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the kind of fires the Fire Chief spoke of in which the fire spread from canopy to canopy <br />and then to the structure itself. He agreed that there should be the maximum protection <br />for the structures. <br /> <br />Allen Roberts, 16 Grey Eagle Court, noted that he also owned the property at 29 Grey <br />Eagle Court, which was immediately adjacent to the subject site. He displayed a chart <br />from the Oak Grove Landscape and Open Space Plan as well as the area containing the <br />project site. He expressed concern about the proposed Emergency Vehicle <br />Access (EVA) and noted that they knew what the mail kiosk for the project would look <br />like, but that they did not know what the EVA would look like. He noted that the EVA <br />was a required mitigation item in the EIR. He noted that the EVA was shown on the <br />drawing, although there was no easement there. He had pointed out a year ago that the <br />existing easement granted to the City went straight up with an existing grade of <br />20 percent. He noted that the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) stated that the <br />maximum grade for any access road was 12 percent. When the Final EIR came out, there <br />was a statement from the Fire Marshall that that was a mistake and that the maximum <br />grade was 15 percent. He noted that a 15-19-foot deep trench would be put through his <br />property and that the latest plan communicated by staff indicated that a 20-percent grade <br />was acceptable because a fire truck would be able to take a running start at the hill to <br />make it to the top. He noted that with the recent news of wildland fires, this did not make <br />sense to him. He had not seen a drawing of how it would be built and did not know how <br />the EIR could be certified until this important detail was resolved. <br /> <br />Mr. Roberts noted that the staff report referred to his house, and he had tried to build a <br />house on his site for seven years; the last four years had been tied up because of Oak <br />Grove. His proposed house site was on the top of the hill. He noted that the staff <br />questioned HOA approval of his home and that it was viewable from I-580; he objected <br />to that determination because Oak Grove would be viewable from I-580 as well. He <br />noted that he had been required to do a visual study when he took his house proposal to <br />City Council to show the maximum house size proposed for the lot for the maximum <br />height of the structure. He noted that the appropriate lenses were used: A 50-mm lens <br />was used for the nearby areas, and a 300-mm telephoto was used from the West Las <br />Positas Boulevard overpass. He added that all of his visualizations were peer-reviewed. <br />He expressed concern that Oak Grove appeared to have a different set of rules and that <br />there was no peer review of the project. He objected to what he believed to be <br />misleading lens selections for the visualizations. The size of the homes was half of what <br />could be built. He did not understand how designing a house with one story plus two <br />stories equaled two stories. He believed the landscape results were incorrect and believed <br />the new staff report minimized the importance of the visuals. He asked the Planning <br />Commission to insist that the visualizations be fixed and be made subject to peer review. <br />He noted that the trees on the rolling hills of the site were a major benefit to the area and <br />believed the staff report and the EIR grossly underreported the tree impacts. He did not <br />believe those reports assumed any impact on the building sites themselves. He displayed a <br />representative image of a 12,000-square-foot house, plus pool, decks, landscaping and the <br />required fire safety zone. He believed the Commission should ask for the tree impact in the <br />EIR, which includes the trees affected by the proposed homes. He noted that the proposed <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES June 27, 2007 Page 10 of 28 <br /> <br /> <br />