Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

was going to second it as well. Thanks. So that was moved by Commissioner Martin and seconded by Commissioner Grim if that's okay. Commissioner. Okay. All those in favor, please. Thank you for plug in your vote. And that passes. Next, we have oral communications. Matters not on the agenda. Um, the public is welcome to address the planning commission on items not on the agenda tonight and you must submit an oral communication slip to the secretary of the commission. Do we have any speakers that are wishing to speak on matters not pertaining to this meeting? No. Also, if you are wishing to speak tonight on any of these items, there are speaker slips in the foyer and it needs to be filled out and brought up here to this gentleman at the end and uh we'll include you in the public comments. Now, we'll move to the public hearing items. Uh although uh this is for the staff report for item PH1-P24-0139 Monte Vista Residential.

Thank you, Chair Dizus and members of the public and other planning commissioners. This is public hearing item number one for the Monavista residential project which is planning case P24-0139. And I'll go to the next slide. Uh this is the project location. It is a vacant one uh 6.47 acre parcel located on the north side of Monavista Drive. Uh it was previously developed with two single family residences which have been demolished. Uh surrounding properties contain single family residences, a few vacant parcels, agricultural uses to the east, and Monav Vista Elementary School to the west. The general plan and zoning designations for the site, the general plan land use is low density, which allows for two dwelling units per acre. The corresponding zoning designation is E1 Estates Residential, which establishes a minimum minimum lot size of one half acre. Under the project summary, the tenative subdivision map that is proposed is to create 19 single family residential lots with a private street, a detention basin lot for storm water controls. The project utilizes a density bonus as permissible under the state density bonus law, California government code section 65915. residential lots uh would range from, as proposed, 5,855 square feet to 50,685 square ft at a density of 2.9 dwelling units per acre. uh as far as uh state laws and uh SP 330 which is part of the housing crisis act. The applicant submitted the entitlement application for this project with a preliminary application under Senate Bill 330. Uh this allows or provides that projects submitted under this bill are exempt from any changes in the

development code as of their submittal date. And there are other other regulations that go along with that. But SB 330 does prohibit local agencies from denying projects that comply with all objective development standards uh or conditioning such projects in a manner that would reduce their density unless the agency makes written findings supported by a prepoundonderance of the evidence of that the project would have a specific adverse impact upon the public health or safety or violate specific state or federal law. And there is no phys feasible method to satisfactorily mitigate or avoid the adverse impact other than disapproval of the project or imposition of a condition that reduces its density. As far as the density bonus law under California government code section 65915 and reflected in the municipal code section 1890, the general plan lowincency low density land use designation allows for a density of two dwelling units per acre as mentioned which is consistent with the E1 zoning at 6.47 acres. The site would be eligible for 13 homes based on the base density under the general plan. The pro project proposes to build 19 units at a density of 2.93 units per acre. Since the project would provide two affordable housing units, which is 15% of the base density designated for very lowincome households earning no more than 50% of the area median income for San Diego County. The project qualifies for a 50% density bonus, three concessions, and unlimited amount of waiverss pursuant to the state density bonus law and Vista's municipal code. The 50% density bonus results in a total of 20 units being allowable. Whereas the project is proposing 19. And then the equation is shown there where if you add 13 plus 50% you wind up with 19.5 units which is

always rounded up under state density bonus law. Uh, regarding density bonus concessions and waiverss, the project has allowed three concessions for the project uh to deviate from the E1 zoning standards for reduced sideyard setbacks within the lots 5T instead of required 10 ft as the site is uh designed. minimum lot sizes to be 5,800 square feet uh in lie of halfacre size required under the E1 zone and removing the requirement to underground overhead utility lines along the pro project frontage would be along Bonav Vista under the state density bonus law unlimited waiverss of any development standards must be granted that would otherwise physically preclude the project from being constructed as proposed. The project also requests uh one waiver for the front setback requirement to be reduced to 40 feet from the center line of the street where 50 feet from center line of street is required per the E1 zone. This slide shows the site plan and the configuration of the home layout uh the location of the detention basin uh near Monav Vista Drive which would be on the uh southwest corner of the project site. Um it depicts the 19 lots and conceptual location of the floor plans or the uh the pad for the homes. Uh the project would provide a 40 foot wide private street which would provide for two lanes of travel and uh sufficient width for parking on either side of the street. Uh the detention basin would control storm water flows from the project site. A total of four off- streetet parking spaces are included for each home uh for a total of 76 proposed parking spaces. That number does not include 15 plus spaces that could be accommodated along the private street as well as a few of

the homes at the end of the culdeac area have longer driveways where they might be able to con uh contain two or four extra vehicles in those residences. As far as the project floor plans, there are three floor plans proposed. all feature four bedrooms. Three homes are uh designated as plan one and they are approximately 2,700 square ft. Eight homes are under plan two uh which include an ADU. That entire structure is approximately 3,000 square ft. And there are eight homes that are under plan three which include an ADU that is uh 3,294 square ft. So as mentioned 16 of the 19 homes would include ADUs. ADUs under state law are processed through a ministerial review and uh they come in straight for building permit when they're proposed for construction. Project elevations are shown here. Uh these are two-story residences with an enclosed two-car garage. Three variations are proposed for the home exteriors consisting of farmhouse, transitional Spanish and Spanish ranch designs. Exterior design elements would include S tile roofing, faux shutters on select windows, varied color schemes, enhanced sighting in select locations, and decorative light fixtures. The residences would be approximately 30 ft in height. Under considerations for the project, the land use and community identity identity element uh of the general plan identifies specific goals intended to protect community character, provide for quality design, and to provide a variety of housing types. the whole provide for the diverse needs of the city's residents. The proposed project fulfills these goals by contributing to the range of housing types within the city's overall housing supply that will support a variety of income and age groups. Under zoning conformance, the development code identifies the requirements for permitted uses, including building heights, setbacks,

lot coverage, and utilities under the E1 zone designation. As discussed in the zoning conformance section of the project staff report, the project would be consistent with the zoning designation of E1 as applicable accepting the three concessions and one waiver allowed under the state density bonus law. As further detailed in the project staff report, the project is consistent with SP330 in the state density bonus law. Under environmental review, Helix Environmental Consulting uh completed a comprehensive environmental evaluation of the project as documented in the Monta Vista residential SQA guideline section 15183 environmental review checklist uh completed April 2025. This analysis concluded that the proposed project is consistent with the analysis performed for the general plan in the program EIR as determined by the analysis. The program EIR adequately adequately anticipated the described impacts of the project identified mitigation measures to reduce potential impacts to the extent feasible and the project would implicate implement these mitigation measures as applicable. The analysis further concluded that the project qualifies for an exemption from additional environmental review and that all the required findings can be made in accordance with the SQA guidelines section 15183. Staff's recommendation is for the planning commission to adopt a resolution approving the tenative subdivision map inclusive of a site development plan and a density bonus to construct 19 single family homes on the 6.47 acre site located 1800 Monavista Drive subject to the project's conditions of approval which include the mitigation measures from the environmental analysis. That concludes staff's presentation. The applicant and their consultant team are here as well to answer any questions. Thank you. Do we have um do uh we'll have the

questions um do we have any questions from the commission to staff regarding this item? No. Seeing Oh, excuse me. Um Commissioner Jolith, I have a question about the Helix report. Um, and if you could tell me the difference between the program EIR and the project analysis, the pro program ei significant but unavoidable impact and then the project analysis concludes no impact. Can you tell me about that? Um, I think that question might be answered by the environmental consultant who prepared the document and could give a more thorough response. Okay. Thank you. If we could have them, we'll get them up in a in a moment. I do have a question as well. I just want to clarify. Thank you first of all, uh, Chris, for the slides, including about the density bonuses. I know we have a public uh here that's very interested in this item and it's important to note what the state's um rules are and how we have to comply. Um you did say that uh the E1 zone uh is halfacre lots but these are going to be around 5800 and that's part of the concessions that they got with the state's allowances. Am I understanding that correctly? That's exactly correct. Okay. Um, Commissioner Jollifer, you do you have anything else? Okay, thanks. Then I would Do you want her to answer the question? Yeah, I would like to get the presentation if we uh from or does anybody want to speak from the from the project? Uh, are you with the

environmental that you are please come forward? Can you come up forward please to the mic and say your name and that way we can have you on the record. Thanks. If I may address the chair quickly, I did neglect to mention that the applicant as well has a presentation that they would like to make. Okay. So, I would as soon as she's done, I'll have them come up. Thank you for the for the point of order. My name is Julines allows you to to use those guidelines and you we went through a robust analysis. We went through every issue area that was touched on in the program EIR. We don't have any significant unmedicable impacts for our project, but there is mitigation that is applicable to that was applicable to the PEIR that we will also use in the in the section 15183 checklist. The the um city also prepared MMRP which will ensure that those mitigation measures are implemented. But we have we have technical analysis. We did air quality noise, a bio report, traffic. So it was very robust. It was like a 80page document. It wasn't a onepage check the box exempt. So we went through a very detailed analysis. I think I think the analysis is in the staff report. Was that attached? Yes. So it's a very robust analysis. But that is one of the things that SQA allows. I mean that's the reason to do a general plan. And so you can streamline the process if a project has the same stays within the same zoning and you're allowed to use that if you don't have any new impacts that are peculiar to your project site and there were no impacts identified

that were unique to the project site that were not covered in the program ei Does that answer your question, Commissioner Jala? Yeah. Um, I looked at climate and air quality. It appears to be addressing construction. Is that correct? Air quality and we looked at construction as well as mobile sources and uh stationary sources. So, both of those were looked at. We used the VMT study which looked at a 190 average daily trips that was used in our noise study, our air quality study and our GHG study. So we looked at both stationary uh construction stationary and mobile sources for all for uh air quality and GHG. So those daily trips are addressing when there are people living there and they're driving. That's correct. It's what's generated by the 19 units. And then for traffic, can you tell us about what a failing intersection is? And there's two unavoidable failing intersections. I would have the traffic consultant. I'm not a traffic consultant. I'll let them address that if that's okay. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. And we'll have the the applicant do their presentation now. We can ask questions and maybe bring up the environmental person afterwards. Thank you. Do I have question here? Just while we wait. I'm Jeb Hall. I'm senior VP of forward planning and land development and I'm Carlos Pia, project manager. Just like to thank Joe Vaka and his staff and Chris Wyinners for doing a

