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dog run, an earth sculpture, and a village green where residents can throw a football around. He noted that since their research showed that tenants/ renters and neighbors now enjoy the rental lifestyle and prefer the long -term rather than for a six -month or one -year lease, they have opted to have the amenities there so when the residents get home, they can spend time with their families and live the lifestyle in a traditional for -sale home. Mr. Zahedani pointed to the fact that the project connects to the trail as well. He noted that the Hacienda Design Guidelines are very prescriptive with how to gain credit for private and public open space, with a ratio of 2:1 and 1:1 for public open space. He indicated that they are not asking for any open -space credit for the 33 -foot wide front walkable portion which has some direct access from the buildings, but for the village green, for the community areas, the new pocket park and small open space areas, and the private patios in every single unit that were designed consistent with the Hacienda Guidelines. Mr. Zahedani stated that they are very sensitive to their relationship with neighbors and are very, very open to working with the Verona residents across the street. He noted that they have asked to meet with these neighbors to give them a hand in designing the project. He indicated that in response to the requests made by neighborhood speakers at the July 11, 2012 Planning Commission public hearing on the Design Guidelines, whose requests included facilities for pets, a pool with a fence around it, open space, circulation, and parking, they have added a dog park to the project, expanded the pool, installed the fence, incorporated two play areas, and included appropriate parking. Keith Labus, project architect, KTGY, stated that he would like to talk briefly about the massing concept of the project. He indicated that they have broken up the project into four components: two three -story buildings flanking the entry on either side, the four - story building pushed to the back of the site, the core of the project in the community and leasing building, and the village green or central park concept for the project. He noted that this town square concept comes straight out of the Design Guidelines and uses this hierarchy of public streets and alleys to create efficient circulation to maximize the open space. He added that by spacing out the buildings the way they have done, they have avoided the uninterrupted building wall at the street that would be unattractive and would not work with the Verona project across the street. Mr. Labus then presented a slide of the street scene from West Las Positas Boulevard. He indicated that they cut out about half of the trees on both sides of the entry so the building would be visible. He pointed out the monumental entry tower of the community building which is located directly across the street from the entry into the Verona project; to the rear of the site is the four -story building which kind of disappears into the background at the back; and the two three -story masses flanking the entry and the massing of the one -story building with the community room pushed back on the site to create that movement in and out at the entry. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, November 14, 2012 Page 20 of 31