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Padru Kang presented a quick overview of the project and some of its highlights. He <br />noted that this site has an opportunity for a real great sustainable mixed -use residential <br />community that has a lot of great uses around it that are walkable: eight bus stop <br />locations all within a quarter mile; the BART terminal three - fourths of a mile away <br />straight down Owens Drive; high- density residential or multi - family residential in some <br />shape or form; regional retail and other shopping centers nearby; health care; and a <br />combined nine acres of open space and public park area for the community. <br />Mr. Kang stated that the site is currently under - utilized, and they are looking at filling the <br />existing surface parking with high- density residential and activating the streets on <br />Owens Drive and Rosewood Drive by pushing the retail to the corner with a public <br />community plaza that is very open and will serve essentially all of the surrounding <br />neighborhoods. He added that some landscaping will come in as well as an urban <br />plaza patio area right at the south end of the podium. He noted that they have pushed <br />the podium building back a little farther than what is required in the high- density <br />guidelines because of its mass, and placed the parking structure farther back against <br />the campus, which is a better location for office parking because it is actually closer to <br />where people would be working. <br />Mr. Kang pointed out that entry into the project off of Owens Drive is through a real <br />24 -foot wide internal drive with parking on either side. He stated that they took a lot of <br />time and effort to make sure that the garage doors are hidden from view in most cases, <br />and there will be additional landscape berms and fencing so that people driving by will <br />not be looking back at the garage doors. He added that they had an opportunity to have <br />more of an even flow with the campus because it has the same owner, and bring it back <br />in through another way which also works well with circulation. <br />Mr. Kang then proceeded to address some of the comments presented at the Planning <br />Commission Work Session: <br />1. Retail Plaza — actually opening it up and have the building come around it. They <br />took a few passes at it, and the constraints are actually a little too tough. <br />Unfortunately, the retail was pushed so far up against the setback that not much can <br />be done in terms of trying to bring that courtyard space or that plaza space in- <br />between the buildings. What they did was take a look at reducing the size and <br />length of the trellis element at the breezeway and remove some of the in- ground <br />landscaping to increase the plaza space by an additional 200 square feet. It gives a <br />little bit of protection from the sun and the elements; the plaza was originally <br />designed to bulb out in this fashion to try and engage the street corner. <br />2. Mustard Color — The intent with this Chapultepec color was to try and bring out a <br />little punch of color to a building that is really designed to be fun. It is the main <br />building which houses the fitness center, the community center, and the leasing <br />office. The color is being used only for accents, with part of it picking up the color <br />from the lap siding being proposing there, except for a larger wall at the fitness <br />building. An alternative would be sandalwood tan, which is being used on other <br />locations of the building, and applying it to tone down the color and soften the view. <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, March 27, 2013 Page 29 of 48 <br />