great job on this project. Very timely uh review. Really appreciate that. Cow West is a family-owned uh local company that started in Vista about 23 years ago. One of our partners still lives in Vista. Another partner actually attended Monav Vista Elementary School. They're very uh integrated in the Vista community through charities, schools, and uh chamber, Lions Club, etc. Uh since then, we've built about 13 neighborhoods in Vista, which equals about 450 homes, including some really uh awesome communities like Stonegate, One Oak, many others. Um, since Chris really touched on all the project related issues, we just kind of wanted to um talk about uh our public outreach and the things that we heard from the community at large. Uh just kind of blowing through this so that you don't have to listen to too much, but the first item obviously is circulation uh which is which traffic comes up on every project ever proposed. It's an obvious uh thing to keep our eye on. With this particular road, Monav Vista, uh it is operating at about 60% of capacity and that remains the same and remains true even after the 2% that our project would add. The same the uh level of service that's in existence currently will will remain the same after the project's implemented. Uh, one one really key part to our development was to improve the frontage and safety for the residents of our community. So, we will be uh pouring the sidewalk um to connect to the existing sidewalk such that our homeowners can walk their kids to school and and the

the uh others to the east might may as well. So the other item that really came up a lot was compatibility with the community and as Chris talked about this is uh zone E1 to the west is the civic act uh activity which is obviously Montav Vista Elementary uh to the west is Western Cactus and and further on into the county of San Diego and their zoning. Um but to the west uh well we'll get into uh what what is existing in the housing element as well. Um again as we started our land planning for this project we really looked to the housing element and and and what's happening in Monav Vista to the west and multiple redevelopment opportunities are occurring and it also leads into the downtown specific plan. Um so with that we're our um our our land planning was was critical on the site. So so from there we uh started thinking about how we wanted to plot the the project. Um of course we're we are using state density bonus law. Um we did look at multiple apartment configurations, multiple town home configurations. Uh there is a law that is AB 1287 that allows double density bonus. Um so we were looking at a much more dense project at one point. Um but of course with the compatibility issue we just decided let's stick with single family homes and and as Chris mentioned we could have plotted 20 but we've plotted 19. Uh we at one point had underground water storage but decided to do the above groundwater storage to buffer the western um property edge.

This is really just you know a project that is is focused on becoming or or being attainable work workforce housing. Um I think this new collection of homes will fit really well into into the neighborhood. Uh it really provides the opportunity for home ownership. Um and it really serves the middle class. Uh we feel like the housing cycle has just been kind of broken as you guys are aware of. There's just not really many options for move up buyers. Um in our outreach, we focused highly on on what what was desired in our floor plans which were designed by Bassin Bassinian Lagoni. uh and and many times people came up with the multi-generational living concept which is what we've incorporated here. Uh a lot of uh families are having their young ones moved back in and of course parents are getting old and so Jadus are are very uh desirable in the marketplace. So that's kind of the concept that we're bringing. Um, as you can see by the elevations, uh, we've spent a lot of time working on the color schemes and the architectural elevations. Street scene is going to be awesome, as is all of Callowest's other, uh, uh, projects in Vista. Uh, with that, the edge conditions is something that I thought I'd just touch on. Again, I mentioned that the detention basin is located on the edge condition between lot 19 and Monav Vista Drive. So, it pro provides a good edge buffer. There's a great parkway that will be lushly landscaped along Monavista Drive and all the slopes facing Monavista Drive will really be planted nicely to to try to screen as best we can on edge condition. On the west is uh the the Monavista Elementary School. There's and there's

just a great horizontal and vertical separation away from the school. Uh we've planted this uh westerly facing slope again with lush landscaping. Um we have a V ditch to catch all runoff off of that slope. And of course there'll be privacy fencing for for the homes along that edge condition where the school is located. And with that, uh, you know, we obviously know that, you know, change is super scary for people. And, um, you can tell that that's true with this with, um, how full the chamber is tonight. So, uh, you know, we we we are confident that we're going to provide a very high quality uh, development here. We've we've done a lot of thoughtful planning on this. Um, and we're confident in our our ability to deliver a great project and compatible with the neighborhood where, you know, Vista families can live and thrive and grow and contribute to the community. So, with that, we ask that you follow staff's recommendation and approve the project. Thank you guys. Thank you. If you don't mind staying to see if the commissioners have questions for you, we'll start with Commissioner Martin. Thank you. Uh, thank you, Mr. Hall. Appreciate that. Of course. Um, I had a question about the open space and the placement of it on two private lots. I mean, you have a couple of other lettered lots for the detention basin and the street. What was the thinking behind not including the open space into its own lettered lot, maybe having the HOA maintain it instead of these private homeowners? Yeah, great question. I'll let Carlos kind of field that one. So, um, fir first and foremost, we didn't want to disrupt kind of that that environmental space, um, at all. We kind of thought we it'd be best to kind of leave it as is, kind of rem so it can be preserved. Um, there's a lot it's a little kind of wildlife corridor and so

we kind of wanted to just kind of preserve that area. Um, we we decided to just kind of leave it as part of those lots. um um and and kind of place an easement over it to allow the HOA to really kind of see the the maintenance um you know day in and and and day out um to ensure that appropriate buffers were being provided to the property to the property lines or to the to the fence lines and um yeah so in short it is actually maintained by the HOA correct there's access down the westerly corridor the the fence line on the western side builds uh on the top of slope and so all of that back slope on westerly facing is HOA maintained as well as the area on those two lots. Um we just left it as as natural legal lot. So the HOA has access through lot 11. Correct. Yeah. It has access through the eastern boundary, the westerly boundary and through lot 11. So we gave it multiple points of access. Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Thompson. I just wanted to follow up on what you said. So, you could have proposed a giant apartment building with hundreds of units, but you chose to do a lower density option because you wanted it to fit the neighborhood, right? That's correct. Yeah. Okay. We're really focused on kind of the transitional nature of of the project site planning and um you know uh cowest has built a bunch of similar communities in Vista and they really are very popular so that's kind of the look and feel we're striving for. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Are the ADUs being uh requested for permitting as ADUs or JADUs? What's the clarification?

So, they're being they're being proposed as J AUS. Okay, that's the designation that is that staff is uh Chris is um just to confirm that because there's a designation means that they have to be owner occupied uh with the JADU whereas with an ADU somebody could buy the property and rent out both units but if it's a JADU then it has to be owner occupied and the community would then have to be owner occupied if they were permitted as JADU. Correct. That is correct. Sometimes the developer or the property owner will opt for the ADU to not have the owner occupancy requirement. It's it's at their decision when they apply for the building permits. Sure. Thank you. Uh and point of clarification just to make sure we're we're all on the same page is that the max density on this property um your property your projects have side what is the max density for that even with a state's density bonus could they I see 20 they could have done 20 and they're doing 19 is that the max density that would have been allowed in any if it was town homes as well would there have been Uh was there an unlimited amount of units that could have been put in this property? Uh based on the base density of 13 units, if they achieved the hundreds of% density bonus, they could get up to 26 units theoretically. So ultimately 26, but uh this has 19. Um thank you so much. Thank you. Good question. Any other questions of the commissioners? Okay. Thank you. Thank you guys. Appreciate that. And now we will open the item up for the public hearing. Got my speaker slips lots.

The first speaker I have here is Oscar Vass. Madam chair. Madam Chair, uh just a reminder to remind the audience uh when they filled out the speaker slip that they have a three minute time frame and I will actually have the timer on just for purposes of organization. Thank you for the clarification. You have three minutes and there there's a little light that will go off there if you Yes. Thank you. Good afternoon. I respectfully express and submit my strong opposition to the proposed Mon Vista housing development. While I clearly understand the need for affordable housing in our city, the proposal by virtue of its significant dimensions will have a detrimental impact on the community and surrounding uh residents. First and foremost, the proposed high density development will build 35 units. They say 19 homes, but now there are 16 additional ADUs, which is, you know, part of the of the total units that will be built on 6.4 6.4 acres. This is without a doubt not keeping with the character of our neighborhood and it is simply too large. Furthermore, the increasing population will put a strain on an already overburdened city infrastructure leading to increased traffic congestions, noise pollution, further straining sheriffs and other public services. Additionally, the construction of this project will result in significant environmental damage to this area, drastically changing the aesthetic look and permanently changing the character of our neighborhood. Finally, I am deeply concerned about the overall impact this development would

have on properties in the surrounding areas. In conclusion, I strongly urge you to reconsider the proposal housing development. While I recognize the need for affordable housing, I believe that the project is simply not the right fit for this neighborhood. Thank you for your time, consideration, and attention to this urgent matter. Thank you. Our next speaker, Jacob Aldridge, City of Vista, thank you for the opportunity to speak here and thank you to staff for the presentation. Can you state your name, please, for the record? Uh, my name is Jacob. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, I'm here because we are in a housing crisis. Please weigh the arguments that you hear today. Homes for our children, a secure place to raise a family. Definition of character and traffic. Growth of our city, increase tax revenue, and economic opportunities. Character and traffic. Decrease homelessness, socioeconomic mobility, and citizens and a city who thrive. character and traffic. If my fellow citizens stand here and speak of abuse of eminent domain or that the construction would block their home from seeing the sun or one of many other legitimate reasons to oppose new construction, then let us listen and consider solutions. Perhaps new public transportation route or modification of the proposed plan. But if you stand here and speak of traffic and character, I invite you to consider the impact of your words on the young and growing families. I have a wife and a three-month old son. Think of us. Please approve this project. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, Kristen Gully.

