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evaluated the tree conditions and recommended the removal of all of the 26 trees located on site, which included two of the heritage sized trees found as "poor suitability for preservation". The proposed landscaping includes a combination of trees and shrubs. The main landscaping feature is the common open area designed in the middle of the development. This open space area includes other amenities such as bench and BBQs for the residents. In addition to the common open space area, avegetated bio-swale is proposed along the east property line, and landscaped islands are proposed at both entrances and at each garage. The proposal appears to meet the minimum requirements. Given the configuration of the site, the landscaping plan does not include many trees as often seen in other developments. Staff finds that the proposed landscaping palette is acceptable, as attentions have been given to the common area. Staff however feels that the two planting "islands" fronts Vineyard Avenue could be enhanced with a combination of accent shrubs/groundcovers/perennials, as they are the entrance to the development. Staff has included a condition of approval to address this item. Traffic The residents in the neighborhood raised the concerns that the existing Vineyard Avenue are impacted by traffic volumes and by speed. They indicated that Vine Street has been used as speed way by many motorists and that the proposed development, with an entrance/exit to Vine Street, would worsen the current situation. Some wanted to see the proposed entrance/exit on Vine Street be removed. The Traffic Engineer initially recommended that Vine Street be the only entrance/exit for the development in order to control vehicular access point onto Vineyard Avenue. Follow-up review of the on-site circulation lead to a recommendation of a two-way driveway for the development that would provide access to both Vineyard Avenue and Vine Street. In terms of traffic volume, based on the Institute of Transportation Engineers standard, the trip generation rate for acondominium/townhouse project has a 0.66 AM rate and a 0.83 PM rate. The City Traffic Engineer does not believe that the proposed 10-unit townhouse project would overburden the existing traffic pattern in the area. Additionally, Dowling Associates, one of the City traffic consultants, has created a traffic model for the proposed project, which collected the data for the AM and PM trip distribution for both the existing AM/PM trips and the forecasted trips generated by the project. In review of the collected data, the City Traffic Engineer concluded the that the intersections that would be included in a traffic study have already been studied when the Bernal Commercial Project, Case No. PUD-71 Planning Commission Page - 9 -