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detached residences and three apartment units, none of which are required to be affordable. <br /> The applicant intends to sell the detached homes and rent the apartments at market rate. <br /> The City has already met its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) obligation to zone <br /> land to meet the anticipated housing demand for the 2015-2023 planning period. Although the <br /> proposed rezoning would increase the City's supply of market-rate housing, and the smaller <br /> apartments units may be more affordably-priced than larger units, rezoning additional land <br /> within the City for housing would not be necessary to meet current RHNA requirements. In <br /> addition, staff notes that the current Office land use designation of the site already allows for <br /> housing to be developed on the site. <br /> Certificate of Appropriateness <br /> Demolition of buildings in the Downtown requires that a certificate of appropriateness be <br /> approved by the Planning Commission. The Downtown Specific Plan's Historic Resources <br /> Policy No. 3 prohibits the demolition of any residential building in a commercial or office zoning <br /> district found to be a historic resource unless the building is determined to be unsafe or <br /> dangerous, and if no other reasonable means of rehabilitation or relocation can be achieved. <br /> The home is located in an office zoning district and the historic evaluation determined the <br /> house and accessory structures would not be historic resources and could be demolished. <br /> At the Work Session, the Commission was supportive of demolishing the existing structures as <br /> they were determined to not have architectural or historical interest and would be replaced with <br /> a well-designed mixed-use project. Therefore, staff believes that granting a certificate of <br /> appropriateness to demolish the buildings is appropriate for this site. The historic resource <br /> evaluation is included as Exhibit D for reference. <br /> Site Plan <br /> A PUD development plan allows flexibility in applying Municipal Code Standards in order to <br /> achieve a better overall plan for the site and the area. The current site plan was developed <br /> with input from the Planning Commission during the Work Session and several discussions <br /> with staff and the applicant after formally submitting the PUD application. Staff worked with the <br /> applicant to position the buildings to provide adequate setbacks from the property lines and <br /> street frontages, and in order to maximize the usability of the site. The applicant has <br /> responded to the Commission's and staffs requests by increasing the side yard setbacks <br /> between structures and repositioning the buildings to make them more pedestrian-oriented. <br /> Staff finds the proposed setbacks to be acceptable and similar to other small-lot PUD <br /> developments that the City has approved, some of which are located in the Downtown. <br /> Staff believes that the proposed siting, massing, and size of the units and office/retail space(s) <br /> are appropriate for this site and would result in an attractive development for this area of <br /> Downtown. The buildings would be in keeping with the scale and massing of the homes on <br /> Augustine Street and Old Bemal Avenue. Furthermore, staff is recommending conditions of <br /> approval prohibiting accessory structures and additions to the new residential units. <br /> Architecture and Design <br /> The Downtown Specific Plan states that the design of new non-residential buildings should <br /> draw upon the primary exterior features of the Downtown's traditional design character in <br /> terms of architectural style and materials, colors, details of construction, height, floor area, <br /> PUD-118, 4791 Augustine Street Planning Commission <br /> Page 15 of 25 <br />