Sorry, I'm a bit slow on a slope. My name is Kristen Gully and I live near this proposed development and I'd like to speak in favor of making some changes to the plan or perhaps even uh mixing it all together. And my primary concern to you today is with traffic. I agree with the gentleman before me that we do need more affordable housing. I have a young daughter. I I get it. I really do. But I drive past Monte Vista Elementary School multiple times a day. And it's scary out there. We have uh parents behaving badly. Let's put it that way. And I don't see that at the other elementary schools in the neighborhood. Uh I really fear for the kids and the parents safety in this area. Uh we heard that this project will have 19 units plus the ADUs. That's actually 35 units. And I know we heard that they chose a lower density and and went with single family homes and that's great. But when you look at 35 new residences, which is really what it is, it's not 19 when you factor in the ADUs, uh then the traffic study that they did not account for that. It doesn't take into consideration these 16 ADUs and the traffic volume that this means. Uh the study that we heard uh Julie McCall reference uh generates 190 daily trips for this uh subdivision, but that's only based on the 19 units. It's not based on the 35 units. And as somebody who lives nearby in a multi-generational household, I can tell you that one of the things that happens with a multi-generational household is you get a lot more traffic because you have a lot more care providers coming in. if you're talking about elderly people using those ADUs, which you may or may not be doing in this case. So that 190 daily trips that that Ms. McCall referenced is actually closer to

about 330 daily trips. And that's if all the units are included. That's about 43% difference, a 43% undercount. And uh that's got some direct safety implications for the the students and the and the staff at Monte Vista Elementary School. It's literally right next door to this project. There are hundreds of kids that are walking and biking and being dropped off right there. And that traffic study doesn't really analyze that school drop off impact in a meaningful way. It doesn't acknowledge the pedestrian risks that are going to increase with this development. And I think that uh you also need to take into consideration that uh Vista has tried in the past to mitigate some of the traffic uh safety concerns at that at that intersection. But I can tell you as someone who's there daily, there hasn't been a meaningful change there. And with this increased number of units, I really fear for the safety of the kids in that area. There's no mitigation proposed to widen the road, to add shoulders, to add sidewalks, crosswalks, signage, any of that. Uh, and so thank you. Our next speaker, Keith Andrew. [Applause] My name is Keith Andrew and I live in Monty Vista Drive, exactly two lots away from the proposed development. Uh, I'm speaking as a resident who asks you to deny or significantly scale back this project. Um it's clear has clear and documented inconsistencies with the Vista general plan and has multiple safety risks. So, as we now know, the the applicant presents this project as a 19 lot um development, but it's actually 35

that under Vista's general plan land use and community identity element policy 2.5 explicitly states, ensure that multiple family residential development is cited and designed to enhance the residential character of Vista in it includes amenities such as open space, landscape caping and architectural design that contributes to this character. This is my favorite part. And minimizes impacts on adjacent residential development that is of lower density. So this proposed 35 unit subdivision is not compatible with a surrounding neighborhood which is defined by large lots and rural character. Second, this project violates policy 4.3 of the same plan, which states, "Ensure that new and redeveloped projects are designed to improve pedestrian and transit connections and connections to trail and bicycle networks. This proposal offers no such improvements. Instead, it funnels additional traffic into an area that already serves Monte Vista Elementary, a well-known area with uh severe traffic issues. So severe in fact a few years ago a child and parent were struck by a vehicle in front of the school and had to be lifellighted out. I know this personally because my daughter was attending school at the time. It was on Halloween and uh and she was pretty upset because the Halloween festivities were were cancelled and then for the rest of the year this poor kid was walking around with a helmet. So it's not about just the aesthetic of traffic. This is like a real issue that uh the community is um kind of traumatized by. Under the secret guidelines 15183, exemptions don't apply when unusual circumstances circumstances or project specific risks exist. A highdensity

project next to a school with a documented serious injury is exactly that. So, this is not an opposition to growth or building. It's just an opposition to reckless intensity in the wrong location. The long-term consequences of this project, traffic safety, infra infrastructure strain, will be borne entirely by this neighborhood, especially the parents taking their kids to school. It's not going to be borne by the developers of the project, although they say that one of them lives in in Vista, but it's going to be borne by the families who live here. So this commit thank you [Applause] Deborah Brandt followed by Nichollet Darte and Penny Harrington. If you could make your way up towards the front maybe it make it easier for time. Hi. Hi. Oh. Hello. My name is Deborah Bran and I live in the Monav Vista neighborhood. I'm here tonight to express my deep concern about two issues with this proposed development. The incompatibility density with our rural zoning character and serious traffic issues on Monavista Drive. Let me start with the issue of density and zoning. The so the site is z excuse me zoned E1 estate and designated as low density residential in the city's general planning allow two dwelling units per acre. The zoning is meant to preserve, and I quote directly from Vista's general plan, the spacious semi-ural character of established neighborhoods. But what's being proposed is 19 single family homes plus 16 attached ADUs. That's 35 residential units on just 6.4 acres. That's over five units per acre, more than double the intended base destiny. The clustered layout of the homes does not reflect the surrounding rural neighborhood at all. In fact, the

journal plan clearly states, "Encourage residential development that is compatible with surrounding rural neighborhoods in terms of density and scale." This project does the opposite. Next, the issue of traffic and road safety. I drive Manav Vista Drive regularly to shopping, freeway to visit friends. It's a narrow winding road with no sidewalks, limited visibility, and tight shoulders. The traffic study on this project estimates over 340 new daily trips, but it fails to address the collision history, as we've just been hearing, of this already substandard roady. More importantly, there's no meaningful analysis of how this project fits into the broader picture, no cumulative traffic analysis for the surrounding parcels that may also be developed. And according to the city's own roadway design standards, urban li level infill like this should not be directed onto rural roads without proper upgrades. Approving this project as it is would set a troubling precedent. It invites more highend density infill into Vista's rural areas, undermining the very community character that the city's planning documents are meant to protect protect. I'm not against development. I but it should be scaled appropriately. follow Vista's own policies and ensure the safety of everyone who lives in and drives through this area. Thank you for your time and your service to the community. Thank you, Nichollet Darte. Hello. Good evening. My name is Nichollet Dante. I am here to respectfully voice great concerns and objection to the proposed Monavista Drive development project by California West Communities. I recognize the need for affordable housing, but this area is not the right fit for this proposed

project. I object to the use of the CEQA exemption. The city's own reports show new impacts from this project, including grading, drainage, emergency access risk, and fire zone intensity. These trigger the need for a full CEQA review. Furthermore, the architectural drawings show 16 attached ADUs, effectively doubling the unit count. This misrepresents the true scope and impact of this project. The true total unit reality is 35. I have been in this area for many years and have seen how overburdened current city infrastructure is in this area. This project would have a de devastatingly negative impact on safety, fire hazards, wildlife, traffic, the surrounding residents, and the children at Monavast Elementary. The children will be at risk and will be playing directly under the edge of the construction area. This area is already has heavy traffic and I have personally witnessed multiple accidents in this area involving children. I don't want to witness anyone else getting hurt due to the increased activity that this project will bring to this area. I recognize that this is simply my opinion, but there being only two affordable housing units in this entire project shows to me that the priority is not to provide affordable housing for Vista. I strongly urge you to reconsider the proposed project. I'm sure this proposed project has a home somewhere in Vista, but this already overburdened area is not the right fit for it. Thank you for your service, for your time, and for listening. Thank you, Penny. Good evening, commissioners. My name is Penny Harrington. I want to speak about the 16 surprise ADUs that were included in the project. These units were not disclosed during the on-site meeting that we had with the developers recently, and they come with zero off- streetet parking despite this site being nowhere near a transit hub. According to the city's own plans and staff reports, these ADUs are included in the project, but the traffic study fails to include them in the trip counts as has been

mentioned or evaluate the parking impacts. The omission, this omission alone should invalidate the traffic analysis. Now each ADU is a full residence. That means 16 more households, potentially 30 more vehicles, all with nowhere to park. The result overflow onto Valley, York, Trace Nino, Corte, Range View, and Monav Vista Drive, residential streets that are already overwhelmed, especially during school hours. Just yesterday, the San Diego City Council took action to close this exact same loophole. They now require one off- streetet parking space per ADU in any area not served by transit because the lack of parking was overwhelming neighborhoods and ADUs are prohibited on culde-sacs in areas with fire risk as well. We're asking Vista to do the same. Further, this project is directly next to Monte Vista Elementary School and that makes it especially urgent. This is not a theoretical concern. As has been mentioned, a parent and child were struck and lifellighted. I remember that Halloween as well. So, the traffic engineer might call this a safety risk, but to us it's a nightmare that has already happened. So, some suggestions. Please require off- streetet parking for all ADUs, especially this close to a school, or reduce the project density to match the safe capacity of this road network, and revise the traffic analysis to reflect actual trip generation, including the ADUs. Further, we ask for action by the city to mitigate the traffic issues near the school. We suggest either speed humps or rumble strips as people tear down from Foothill to the intersection at York and Valley. Rumble strips and flashers at the stop sign to encourage traffic slowing and actually stopping at the Monte Vista Valley and York intersection. This project provoke poses a real safety threat and in this case

the tragedy has already happened once. Let's not let it happen again. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Steve Harrington followed by Scott Martin followed by Jill Martin. So Steve, good evening. Steve Harrington. Good evening commissioners. That's a hard act to follow. Um, you know, we did meet with the developer. Uh, having sat where you are, uh, I understand the challenges you're faced with. Most importantly, the state is mandating the majority, if not all of these concessions. You have no control. Um, which is a shame because you're here to facilitate and make communities fit into the neighborhood and you have no ability to do that. Um, you know, density bonuses is a wonderful policy with good intention. We all need housing. As the young gentleman mentioned, we need to provide housing. But 35 units, 35 families, I'll concede that to Mr. Hall. 35 families in in 19 units on 6 and a2 acres with no parking for the ADUs. Negligible. I know Paty you mentioned 19. Um that's 36 cars. 16 32 32 cars potentially. Yeah, it'd be nice if they were all intergenerational. I think that's a good sales pitch. But if you drive in our neighborhood, there are a number of ADUs and they ain't multi-generational and they have two to three cars. And as we've found going down South Santa Fe at Marvest in Santa Fe, the new apartment

