18 ATTACHMENT 09 - Laserfiche WebLink

BACKGROUND/HISTORY The subject site has a General Plan land use designation of Public and Institutional and is zoned R-1-6,500 (One-Family Residential) District, meaning that the site's zoning is not consistent with its General Plan designation. For over a decade, the site has been a part of various City discussions regarding amending the General Plan land use designation, independent of and as a part of General Plan and Housing Element updates, to allow for some form of housing on the site. In 2004, the City Council considered processing an amendment to the General Plan, independent of the General Plan update, to change the land use designation of the site from Public and Institutional to Medium Density Residential and Parks and Recreation land uses. City records indicate that the item was discussed by the City Council; however, the discussion was continued indefinitely. During a joint Planning Commission-City Council Work Session in 2006, the City considered amending the General Plan land use designations of various vacant or underdeveloped in-fill properties City-wide. The subject site was evaluated and was considered as a potential high density residential site which, generally, would have retained the church on 6 of the 9 acres, thereby retaining the Public and Institutional land use designation, and designated the remaining 3 acres for high density residential uses. However, the site was eventually removed from the high density housing sites list. In 2011, the City held a series of community workshops for the General Plan Housing Element update to obtain feedback on designating specific sites throughout the City for high density housing. The subject property was again taken under consideration as a high density residential site. However, the Housing Element Task Force committee ultimately removed the subject site from the list as they believed a high density residential project would not be consistent with the surrounding neighborhood. Over the last few years, Ponderosa has worked with the church to plan a residential development project for the entire 9-acre site. On July 29, 2015, the applicant submitted requests for: 1) rezoning the site from R-1-6,500 District to PUD-MDR (Planned Unit Development— Medium Density Residential) District and for PUD Development Plan approval to demolish the existing religious building and construct 43 detached single-family age-restricted homes with related site improvements; and 2) Vesting Tentative Map approval to subdivide the approximately 9-acre parcel into 43 single-family residential parcels and 6 common lot parcels. After reviewing the application, staff provided the applicant with a letter discussing concerns relating to the proposed development. As proposed, staff did not believe the project was sufficiently integrated with the surrounding neighborhood, as it was proposed to be surrounded by a wall and would be accessible only after passing through a security gate. Staff also sought other changes in the proposed design, ranging from modifications to the architecture to changes in the orientation of residences along Valley Trails Drive and the configuration of open space. In addition to revising the proposal to address staff's comments, staff also encouraged the applicant to have a neighborhood meeting with the Valley Trails residents to discuss the project prior to presenting an application to the Planning Commission as a work session item. Staffs comment letter and initial project site plan are included as Exhibit C for the Commission's consideration. P15-0551, 6900 Valley Trails Drive Planning Commission 2of16