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Page - 2 - Figure 1: Aerial Photograph The project site has a General Plan designation of Retail/Highway/Service Commercial Business and Professional Offices, with a zoning designation of Freeway Commercial (C-F) and Housing Opportunity Zone District (HOZ). This designation would have allowed the site to continue as a commercial use, and also provides the option for conversion to residential use. Concurrent with adoption of the Housing Element Update on June 20, 2023, the City Council adopted the necessary General Plan amendments for the Housing Element sites to allow residential development at the prescribed density. The Housing Element sites are included as Housing Element Sites Overlay (HESO) in the General Plan Land Use Map, and development on the sites must comply with the site-specific densities set forth in the Housing Element. The project site, Area 16, has a density range of 15 to 25 dwelling units per acre, and the project proposes a density of 21.4 dwelling units per acre. On December 19, 2023, the City Council adopted Ordinance 2272, rezoning the site to Housing Opportunity Zone (HOZ), which references the Housing Element to assign the allowable density range for the site as specified in the Housing Element. The City has adopted Objective Design Standards (ODS) to implement development consistent with the Housing Element. Objective standards are defined in State Law as “uniformly verifiable by reference to an external and uniform benchmark or criterion available and knowable by both the development applicant or proponent and the public official.” The ODS are applicable to each of the Housing Element sites and include standards that regulate height, setbacks, massing, site planning, lighting, landscaping and building design to ensure projects will be compatible with their surroundings, attractively designed and landscaped, and minimize impact to aesthetic resources.