development there, they're parking in front of Allen Brothers night and day. Um, and having been a banker and also sat where you sat, I I kept wondering why the need for the ADUs. It sounds good as multi-generational, but why? The only reason I came up with is it's all about the money. Um, which is a shame. They had me at 19 because I knew there was very little input we could give you to change your mind. They had me at 19, but 35 family households and all the cars and traffic that go along with it. I'm sorry. I strongly recommend, though I know you can't, that you figure out a way to either scale back or decline this application. Thank you, [Applause] Scott. Yeah. Hi, Scott Martin, 1902 Monavista. I'm um coming here. I'm both a licensed landscape architect uh and a professional mediator. So I have been on all sides of this equation um working with communities that have fighting development. I've been a developer myself and so I know how all this works. One of the questions I asked while we were there sitting with the plans and I've met Carlos Jeb and Arlene and they're all lovely people who we would get along with great in other circumstances. One question I asked in particular, I said, "When we look at this plan, show me on this plan where you've taken our neighborhood into consideration. What's one thing you've done for us?" The answer was, "We're here." Because they couldn't point to any place on this plan where they've made a concession towards our needs of the neighborhood. For example, you have a sidewalk. There's a zeroed edge sidewalk. There's no parkway. We've maxed out our plant lots. So lot one is the largest lot on the property. It's also the one adjacent

to the street. It could be smaller. It's not. These homes, the comment that was made to me, which was unfortunate. You just don't want anyone else having the same opportunity your family had. I'm not sure how building million-dollar homes in my community are equal to that. That would ensure that my community, my family would never be able to live here. So, we're selling a housing crisis by mill buying million-dollar homes, which is unfortunate. There are things that these homes could be smaller. They're asked for maximum height so they can have two-story homes. What we'll be looking at is a home that is 50 ft above the street level. When you take into the grading and how they've maxed out their ceiling heights, so there are lots of things that this commanding commission can do that does not restrict the number of houses they're built on here. I get it. You can't do it. But there are restrictions we can make this project safer and have less visual impact on this community. And they have not yet been done. and we saw a slide that says landscape considerations. We didn't see any. We haven't communed anything has communicated to us. And so what I'm asking you to do is to protect our community to figure out what are the ways where you can if you need to prove 19 homes, but make sure that they are done in a way that is compliant with this neighborhood. I'm looking at driveways that are all lined up with us. We're talking about a track home here. They've maximized these to build as expensive as homes as possible on these properties without any consideration of the visual impact to our neighbors and what the impact is to the safety of the street. So there are a lot of things that can be done and I'm hope that we see these in future generations and that is not approved as it is because they could still build homes, much smaller homes, much more affordable homes that are in keeping with this neighborhood. Thank you. [Applause] Jill Martin. Okay.

Jennifer Bonitz. Hi, good evening. I'm kind of new at this, so I'll do my best. Um, my name is Jennifer. I, uh, live close to the project. I'm on Giddings Ranch Road and and Western Cath. This company is my neighbor and my backyard. Um, I'm here today to voice deep and heartfelt opposition to this subdivision. I'd like to speak on two of my concerns, fire safety access and incompatible density. First, regarding the fire safety. This is an area is officially designated as a very high severity hazard zone confirmed by the city's zone general planning housing element. According to the California fire code uh section 5031.2, 2. Any project with more than 30 dwelling units is required to have two separate fire apparatus access roads. This project proposes 35 units, as you've already heard, the 19 houses with the 1680 use. Um, yet only one access road is being proposed through Monte Vista Drive. Nowhere in any supporting documents is there a mention of an approved exemption for this rule. In fact, the fire district letter only states that all fire code requirements must be met. This project, as proposed, appears to be out of compliance with basic emergency access law. So, is there are some written exemptions? I'm not sure this higher density means more homes, more people, more vehicles. As you'll see in the pictures that I gave him, this is what it looks like when the

school has like an afterchool event. It takes all the things parking up to my street on Gideon Ranch which is two properties over from this project and both of those properties are very large properties. And so it this increased congestion makes evacuations during emergency more challenging. Roads that will hold overflow parking from the development and that are already narrow would become choke points for exit routes in a wildfire scenario, endangering lives and making it difficult for first first responders to gain access. Next on incompatible density and character, this site is zoned E1. The zoning was established to preserve the essence of this community and ensuring homes blend with rural environment and provide residents with the space and privacy we expect and deserve. This developer is clustering the 19 homes plus the 16 on over s a little over six acres of steep constrained land. Lot sizes and setbacks are not even close to those of adjacent properties. Most surrounding homes sit on at least a half acre, most more than an acre. This project crams in houses with smaller footprints and narrow roads. If this is approved, it will set a precedent for high density clustering in other rural footh neighborhoods, essentially rewriting the mean of a state residential. Please consider requiring a scaledback version of this that actually fits the area's fire safety limitation and established carry. Thank you. Thank you, Cynthia Skoletti, followed by Scott Harrison and Rachel Beld.

The opportunity to speak. I respectfully keep it short. commission. Um, my concerns have already been covered really well by other um, citizens. I'm concerned about the traffic flow, especially around the school, the parking for 35 units, and the underlying infrastructure support that isn't proposed potentially to support 35 units. I'm not against any of the projects and increasing affordable housing or housing period for Vista. However, I don't see this as being optimal yet. Thank you for the opportunity. Have a nice evening. Thank you, [Applause] Scott Harrison. Scott. Good evening, commissioners. Um, my name is Scott Harrison. I'm a resident on uh Monav Vista Drive and I've lived there for 27 years. And that road has evolved from a nice quiet rural road into a freeway. And there's a speed limit of 40 miles an hour in front of my house. and it goes down to 35 just before the school and at the school it's 25 miles an hour during school hours. Um there seems to be no control there at all of what's going on. The traffic is unbelievable. We've had two rear end accidents and one one uh sideswipe in front of my house and the motorcyclists and cars are just um out of control. If we add a project like this to our community, it's going to definitely increase the traffic and I have concerns about that. Uh, having been in the fire safety and fire protection business for over 51 years and working with building officials and fire marshals all over the

world, I've seen where when we have lack of control over certain situations such as fire safety vehicles being able to access residential communities properly, we do have issues just as we did in Paris. um in Paradise this um recent time uh when we had the wildfires up there and what we know happened up there. Um in the presentation by the developers, they said that they're going to be uh trying to provide uh and maintain a community character of the rural area that we have right now. But that's not the case. Um it's dense housing and the uh housing area has one way in and one way out. And as a result, I didn't realize this today. I heard the presentation, we have 16 ADUs being added as part of the floor plan. And that's going to increase the occupancy and increase the vehicle load as well. So, the traffic issues that we're going to have in this uh adjacent to this project are going to uh increase the safety issues that I think that we are all concerned about. And we as well that live there on Monav Vista Drive, we have enough traffic already. We don't need more. Okay. Thank you for your time. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening, commissioners. My name is Rachel Beld and I'm the president and CEO of the Vista Chamber of Commerce and I'm here tonight on behalf of the Vista Chamber board of directors uh to express our support for this project um which includes the 19 single family homes and the J AUS. Um, I think Commissioner De Jesus had a good question about what the restrictions are regarding J J AUS and I think that would be helpful if we could learn a little bit more about that. Um, but I wanted to just mention that Vista continues to experience a significant demand for housing, especially single family homes that serve working families, professionals, and longtime residents who want to stay in our

community. Um, and this project helps meet that need. um that multigenerational aspect and or the ability to share your home with someone to share their costs. Um we also understand that this development uh will improve long-standing drainage issues across that property and into the school and we think that that is a benefit. Um and also the improvement to the frontage will be nice. Um I do believe there's been coordination between the project and the school regarding uh traffic and safety and I'm wondering if perhaps that could come up later. Um but with that um the Vista Chamber is here to support more housing, more affordable housing, um and you know, single family homes. We hear a lot about multif family projects going in and this is a single family home situation and we're in support. Thank you very much. Thank you. Any more speakers? Good evening, chair. I just would like to remind the chair and the audience that we don't clap, we don't boo, we don't hiss, we don't do anything that would influence or create an unsafe space for people to talk. So, we have a meeting that's safe. It's inclusive. So, we don't we don't cheer people on and we don't boo people. Thank you for that clarification. With all the public comment made, please community development director who's been doing this for a long time and he's got some wisdom. Um, with that I will close the public hearing and uh ask the commissioners if they'd like to uh ask questions or if they have any comments. Commissioner Jolof, I wonder if we have someone who can

speak on the uh traffic issue with failing intersections. Hi, good evening planning commissioners. My name is Trevor Briggs with CR Associates, the traffic engineer on the project and prepare the traffic analysis that was completed for this project. Um, just to just to comment, we um the project did generate uh well, we worked we coordinated with city staff with regards to what the requirements were for a traffic analysis of this size of project um based on the city's transportation analysis or impact analysis guidelines. And the project generates less than uh 400 daily trips. As such, it would be subject to a focus uh uh traffic analysis, a local transportation analysis. And the extent of the analysis was to look at the roadway of Monavista Drive along the project frontage and the project driveway. We did look at the analysis and uh we did um and we evaluated that the project with the addition of the product traffic on Monav Vista Drive, the project would operate an acceptable level of service. Just to elaborate on that, a level of service is uh comparable to grades in school. We have A through F. F and E being failing intersections or roadway segments. um the the roadway segment and the intersection the driveway both operate at level service B and that would be considered an acceptable level of service. So in coordination with city staff this was our determination for traffic impacts with regards to the to the project. And if I may um I'd like to just give you some additional perspective for your

consideration uh regard in regards to traffic um safety congestion. Um we we actually met with with the with the principal and assistant principal of the school. Um they are very aware of the congestion that occurs in the mornings um at pickup and in the afternoons uh or I'm sorry with a drop off and pickup. Um we we we understand there was um um a tra a tragic accident that occurred a few years ago. Um that family was jaywalking. They were crossing the street where they were not supposed to. a fence has since gone up in that location. Um, our project is also going to be improving the frontage of of Monav Vista and so we'll be widening um that roadway. Um, there's also an existing school sign um that kind of shows your speed as you're as you're driving past it. That's actually not currently operating. Um, in our improvements, we're going to be kind of addressing that item as well. Um, so like, so I I think the the widening and the improvements are going to help with the safety. It's going to kind of provide an early buffer before kind of hitting the the school zone. Um, kind of allow traffic to kind of slow down a bit. Um, and there there's alternatives such as striping, you know, if that that that can be done to kind of help bring attention to to any speeding uh uh traffic, you know, approaching the school, which is not currently implemented, but we'd be we'd be open to um um participating or assisting with that as well. Commissioner Jal, do you have anything you want to add to that? Yeah. Um there was mention of two unavoidable failing intersections in the report. Can you speak to that?

