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Mr. Labus then showed the village green concept with the public street going around and the resort-style design and community space living off of it with plenty of room for lounging and socializing. He referred to the tot lot to the rear between the community building and the four -story building, and the arcade where there is an open breezeway that connects the buildings from the back, the tot lot area, all the way through the indoor amenities, as well to the front of the project. Mr. Labus then presented some of the features in terms of materials and the architecture, noting that they broke down the scale of the building utilizing different scale building elements and puffing the roof forms, the opposing gables both two- and three - stories, very interesting colors and materials, including the stucco and adobe style brick veneer. He stated that breaking it down to final level detail, they have detailed things like the wood like trim, the window surrounds and trims of the decks and windows, the pre -case type trim around the windows and some of the bellybands and stone accents there, ornamental decorative railings, pot shelves, awning frames, window details, and then finally some canvas awnings there to take the scale of this larger building and break it down to mid -level and then down to a finer level to create that pedestrian scale on the street. He noted that this gives that walkable feel along West Las Positas Boulevard and helps bring it down to the smaller scale to be compatible with the buildings across the street. Commissioner Pearce noted that the Guidelines indicate that there should be a minimum of 75 percent of the ground floor units with access onto the street, internal street, paseo or open space. She inquired why there are 16 instead of 23. Mr. Zahedani stated that not all of the units have direct access points. He noted that with respect to the buildings that front onto West Las Positas Boulevard, there is a berm which presents a problem for having direct access points. He pointed out that they tried to work around that and have sites or locations where the berm does not exist and residents can walk around. He added that if this is a big issue for the Commission or staff, there may be ways to find flexibility to have either pony gates or some sort of entrance at the balcony or patio level on the ground floor of some of the other units. James Paxson, General Manager of Hacienda Business Park Owners Association, stated that he was pleased to be working with a project that is so well- designed and the progress on the project in terms of what the applicant has done with some of Hacienda's preliminary comments. He indicated that they have done an informal review of the project several weeks ago and that some of the changes before the Commission night were a response to some of the Association's initial comments. He noted that after tonight's Work Session, the design will be taken back to their Design Review Committee for its formal response before it comes forward for the regular Planning Commission public hearing. He stated that he has been really impressed with the response of the applicant, the creativity in design for such an unusual lot and for basically what is very much an infill project in Hacienda. He noted that the Association has also been working with the applicant on the architecture of the project and that it PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, November 14, 2012 Page 21 of 31