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Commissioner Olson stated that he supports the applicant's proposal and none of the other Alternatives. Commissioner O'Connor agreed with Commissioner Allen and stated that he is more inclined to follow the applicant's proposal. He stated that the visuals are pretty clear: if the upper home is not at the top of the hill, it is pretty close to it for breaking blue sky and quite a way away from the original "blob." He indicated that he knows there is some flexibility with "blobs" but that he would prefer not to have the home so visually exposed. He added that he would also like to protect as many of these heritage oaks as possible and would rather see a little more work with where the road is sited without doing much damage to those trees; the tradeoff would be making the homes less visible. Commissioner Ritter stated that he supports the proposed plan as it disturbs the least amount of area and leaves it the most natural - looking without removing any heritage trees. He noted that it appears the applicant has met all the zoning and Specific Plan requirements, based on his proposed plan that was there before any changes of a sort could be made. He added that based on the photos, the homes appear to fit in pretty well and looked aesthetically pleasing. Commissioner Posson stated that he generally supports the applicant's siting and does not prefer any particular Alternative. He indicated that he thinks some additional work needs to be done, especially taking a look at the Specific Plan Residential Design Standards, the concerns brought up by Mr. Reeves regarding siting, lot line, and those types of things. He added that he would like to study the Specific Plan a little bit more to see whether or not the alignment, as proposed, conforms with that or not. Chair Pearce stated that she thinks she is the only member of the Planning Commission that was a survivor of the "blob" discussions. She recalled the discussion that "blobs" were going to be conceptual rather than specific. She indicated that she is not a big fan of houses on top of hills because of the visual impact. She stated that she understood that when the houses are situated in that way, they sometimes have less of an environmental impact; however, she would prefer to mitigate the visual impact and have them in a less environmentally sensitive area, impacting less trees and involving less grading. She noted that taking a look at the number of trees impacted, the amount of disturbed area, and things of that nature, her inclination is to support the proposed plan with regard to the siting and then have conversations about how to mitigate that visual impact. 2. Is the proposed road alignment acceptable? Commissioner Posson stated that he has no preference one way or another. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, July 24, 2013 Page 13 of 20