Based on a local transportation assessment that was prepared for the project, that was not a conclusion that was come to. It was determined that the roadway segment would operate at an acceptable level service and the driveway access along Monte Vista Drive would operate at an acceptable level service. When a when a pro when a intersection operates at an unacceptable level service, that's when we come in to provide recommendations to improve the level of service. But if it operates at acceptable level of service, there would be no determination to provide improvements at that point. Okay. Um that's what was in my packet. Uh so and just Commissioner Martin. Yeah, just for clarification on that. Um, when you were looking at the traffic issues, you were not finding any failing intersections in the vicinity of the project site, were you? No, not based on the focus uh traffic analysis. Good evening, commissioners. My name is Kim Foy. I'm uh land use council on this project. To clarify your question, the program EIR for the general plan found that two intersections were significant and unavoidable. That wasn't with respect to our project. That was part of the general plan PEIR and our project didn't worsen those intersections. Okay. Thanks for that clarification, Commissioner Martin. Um, yeah, I'll start with a question to um, Mr. Wyers. Um once the street improvements are done on Monte Vista, will parking be allowed in that new improvement area either for school traffic or for residential traffic? Uh that roadway segment would not have street parking. It's designated as a two-way uh light collector, I believe, in the general plan. And it and if it

upon I guess you would say full development, it would have a bicycle lane as opposed to street parking. Okay. Thank you. Um I don't have any more traffic questions, so thank you for that. Um Commissioner Grim, are you do you have another point? Go ahead, Bill Scott. Yeah, I have a lot of points. Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Commissioner Martin. Yeah. Um so thank you. Yeah, I guess I'll start the general conversation uh among the commissioners since the public hearing's been been closed. Um so yeah, there's there's some difficult issues associated with this that we have to review and I appreciate Mr. Harrington's comments about state law and how the state um continuously usurps uh local control when it comes to land use decisions. And this is a a prime example of of how the state has stepped in and and regardless of what our general plan policies may be. Um so when it comes down to the density of the 19 dwelling units, uh SB330 pretty much ties our hands on that and um you know there's there's not a lot that we can do. Uh the bigger concern that I'm hearing and also was a concern of mine was the the the number of ADUs. And so the question is, well, is there something that we can do about the ADUs? And uh my understanding is that ADUs are a ministerial project, meaning they're not subject to any discretion. Uh whether it's from us, the city council, the staff, um they are done through a ministerial effort. And so um yeah, there's there's limited uh opportunities for us to to address the ADU issue as well. Um, and certainly parking is a big part of that.

And so one of the questions that I had with respect to parking is we've got two garage spaces for each unit. We have two driveway spaces for each unit. We have a limited number of street parking spaces available for the ADUs. Um, could we impose a condition requiring the HOA to ensure that the garages are maintained open and available for parking and not used for storage and therefore forcing more cars out onto the street? If I could just back up a little bit, I wanted to provide a little bit of background about state benity bonus law in ter and I should introduce myself first. Commission, good evening. I'm assistant city attorney Algra Frost. Um I wanted to talk a little bit about state density bonus because it does include parking ratios and then also ADU law as it relates to parking requirements for ADUs because I think that may address some of your questions. So under state density bonus um one of the benefits that the developer receives in exchange for including affordable units on the property is u parking ratios that are set based on the number of uh bedrooms in the in the homes. So for four bedroomedroom houses the threshold is 2.5 parking spaces. Let me make sure I got that right. Two and a half parking spaces per unit. And the city's ADU ordinance generally requires one parking space per ADU. However, there's waiverss and exceptions for when um parking spaces are not required for an ADU. And one of those is when the ADU is uh within the footprint of the the building. So in this case,

the ADU is located within the footprint. So we would not be able to require parking. Uh that being said, if you do the math, uh 2.5 parking spaces for density bonus plus one, if we had been a label able to require that would have given you 35 parking spaces. They're providing four parking spaces per site per per house. They are providing more than we would actually be able to require. Um, so I wanted to provide that context before I addressed your question about the garage because they could also convert their garages to ADUs and I I wouldn't suggest imposing condition that essentially would be overridden by ADU law. Thank you for that clarification, Commissioner Grim. Yeah, thank you. I um Commissioner Martin and Mr. Harrington again said a lot what I was going to say, so I'll keep that section of it brief, but essentially the state legislator has been looking to provide affordable housing oh ever since probably the 70s or 80s and they've had tried a numerous programs over the years and uh some of them worked pretty well, others didn't and a lot of them uh particularly projects that weren't very good ended up getting denied at the local level. So at that point they decided well we're going to take local control away. So that's essentially what what happened. Then they introduced the um accessory dwelling unit uh ordinance which actually has worked I think fairly well because you you get them spread out periodically and and you don't see too many and generally they're on pretty big lots. problem here is you've got 19 lots with 16 of these uh accessory dwelling units which essentially turns an R1 zone into an R2 zone basically. So, what the state is kind of doing is dipping in. I

think the feeling is well, they got plenty of land in the R1 zone, so we're going to dip into that and provide all these bones bonuses and and take some of those rights away. And that's, you know, you can argue that that either way. But I think that's kind of the the history of it. But with that said, um I do want to say and that there are and and I was again concerned about parking like Mr. Martin was that uh you know, you've got garages that are probably going to be filled. That's going to take some of the four uh parking spaces per unit down to two. Um so I looked at well, how much on street parking is there? And I think Mr. Winters, there's 14 spaces. Um depending on how it's measured, you could get between 14 and probably 18 spaces depending on car size and so on. Okay. So, maybe one of the good things about this project is that I think that can probably be covered on the street, uh, within the project. Um, uh, there's other things that I think are good about the project. Um I think the applicant said well or somebody said you can do a lot worse and that's not a way to sell a project obviously but um you're doing a transition kind of between a school and um you know single family and schools can be noisy. I've you know had little league teams down on that field before. Um so you know I think you can argue that this particular property is a transition. Um and um so those are kind of the things you know my dear mother always said try to find something good about things. So that's kind of the good things that I found project and I still haven't quite decided how I'm going to look at this yet. Thank you. Uh I I have a couple of questions um and comments of course. Uh the somebody mentioned SQA. Is this

project is is it exempt from squa? What is the how does that pertain to the project and what have we mitigated through that? Uh the the project conducted basically a squa checklist analysis. Um it's similar to an environmental checklist or that would be done for an initial study that would lead to something like a negative decl uh declaration or a mitigated negative declaration. Um it's required to be substantiated by uh technical reports such as the noise technical report, traffic study, greenhouse gas, air quality assessment, biological report and so on to substantiate the findings in that SQA checklist and it does fall under a type of exemption that piggybacks on the analysis that was done under the general plans program EIR. So you wind up uh this is the first time I've seen it on a project, but essentially it's it it can be as much as or even more analysis than done for a mitigated negative declaration. So it's a very thorough analysis that's done for the project even though it falls under an exemption category. Thanks for the clarification. I appreciate that. Um my understanding is that by right property owners can build a JADU and an ADU. These are being constructed with a ADU already in it and it's going to be designated as a JADU. Can the developer in their HOA laws keep the designation of JADU? Or because the state has a by right for property owners to be able to build one of each, can we ask the developer to put that language in their HOA so that there's not the opportunity to convert the garage to an

ADU when they have an existing ADU within the four corners of the property? If I understand your qu your your question correctly, I think you're asking if we could coordinate with the the HOA or put something in the CCNRs to prevent that. And the answer is no. Right. I think I knew the answer, but I just wanted to make sure that we were clear here that uh whether these were single family homes by themselves that the property owners would have the right to build both an ADU and a JADU regardless of whether we we can't prohibit those. That's a that's a right of a property owner. Um, so I just, you know, clarifying that, um, I I think having ad having a properties, these properties built, um, that already have an ADU in them will help first-time buyers and other buyers that are moving up to share that cost with a family member that might want to move in. So, I I like the idea of the that it being having both of the units together, but I also understand the frustration of the neighborhood and that we can't count the cars and the traffic of the ADU again because of the state tying our hands to do that. So, as I sit here as a as a commissioner, um, as part of our community, you know, I our hands are tied by the state telling us what we can and cannot do in our zoning and what developers have allowances that if it's within that project scope to do and all of these all of these items that the developer is proposing is within the zoning allowances, within the states allowances. And if we turn this down, if we um regardless of whether it's how right it is to do that or not, um that we subject oursel to litigation uh for every developer that wants to come in and do something that's that they have the same um that they're allowed to do. Those allowances exist for them by states. Uh

the states allowances were our hands are sort of tied. So, we look at the project and um in my opinion, I I appreciate the developer um not putting in as many units as they that they were allowed to do by the state's density bonuses. Um the parking is sufficient for um the units. Um and um we can't uh do anything. We really can't um stop or count the ADUs in there and the traffic studies because our hands are tied. So to that end, um I think the project fits within the uh allowances and the aesthetics of the area. Commissioner Thompson, can you advise? They said it was currently at 60% capacity and this would add 2%. So even with doubling it, it would add like 4%. What's the maximum allowable? It said like 60% capacity in the presentation. If you're talking about the roadway capacity of Monavista Drive, if it were at a 60% capacity, it they said it was in the presentation. So even adding the 5% increase like is there a limit? Does it is it allowed to go up to 80% or 90% or do you know? uh the applicant's traffic engineer might respond better on that, but I I did want to let the commission know that we spoke with the city's traffic engineer who reviewed the plan or reviewed the the stop design as well as the line of sight for the project and he did confirm to staff that the project does have a neglig negligible or no impact on traffic operations. And uh the project would actually provide some improvement by providing a better line of sight at the intersection for the new proposed roadway.

