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ANALYSIS General Plan and Downtown Specific Plan Land Use Conformity Both the General Plan land use designation and the Downtown Specific Plan designation for the subject site is High Density Residential (greater than eight dwelling units per gross acre). The proposed project, with five units on approximately 0.24 acres, would re- sult in 20.8 units per acre. Although high density residential does not have a midpoint density per se, the City has typically used 15 dwelling units per acre as the midpoint den- sity benchmark. This proposed development's density is, therefore, 5.8 units per acre greater than the midpoint for the high density residential land use. This proposal is there- fore not only consistent with the land use designation, but exceeds the Downtown Spe- cific Plan policy of encouraging development at densities that exceed the General Plan range midpoints in order to enhance the opportunities for unique housing types and eco- nomic growth in the Downtown. In addition, the proposed project meets the Downtown Specific Plan's Historic Preserva- tion Objective of preventing the demolition of appropriately designated historic resources that can otherwise reasonable be preserved. As previously noted, the existing single- family home is listed in The Downtown Specific Plan of February 7, 1989 as a historic and design resource of secondary importance, and the city's consultant, Architectural Re- sources Group, put the home on a list of Landmark Quality Buildings over 100 Years old with a high level of historic integrity that appear to have been built prior to 1904. Instead of razing the historic home, the applicants have chosen to preserve the existing structure. The home will be reduced in size to allow for adequate separation between the proposed structures. The structural and architectural integrity, however, will stay intact. The pres- ervation of the existing home provides diversity to the project's streetscape, as well as provides a smooth gradation of building mass when viewed from the corner of West An- gela Street and Peters Avenue. Downtown Design Guidelines The City Council adopted the Downtown Design Guidelines in May 2006. The design guidelines are intended to encourage the enhancement of Downtown Pleasanton's older buildings and to guide the development of its new buildings so as to strengthen the desir- able aesthetic and pedestrian-oriented qualities of the Downtown. The project consists of four individually designed, single-family detached homes with a turn-of--the-century home located at the corner of the site. Three of the row houses will face Peters Avenue and the fourth home is set back on the site. The units have purposely been located close to the existing sidewalk to present a unified heritage theme that simul- taneously presents a smooth transition with the condominium and apartment complexes located both to the north and south of the subject site. The homes have individually de- signed facades incorporating heritage architectural detailing such as wood shingles, wood framed windows, wood louvered vent facia, and wood corbels. Building mass has been reduced through the incorporation of hipped roofs, dormers, and small gables. To further enhance the overall aesthetics and continuity of the project, the homes will be painted Item 6.a., PUD-SS Page 4 of 12 July 11, 2007