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for everyone in the subdivision who might need to use it to be able to use it. So we put <br />most of our efforts there. <br />At 1.3 acres, it is just slightly under the 22 per acre density and we feel comfortable with <br />that. Our architect is also here in the back if you have any questions about that, but we <br />are also using her in our Livermore site as well and the concept is very similar there — <br />just a bigger piece of property, it's 2.3 acres. <br />Commissioner O'Connor: So my understanding is the developer would be donating the <br />property to Sunflower, but Sunflower would be building. <br />Houghton: Correct. We will go over a separate entitlement process once the General <br />Plan and Zoning changes are approved and we know that we can. At that point we <br />would partner with a non - profit housing provider like Mid -Pen or Eden. This project at 17 <br />is under what Mid -Pen typically does in terms of property management. They are our <br />partner in Livermore. Therefore, until we know exactly how many units we're going to <br />have, we're not going to choose a house plan here. There are other apartments such as <br />Housing Consortiums in the East Bay where this is in their wheelhouse and they would <br />be very interested in working with us as a partner. That's one of the reasons we decided <br />to delay our entitlement, is because we didn't know exactly how big it would be. <br />Commissioner Nagler: Prior to sitting on the Planning Commission I sat on the Human <br />Services Commission and three years ago Sunflower made a presentation saying you <br />were "coming to town" and you were looking for a site and you were going to do what <br />you're now talking about; so, congratulations on making this much progress! Could you <br />just explain to us the history a little bit because at that time, you didn't have a site <br />identified? How did this partnership come to be? <br />Houghton: Well, thank you for that. Yes, we feel very grateful that our vision has <br />resonated, and really we started as a group of parents four years ago who said, what <br />are the options for our kids after high school? 80 percent of all individuals with special <br />needs live with their parents their entire lives. Obviously, that's not sustainable. We're <br />not going to live forever, so many of us felt compelled to find a place that would house <br />our children. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of options. There are group homes. There <br />are great places and organizations like Reach here in Pleasanton that have purchased <br />homes, but the need is great. I guarantee you this will fill up instantly. We know this <br />vision resonates. So we started as a group of parents thinking we had this unique idea <br />and little did we know this was a vision taking shape nation -wide, and parents all over <br />America are developing what we call "intentional" or "affinity" communities, similar to <br />senior living because of exactly this. If we don't do it, who will? <br />So that's how we started and we're fortunate that we have a board and as our vision <br />came up and started resonating, we got more and more interest and I have to tell you, I <br />went early on to the cities, and Pleasanton was one of them and I didn't know anything <br />about affordable housing. I didn't even know early on that I needed an affordable <br />housing partner, so I learned a lot and we've all come together and we realize that we <br />don't have the skill set to develop it, but we needed a partner to help us. <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, April 27, 2016 Page 10 of 43 <br />