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recommended approval of this, and a development agreement would further control aspects of the project. Mr. Iserson presented a view of the proposed development plan, which was developed around physical and environmental constraints. There were geo-technical reasons to minimize slope stability, an effort was made to save as many trees as possible, access issues were discussed, there was a desire to minimize building on the most steepest areas on the site, open space and the provisions of trails was an important factor, and because of habitat, creek and wildlife corridor areas there was a determination by the project sponsor to avoid interference with as many areas as possible. As a result, the concept was to extend Hearst Drive (Street A), put houses on the upper most portions of the ridge which would be graded somewhat to lower the visibility of homes, excess dirt would be integrated into the terrain, a detention basin would handle the storm water run-off and lot grading would be minimized. He said the proposed plan is referred to as the preferred plan; there are detailed and specific building and landscape design guidelines as well as open space guidelines and the process would involve the Oak Grove Architectural Committee's architectural review and a series of development standards would be tailored to the individual lots. The building height would not exceed 30 feet which is clarified through the design guidelines. There would also be generally 40-50 foot building and landscaped separations between the homes and added is a recent condition that would require further study at the tentative map stage to look for opportunities for one-story homes to be integrated into the plan, which would address visibility issues. Mr. Iserson said another recent consideration has been made, as outlined in the memo, which responds to reducing the sizes of the homes. The sizes originally were to be limited to a 20% maximum FAR (floor area ratio) and a cap of 12,500 square feet on the large estate homes, but this is to be reviewed again which would reduce the homes on the most visible lots. Condition 36 now states that on the high visibility lots, the largest possible home would be 9,175 square feet. Also changed was the number of high visibility lots. They reviewed 3-4 very large estate lots' visibility and allowed those to go up to 12,500 square feet. Mayor Hosterman asked what the FAR was in surrounding neighborhoods. Mr. Iserson said some do not have an FAR cap or they are tied to the zoning ordinance which allows for 40% FAR. The applicant was required to fund the preparation of an EIR which was handled by a consultant who worked directly for the City, it analyzed the original 98-lot proposal and the environmental superior alternative was a 51-lot plan, it was decided on after much public review and discussions with Kottinger Ranch neighbors, and many impacts were mitigated by the large reduction of square footage and reduced development area. Mr. Iserson reviewed some of the major impacts and their mitigation such as traffic and cumulative impacts and said the applicant would be paying $1 million in traffic impact fees to the City, as well as the regional traffic fee. Another impact was biological resources; the removal of 58 trees of 12,000 and 29 were heritage trees which would be saved, and 400 new trees would be planted as mitigation which would be native trees, mainly Oak and Buckeye. The applicant would also be required to plan a Blue Oak Woodland Heritage Tree Mitigation Plan. Due to the cumulative nature of this project and other projects, the City Council Minutes 9 September 4, 2007