Yes. Hi again. Uh just to answer your question, uh yes, at 60% capacity, that's the low service B. Um you so there's there's room to add additional capacity without having it operate unacceptably. So if you were to the 2% and double it to to 4%, it would it would increase it by 4% but still have adequate capacity. Thank you. Certainly. Um and then the it seems like the major issue regarding traffic is the school kind of traffic times. Wouldn't would the traffic fall more under the school to provide like adequate parking for the parents of the school versus the aside development? If just a general response that would it would it falls upon the school's operation the normal functions it would it would not be something that is generated or or dependent upon the project development any comments would anybody like to make a motion Oh, did you have a comment? I'm sorry. Did you Did you want to make a comment or Okay, my apologies. Uh, Commissioner Jal, um, I want to thank everyone who came out tonight because it is a public hearing and this is democracy and we want to hear your voices and I hope that you'll all stay engaged. Um, I absolutely hear the traffic concerns, um, the school concerns.

I live off South Melrose and my kid walks to RBV, so you might be familiar with that area. Um, that's not fun. And I I've tried to uh speak up for lower speed limits and I I didn't get my way. Um, I do think one of the concerns here that that is traffic related is there's no bus on this street. There's not a consistent sidewalk or bike lane. Um, and this is not near anywhere, right? The nearest grocery store is is four over four miles. Um the Sprinter Buena Creek station is 1.7 or 1.9 depending on how you go to get there. So this is urban sprawl. Um I would love to get away from urban sprawl. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gases and road traffic is a major contributor to air pollution. Air pollution is associated with asthma. So, there are public health reasons that this is not a direction we would like to go. Um, and I'd just like to say that I would like to get away from urban sprawl. I would like to um keep us safe and healthy. Um, so that's just my comment. I know that we have these state laws, but I wanted to let you know that that's how I feel. And, um, thank you for being here. Thank you for speaking up. Commissioner Thompson. Commissioner Grim, no more comments. I will make a motion. I think we've all pretty much laid out how we feel about

this. There's not a lot we can do. So, I will make a motion approving staff's recommendation. I'll second it. Motion has been moved by Commissioner Grim, seconded by Commissioner Martin. Please cast your vote. Motion passes. Moving on to the next item. But before I do that, I want to thank everybody that came out for that as well. I'm echoing Commissioner Joliff's. Um if you're you're welcome to stay. There's more development on the agenda item. Madame Mayor, Madame Mayor, may I suggest uh we take a five minute break to let the room clear out and so we can get ready for the next item. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We'll take a five minute recess. We're good. Um, so before we get into the EDR items that we're not going to be voting, we're not taking any final action. Okay. And that's what we're doing next. Now we have one more public and then after that and we're not taking any action on that. We're just discussing I'll get it. Yeah. I might need you for like three more meetings and I'll be okay. You're doing great. Oh, you're too

nice. I know. But I'm going to try. You're doing great. I don't want to smell too good right now.

Hallelujah. Hi guys. See you. That's awesome.

Everybody

Calling the meeting back to order. Just as a reminder, this public meeting, we ask that there's no clapping, no booing, no hissing. Uh we keep it civil and let people have their opinions. And uh if you could um abide by that, I would be we'd be really grateful. Thank you. Next up is item PH-P24-0311, Karita's Village. We have a staff report. Thank you, chair and planning commissioners. Uh this is file number I think you said it P240311 for Keratas Village. The project location is a vacant portion of a portion of land approximately 1.07 acres in size that is part of a larger 12.9 acre site that is predominantly occupied by an existing mobile home community estraa deoro at address 220 Camino Corto. Uh surrounding land uses consist of a combination of multif family residences, duplexes, single family homes, and the mobile homes within the uh mobile home park. The general plan land use designation is MD for medium density which allows for 10 dwelling units per acre. The current zoning is MHP for mobile home park uh which under the city's development code has a corresponding uh density allowance uh that with the general plan designation. So in this case it would be 10 dwelling units an acre consistent with the general plan. Under the project summary uh this slide shows the overall layout of the site development plan. Uh it's to construct a 100% affordable housing development

consisting of 24 apartment homes on the site. There are three buildings in total. two 12 unit three-story residential buildings with four units on each floor and one community building with a laundry room and club room. Uh the site development plan features 27 open parking stalls and a firetruck turnaround area central in the site location. The site would be accessed from a single driveway off of Plymouth Drive. Uh this is also an SP330 project. Um, projects that are submitted under SP330 are exempt from any changes in the development code as of their submitted date. Although the mobile home park does not list apartment homes as a permitted use within that zone, the project application included uh housing crisis act preliminary application form in conjunction with the request for a density bonus. This approach allows for the development of a multif family apartment project in the mobile home park zone without the need for a zone change because state law stipulates their proposing housing development shall not be considered to be inconsistent with the applicable zoning standards and criteria and shall not require reszoning if such development is consistent with the objective standards and criteria of the general plan. Uh and and that would be even if the project zoning is inconsistent with the general plan. Therefore, the project is under review as a multif family development subject to development standards that would be applicable to multif family projects in the RM10 zone which would be consistent with the MD designation under the general plan. As far as the density bonus, the general plan medium density designation permits densities of 10 dwelling units per gross acre. Based on the gross acreage of the overall parcel, 12.9 acres, the parcel would allow for

129 housing units. Currently, the mobile home community has 107 residences. Adding 24 apartment units would total 131 units, which would be a density of 10.15 units per acre. Because the project is 100% affordable housing development and located within one half mile of a major transit stop, no maximum controls on density may be applied to the project pursuant to state density bonus law. Therefore, the two units in addition to the 129 base units would be permissible as a density bonus 1.5% and the project would be considered consistent with the general plan. Uh, under the density bonus law, the project is entitled to five concessions and unlimited waiverss. The following five concessions are requested for the proposed project. For the laundry room, the project may construct a common laundry facility instead of providing laundry facilities in each apartment home. For exterior entrances, the project may construct covered walkway exterior entrances to individual units on the upper floors instead of providing building interior access points as would be required normally under the city's guidelines for storage area. Storage areas for each unit may be sized at 90 cubic feet instead of 160 cubic feet. And for the refuge collection area, the walking distance from each unit uh to the trash enclosure may exceed 150 ft. The furthest unit is approximately 220 ft from the enclosure as designed in this project. For retaining walls, the plable requirement is waved for retaining walls that exceed 5 ft in height as would otherwise uh be required by the city's landscape manual that uh in particularly is for a large retaining wall that's behind the buildings as will be seen uh in a later slide, but does not have a lot of visibility from the street frontage. Waivers must be granted for any development standards that would otherwise physically preclude the

project from being constructed as proposed. One waiver is requested to allow for a 10-ft building separation between building number two and the community clubhouse instead of providing a 15t separation that would be required under the city's development code. This slide shows the exterior rendings of the four elevations of the residential structures. It would have two two-tone uh stucco colors, dark brown trim with metal railings uh along the covered walkway and private decks. Uh the elevation shown on the lower right would be facing a street frontage. On the residential floor plans, as I mentioned, each floor would have four units. In total, there would be 12 one-bedroom units at 700 square ft. Six two-bedroom units at 880 ft², six three-bedroom units at,60 ft. Um, private open space is provided on the first floor. There's a 101 square ft um patio area for the upper floors. They're provided with the 51 square ft uh deck. The this uh slide shows the community building elevations. The west elevation would be the front facing the street. Uh the size of the building would be approximately 1,250 square ft containing the laundry facility, a 432 ft club room, a 76 uh square foot office space, a maintenance room, and a restroom. This slide shows the the project's open space and landscaping. 18,656 square feet of landscaping would be provided which is approximately 40% of the project site whereas the code requires a 15% minimum. The landscape plan uh proposes a combination of ornamental and native vegetation as well as tree shubs uh vines and perennials. Trees would be used to create shade for the site especially along the street

frontage, the project perimeter and adjacent to the open space areas. Uh two of the common open space areas for the project are shown on uh in the central area where there's a tot lot and on the right hand side of the slide where there's a passive seating area around a shade tree with uh chairs and so on. This slide shows the fence and wall plan for the project. There is some topography to the site. It slopes down from the southerntherly portion uh which is on the right hand side of the slide to the northerly portion which is on the left. So the bright uh or dark blue line towards the rear of the project would be a retaining wall that would range from 10 to uh 3 to 10 ft in height. Most of that retaining wall would be behind the structures and not uh very visible from the street frontage. The lavender uh bright pink line would be vinyl fencing around the project perimeter. And the yellow line at the frontage would be a one to five foot tall uh retaining wall um along the frontage landscaping that would go around the basin area at the northern end of the project site which is at the lower left. Under traffic analysis and fire safety, uh, under the SQA guidelines, projects within one mi half mile of either an existing major transit stop or stop along an existing high-quality transit corridor should be presumed to cause a less than significant transportation impact. The project is within 1 half mile of the Vista Transit Center. Therefore, the project would not conflict or be inconsistent with the secret guidelines section 15064.3. subdivision B and traffic impacts would be considered less than significant. The project has been designed to incorporate all required Vista Fire Department standards to ensure that its implementation would not result in hazardous design features or inadequate emergency access to the site. Fire

