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Point #6: Comply with the “Vineyard Village” concept in the Specific Plan As mentioned above, the Specific Plan calls for the "more accessible, flatter portions of the Specific Plan Area, north of the existing Vineyard Avenue" be developed as "individual neighborhoods with a design character compatible with the 'vineyard village' concept described later in the Plan". On page 36 it says “The site-planning arrangement of vineyard village is one of buildings organized in a clustered fashion and generally buffered from adjacent roadways and other land uses by vineyards.” The City has enforced this requirement on all developments along Vineyard Ave, such that all of our neighborhoods have stretches of vineyard along Vineyard Ave (both for aesthetics and as a safety buffer). While the City Council zoned the Neal property with relatively less open space (about 30%) than the surrounding parcels (about 50%), we think it’s important that some of this open space (maybe 1.5 acres) is used for a vineyard along Vineyard Ave . Without that vineyard, we think the Neal development would not fit in with the existing neighborhoods and would not comply with the Specific Plan. In the surrounding neighborhoods the vineyard is owned by a single, large, private estate in each neighborhood (which is also the largest house on the largest lot in the neighborhood). This may not be possible on Neal due to the high density and the small open space. Some possible options: ● Going with the “assumed” 25 houses or less may leave enough space for an estate. ● The vineyard can instead be maintained by the new neighborhood’s HOA. (In this case, having the City maintain the neighborhood park would help a lot, so the HOA doesn’t have to maintain both.) On page 39 the Specific Plan includes specifications on the housing styles, to reflect “a European ‘wine country’ architectural flavor”, with specific details like “Tile or slate roofing”, “Light to medium earth tone colors”, etc. Following these specifications would make the new neighborhood match the existing developments. We’re not sure how the Design Standards adopted by the City interact with these existing specifications, but we encourage the City to make sure these specifications still apply (or that there is some other mechanism to avoid trendy styles that don’t match the surrounding neighborhoods). Point #7: Utilize and connect existing external roads (Thiessen St and Manoir Ln) Building internal roads and sidewalks on the 7 acres zoned for housing can be expensive and would reduce lot size. Luckily the Neal property has two existing external roads (Thiessen St and Manoir Ln) with existing sidewalks that most of the houses can face. We think this would be a win for all parties. This would be similar to how one of the nearby neighborhoods has houses facing Safreno Way. One of the upsides of having houses facing Thiessen St and Manoir Ln is that it will discourage the current nuisance uses of those streets: hangout spots where teenagers go drinking, people do drugs, people repair junky cars, etc. June 1, 2023 6