PC 091113 - Laserfiche WebLink

Ms. Stern replied that underground parking is usually an economic question in terms of being able to make that pencil out. She added that so far, there is no development that has gone into Pleasanton that has been able to achieve that. THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS OPENED. Kevin Ebrahimi, Vice - President of Development, Summerhill Apartment Communities, and Applicant, stated that Summerhill Apartment Communities is a privately -owned company headquartered out of San Ramon, under the Summerhill Housing Group that has been building apartments and for -sale housing in the Bay Area since 1976. He indicated that Summerhill is somewhat familiar with Pleasanton and its requirements, having built two for -sale communities in Pleasanton in the past ten years, the first being Nolan Farms off of Rose Avenue in 2001, and Sycamore Heights off of Sycamore Creek Way in 2005. He thanked staff, particularly Ms. Stern and Ms. Soo, who have been very helpful in coordinating and helping them put the application together to meet all the guidelines and to understand what the community is looking for. Mr. Ebrahimi stated that staff has covered the project well in its presentation and that he just wanted to outline some of the reasoning why the site was developed in the way it is being presented to the Commission tonight. He indicated that the proposed community fronts West Las Positas Boulevard, with existing commercial buildings to the east and west, and existing residential communities to the south. He noted that due to the location of the Arroyo, the site layout allows only a minimum distance of 244 feet from the residential neighboring fence line on the south side of the Arroyo to the proposed buildings, although the distance actually goes much farther from some houses on the south side. Mr. Ebrahimi then presented a slide showing the current view of the proposed apartment community taken from the closest neighbor in the existing residential development on the south side, with the proposed landscaping shown at a five -year maturity. He indicated that in reviewing the Design Guidelines and meeting with staff and the neighbors, they developed the site layout by adhering to the required setbacks and stepping the buildings for better interface with the surrounding uses. He noted that Buildings C and D were designed with two- and three -story elements, with all three -story components in Building D and the recreation building on Building C's two -story stepping up to a three -story on the three units to its left. He explained that the reason they did that was to try and reduce the height of the buildings on the south side, based on their meeting with staff and the neighborhood. He stated that they were asked to lower the units on the south side at one point so they could take it away from West Las Positas Boulevard, but the ultimate direction that they received was to step the site and have more two and three stories on the south side, which is what they have done, and then step it up to four stories. He noted that the center of the community is all four stories, including the four -story element turns on Buildings A and B going up the paseo area, which are all internal; and to try and do three stories with four -story elements as it gets to West Las Positas Boulevard. He noted that it was kind of a mixed decision as nobody wanted to see it be all four stories; however, as they ultimately had PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, September 11, 2013 Page 6 of 27