station number one is located approximately a half mile from the site. Under environmental review and the recommendation, the project is exempt from uh SQUA in accordance with section 15332 for infield development projects. The project meets the following five infill conditions for this class 32 exemption. It would con be consistent with the applicable designation and policies of the city's general plan and zoning ordinance. It would be developed within city limits on a site no more than 5 acres that is substantially uh surrounded by urban uses. The project site does not contain any habitat or endangered rare or threatened species. Approval of the project would not result in significant effects related to traffic, noise, air quality or water water quality. And the site can be adequately served by all required public utilities and services. Staff recommendation would be for the planning commission to adopt a resolution approving the site development plan to construct a 100% affordable housing development consisting of the 24 apartment homes on 1 acre located at 220 Camino Corto uh along with the project's conditions of approval. That concludes my presentation. The applicant is here as well, Citus Corporation with the presentation they would like to share. Thank you. Um Commissioner Martin. Yeah, Mr. Wyinners, thank you for the presentation. I had a question uh for you. Um I'm wondering about the ownership of the property. So, is this a separate legal parcel or is it just vacant land within the mobile home park and thus would have to maintain the same ownership as the mobile home park? It's a vacant portion of the overall 12.9 acre parcel. So, the the project uh area of work is 1.07 07 acres within that site. The mobile home park is managed by Keratas Corporation and uh I assume that they would be

managing this development as well, but uh Mr. Gabe Chavez for the applicants team can comment more on that. Okay. So, it sounds like they'd need to do a parcel map if they wanted to sell off the project. That's correct. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Do we want to hear from the applicant? Yeah, applicant, please. Sorry. Good evening, members of the planning commission. My name is Gabe Chavez, vice president for Keratas. Um, what I wanted to do was just kind of go through who we are, what we do, and and what we'd like to provide here for the city. Um so Keratas uh was founded in 1996 as a 501c3 with the express purpose of developing promoting uh protecting and preserving affordable housing. Uh so in our 29 nearly 30 years of existence, we've acquired or built 33 communities throughout California and a handful in Oregon just south of Portland. Um, of those 33 communities, two of them are here in the city of Vista. That is our Vista Manor and as Mr. Winters uh pointed out, the Australia Deoro mobile home park. Um, we've actually been in the community for the last 27 years when we acquired these parks uh back in 1998. So, we are your neighbors. We have been here. Um, and in our development, as you'll see as I as I move through, um, we've done our best to become as harmonious to the neighborhood as possible. Um, one of the things that Keratas is really proud of is that we have just over 15,000 residents that call the Keratas community home. Um, and we do that, we're we're proud of that, not only of that fact, but we we're proud of the fact that we are out here trying to present affordable housing, preserve affordable housing, and not only that, but also create a sense of

community within all of our uh mobile home communities. Um, and we do that through a through a series of of grants and things that I'll go into in a second here. Um, as we move on, um, about 10 years ago, our chief mission officer said we needed to do more. Um, we were providing affordable housing is great, but we need to figure out how can we empower our residents? How can we, as he would have say, how do we give a hand up and not a hand out. Um, so 10 years ago, the Keratas Foundation was formed. Uh and at each of our residential communities, we offer a number of different programs to help all of our residents and we would provide the same here in this uh Keratas village. Um in that time, we've distributed 9600 books. Uh for our younger student residents, we offer a book reading club during the summertime. Uh the more books they read, the more reports they they write. Um there are prizes for them that we offer. Uh we fig we use it as a way to stimulate young minds while they're off on summer vacation. For our older student residents, we have a uh scholarship program where we offer tuition assistance for uh uh higher education or for those in trade schools. Um for our older residents, adult residents that may have been impacted in one way or another in life. Um we offer assistance with maintenance, rental assistance, food assistance. All of this uh is available at all of our communities and would be available at at Keratas Village as well. Um, one of the things I'd like to highlight is the last project that we just completed, uh, working in combination with the city of Napa and a local private developer. Um, kind of a unique story. The private developer was looking for a way to use their inloo fees um, for a a project uh, in a different manner. um with the blessing of the city of Napa, this private developer was able to purchase uh a parcel of land donated to us uh and we uh signed a regulatory agreement with

the city of Napa to provide workforce housing that they so desperately needed. Um as you can see here uh we completed that successfully in late uh late in 2023 and today there are uh 20 units available for workforce housing. The project is 100% leased by area residents that work in and around the city of Napa. And this is what we'd hope to provide here for the city of Vista. As in speaking about our project, um a couple of the highlights Chris touched on. It is going to be 100% affordable housing. Um financed entirely by Keratas. We we're not receiving any city funds. Five of the units will be leased to residents making no more than 50% of the area median income. uh the other 19 to folks making less than 80% of the area median income. Um a couple of other highlights I would like to point out. Uh although we do have three uh floors um for this particular project, again trying to remain harmonious to the neighborhood, um the development code states that you can have a structure up to 35 feet in height. We are at 33 feet 8 inches. We're doing our best to stay within consistency for the rest of the projects that we see out there. Um 24 units. Uh you know, we we received a lot of feedback from contractors. Why aren't you developing more units? Density is is the key. Um again, in trying to stay consistent with the underlying density here, 24 units is where we where we've topped out. even though given that we are a half mile from the transit center, there are no controls on density that that are required. Um and then finally on parking spaces, because we are a half mile from the transit center, we're not required to put any parking on our site. Um we understand residents need places to park. We know our our residents are going to require it. Uh so we have 27 parking spots that are available on

site. Um, we are also dedicating uh the frontage along Plymouth Drive, some of our par parcel on frontage drive for public rightway. So, there'll be an additional 15 or so parking spaces available in front that are currently not existing. Um, from a general overall development outlook, uh, this is a project that is an infill project. We're consistent with the rest of the neighborhood. There are u multif family, single family. It's it's it's a mix. We're a half mile from the transit center. We're adjacent to your downtown Vista specific plan. From a smart growth perspective, as outlined in your housing element, we feel that this project checks a lot of your boxes. Uh and with that, I'll open it up for questions. Thank you. I'm sorry, Commissioner Jawa. I didn't see it here, but I think I saw the the diagrams I looked at. Uh you have solar on the roof. Yes. And you have some EV chargers in your parking spaces. Um so I I applaud you for that. And just to say when I looked at the design, uh it looks to me like you've thought about how people live, right? And there's there's the shared community space. There's the tot lot. There's some nice trees there. Um, so that's all I wanted to say. Um, thank you. Thank you. So now I'd like to open up the public hearing. And we have a few speakers. I'm going to

say a few names if you could make your way up. Uh first one being Virginia Roberts, followed by Jacob Aldridge and Cynthia Skultedy. Yes, I'm Virginia Roberts. Um thank you for hearing me. I have to say I came here, this is all new to me and I was shocked at what I'm hearing. All I heard from you guys, and I don't mean to be disrespectful, is our hands are tied. It's statemandated. And then what I'm hearing is that developers pretty much are getting to do whatever they want. Um, I felt like I I came here thinking that our voices would be heard, our concerns, because we're the ones who have to deal with the parking crisis, the traffic. You don't live where we live. And I was just shocked tonight. I just thought democracy. And here's what I want to say. I live on Null Road. When my husband and I purchased it 30 years ago, null road was a dead end. could not get through to copper onto Melrose. And then the city uh approved a project off of Ferrara. And then our nightmare began. More traffic, more noise. Noise is unbelievable. Everybody sounds like they're racing in the Indie 500 now. Um so we we got more and more traffic and we kept thinking, why are we getting that much traffic? We found out that we're a cutthrough street now. people can bypass the lights off of Vista Village and Mailrose, cut up Plymouth, go down our street and bypass all that. So, I went to the city and I said, "You created this nightmare. Please help us." So, they said, "Well, why maybe we can put speed uh bumps in." So, I had to go through a very long process to get this

done, but unfortunately, we could only get speed humps back then due to the fire department. And then they I thought we'd get at least four of them on our street. We got two each end of the street. They left the opening. It people can still speed down our street and we get speeding all the time. Called the police, tried to deal with them over the many years to no avail. Nothing. So we still have the the traffic crisis. The noise is unbelievable. And now you want to build 24 units, apartment units off of PL Plymouth. I'm concerned. And the parking. So, are you going to widen Plymouth? Are you going to just have everybody park outside? Because I don't know about you, but I really don't want strangers parking in front of my house. Um, and what about the traffic? Potentially a one-bedroom, two cars, um, four, uh, um, two-bedroom, four cars, possibly three. And as you can see, if you get more rooms, so that's a lot more traffic coming out into our and I know they're going to go down Plymouth and Null Road. So it's like nobody wants to help us. And what I'm hearing from you is, oh, the state mandates this. Nothing we can do. And I'm I'm just like, wow. I came here tonight thinking that you would hear my voice, hear our concerns, and I'm just shocked. Absolutely shocked. Thank you, Jacob Aldridge. Jacob, uh, thank you for hearing me today. I'm here because we are in a housing crisis. The mortgage on a three-bedroom home, not house, anywhere in Vista is over $4,500 a month. Where are our young professionals supposed to live? The implications of this condition

is obvious. Our city will not grow. Our living standards will slowly erode as we are forced to raise families with roommates. The cost of ensuring existing homes will continue to rise as home values home values balloon out of control due to lack of supply. We need housing to live. This proposal is obvious infill in existing housing developments near existing public transportation. Please approve this 220 Camino Cordto proposal. Growth requires compromise. Let's build a future we can all live in. Thank you. Thank you. Cynthia Scultedi. Cynthia still here. Jim Noble. Yeah. Jim Noble. I'm in my I've lived at my residence on Plymouth Drive for 30 years. I've been to this would be the third time I've spoken at an event. The other two were city council meetings. The first time regarded the when Vista Village opened the center media on on Vista Village Drive was incomplete and Plymouth Drive became a nightmare. left turn off of um Vista off of Vista Village and so adjudicating that was the reason for being um at the first city council meeting. Second one was invol was uh granting whatever land use modification for Plymouth Village on Plymouth Drive. Following that, when Paul Paul Campo was a council member, he enthusiastically

