously <br />recommended the approval of the proposed applications by Ponderosa Homes to the <br />City Council. <br />DISCUSSION <br />The Planning Commission staff report (Attachment 6) provides additional background <br />information and a detailed discussion of the proposed project, including the project's <br />General Plan and zoning consistency, development standards, architectural design, tree <br />removal and replacement, golf ball net study, and considerations related to the <br />geotechnical study, investigation of potential waters of the United States, noise and <br />visual simulations. The following sections summarize key points of analysis, and the <br />proposed Development Agreement. <br />General Plan and Zoning <br />The General Plan Land Use designation for the Arroyo Del Valle is Open Space — <br />Public Health and Safety and Wildland Overlay. The non -creek portion of the subject <br />site is designated Medium Density Residential (MDR) in the General Plan. The MDR <br />designation allows a density of 2 to 8 dwelling units per acre (DU /AC). The General <br />Plan states that major arroyos are not to be counted as part of residentially designated <br />gross developable acreage. Excluding the arroyo area, the site has approximately 7.01 <br />gross developable acres, resulting in a density of 2.7 DU /AC, which is consistent with <br />the General Plan. <br />Floor Area Ratio (FAR) <br />The proposed site development standards include FARs up to 45 %. The Commission <br />questioned the compatibility of the proposed FAR with the existing residential <br />developments in the vicinity and discussed whether the proposed FAR could be capped <br />at 40 %. While the applicant indicated that it could accommodate further restrictions on <br />FAR, it desired some flexibility to exceed 40% FAR on selected lots in order to meet the <br />market demand for larger units. The Commission approved a condition of approval <br />allowing only five homes to have a bonus room option instead of the proposed nine <br />Page 5 of 8 <br />