shook my hand, thanking me for my understanding. I'm not nimi. And Mrs. Ritter said to me, "We promise you, we will keep an eye on this neighborhood. We promise you." So, Mrs. Ritter, if you're listening, I don't think that was a promise kept. Mayor Vance concluding that with the approval of Plymouth Village, Mayor Vance suggested this is perhaps a good place to do traffic uh amelioration uh subdue traffic suggesting that we would do some kind of lines that occurred. I don't know if anybody looked at the dragon tooth lines going down Vista several years ago totally ineffectual and did nothing. also put deci placed a weight limit on Plymouth Drive. Within months after installing the sign for the weight limit on Plymouth Drive, the the road crews of Vista took down the weight limit sign so they could use that sign post to put up the stop the speed limit sign which is 25. Neither the weight limit nor the speed limit have ever been enforced. Um, I have with the exception of uh I was cited for having shrubbery growing in front of the uh weight limit sign coming off of null off of copper. That was never the issue. They were uh the tow trucks coming up Plymouth Drive like tow truck operators in the big trucks that were way over the weight limit and nothing was ever done about that particular intersection. And I'm speaking of the intersection where this development will be exiting. And it's pretty interesting because I have I brought the citation and the picture

that the uh uh rep the Vista office represented and it really shows Thank you. Thank you, sir. We're limited on time to three minutes, but thank you. We We hear you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. That's with that. We'll close the public hearing and open to discussion with the commissioners. I'll start. Um I want to reiterate Commissioner Jollus comments from the last item and that is that we hear you. We're happy that you're here. Um you may not feel heard, but we're citizens of Vista just like you. We have to be. Um the state makes the rules. They've been making the rules for about 10 years. So, if you're behind the times and tonight is the first time you're hearing about that, I I I invite you to dig deeper into what the state has done. Um, personally, 25 years ago, I was on a planning commission in La Mesa and looking at density and infill because different every local government had their way of doing things and the

state kind of stepped in and made some rules that everybody had to follow. When did that happen? At some point in the last 15 years, you've seen this trend from the state kind of like leveling their quote unquote playing field on planning and building and our hardworking planning departments are trying to figure out, you know, every development project that comes forward. They have to look at what the state mandates are. We can sit here and and and I guess I could say, you know, I don't like it and I, you know, but if the client or if the developer meets all of the zoning allowances, just like if you were going to build a single family home on a single family lot and you brought your plans to the city and you filled out a building application, you would expect that the city would look at those plans and approve your project because you were trying to build your home in a designated piece of land that met the zoning allowances where you wanted to build where you live now. And your home at some point was zoned and and the building was put in there and it was permitted by the city and in its intended use and uh meeting all of the requirements for the build. And I say that just to emphasize how much uh the states has influences on it. our hands are tied and we can turn things down based on popularity, but then we subject oursel to being sued and um that's just that those are just the facts. So, um having said that, I'm really uh grateful to the developer and that this is a 100% affordable project. we don't see those. And so to offer that um to the community, I I I like I appreciate the example of the Napa project. And um uh I thought it was a thoughtful um use of land and the allowances. Commissioner Grim, um Mr. Excuse me, Mr. Wyers, could you put up the elevations for the east elevation and the west elevation?

Thank you. Um, first off, I'd just like to say, you know, I'm I'm not overwhelmed by the the architecture and design of the buildings. However, um as our chairman indicated is 100% affordable housing and um you know you don't really expect you know high-end um you know apartment buildings for that. These are these are fine. The only thing I had uh is that I felt that on the east elevation the length of roof line is very very long and I'm not in a position where I'd want to have the developers have to pay a lot of money to fix it up. But I think there's some things you could do um to that roof line. Like if you pop part of it up um I don't know, I'm making this up. Maybe even some dormers or something that's not too expensive to to kind of break that roof line up. And I guess my my thought would be I'm probably going to I don't know if it'll fly with the rest of the commission, but I'll probably put a condition on at the end that you modify the roof to somewhat on the just on the east elevation. I'm fine with the west elevation and maybe you guys would like to address that. I I don't know. Um thank you uh commissioner. What what I would respond and say is what what you're looking at at the east elevation is going to be the back part of this and it'll be facing the mobile home community and we'll have a retaining wall height that will be very close to that roof line. So you won't see a whole lot of that roof line anywhere from the street level certainly. Uh it'll be mainly our residents within the mobile home park. Yeah, we've I understand that. We've generally had a policy though like on the back of shopping centers and everything. We would really like to at least have it looking decent for people, you know, that that can drive by or people that might be able to see it from walking. So, I don't think we're asking or I'm asking a whole lot.

That's not that much to ask. I don't think Okay, thanks, Commissioner Thompson. I The one thing I was wondering about was the single family home right next to it. Are you are we doing anything or requiring anything like extra between the apartment building and the one single h family home right on the side of it? Uh the city isn't requiring or imposing anything. Um the the applicant is proposing a vinyl fence in that area as a as a separation as well. That's where their uh detention basin would be located. So it's not like there would be residential structure built immediately adjacent to that single family residence. There would be somewhat of a buffered area there. Commissioner Martin, thank you. Um I appreciate Commissioner Grim's comments. Uh I actually like this project. Um the last project we saw had two affordable units and this is 100% affordable providing necessary housing uh for our community. Uh there's also more than one parking space per unit which is helpful. And then as I look at the street improvements again uh Mr. winners. It looks like there's a 20ft improvement from center line uh to face of curb which I believe would allow a 12ft travel lane and an 8ft parking lane. Is that the case? That is correct. Okay. So, they'll actually have street parking also in front of this project to augment the parking that they're providing on site. The project widens the rideway which is designated as a 40ft curb to curb. However, there's a lot of existing

development constraints on the other properties across the street and north and south of the project site to where that street parking width is not available. But the project will open up about a 300 linear feet distance in front of the project site that could accommodate roughly 15 or so cars. Okay, I see that as a plus. Um, so yeah, I'm I'm kind of liking what I'm seeing so far. Commissioner Thompson, is there going to be a sidewalk there, too? There will be a sidewalk. Yes. And as well as a uh a short retaining wall and uh trees along the street frontage. Any other comments? Commissioners, commissioners, sir, please. Commissioners, if you have any more discussion, I want to make a motion. Commissioner Grim, if we're done with comments, I'll make a uh again, it's it's a it's a good project. It's a project that's 100% affordable housing, which should really be commended. Um so I'll make a motion to approve the project for staff's recommendation, but I would hope that I would hope the commission would add um a condition that the applicant would work uh with staff to uh kind of break up the roof line on the was it east? I think it was East Elevation and I would just ask or recommend at least that we ask the applicant if they're amendable to that condition first because if they are open to it and

they're agreeing to it then I don't have any concerns. If they do then we should have a further conversation. The applicant the applicant dos you want to answer give a thumbs up. Okay. Commissioner Martin. Uh, seeing the applicant is amendable to the added condition, then I will second the motion, please cast your vote. Lock it in. [Applause] I'm sorry. Could I have a hand vote on that, please? In favor, Madam Chair, uh you have to call for the vote. All in support, against motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Our next our next items are early design review and for the audience's understanding. Let's take a fivem minute break please. Thank you. the door on there.

Yeah, right. Yeah, that's true. Not at all. I know. Yeah. The next two items are Uh, no. We have to go in order of the the agenda. Should I get involved at all? Should I go down there and just You can tap the gav and say, "Can we come back to order? Can we come back to order? Can we take this outside, please?" The next two items just for clarification for the um everybody in uh chambers is that these are early design review. We're not taking voting. We're not voting on this to approve it or deny it. We're just going to be discussing the uh early design review. And to that end, I'm uh asking uh Miss Depp if she could do the uh presentation regarding EDR P24-0053. Cera. Thank you, chair. Good evening, commissioners, staff, and member of the public. The item before you is an early

design review item for a multifamily residential project located at 1070 South Santa Fe Avenue. The uh purpose of the EDR process is to provide an opportunity for the planning commission to review the initial proposal and provide preliminary advisory comments to the project applicant. The project has not been routed or fully reviewed by all city staff. Review only in terms of basic zoning compliance. Applicant can answer specific questions about the project design and the thought process behind the initial proposal. No formal vote or action is required or necessary for an EDR item. A little quick background for the project site is um there was a multifamily residential project uh that was previously approved for this site in 2024 per planning commission resolution number 2024-01. The original intent was to repurpose the existing commercial building into multifamily housing and construct two additional apartment buildings for a total of 96 apartment units. The current intent is to demolish the current commercial building to construct a new fivestory residential apartment building. The project scope is to propose uh to develop a multifamily residential project consisting of 141 apartment units inclusive of 22 affordable units on a 2.38 acre site located at 1070 South Santa Fe Avenue. The site is currently occupied with a two-story office retail commercial building. The

building is soon to be demolished. Proposed improvements include a five-story building with associated cover and uncover parking. Two vehicle access driveways along South Santa Fe Avenue, associated site improvements, including ground level parking, landscaping, and open space amenities. The project site is zone downtown Vista specific plan south gateway subd district. The general plan is mixed use 30 darling unit per acre. These are the um existing site photos to uh surrounding land uses uh around the project site. To the north and west of the project site is single family residential. To the east and west of the project sites are um auto sale businesses. to the south uh across South Santa Fe Avenue is a um an RV and trailer storage and sales business and a uh trailer park and also a uh commercial plaza. The project is submitted under a density bonus state law. The project is qualified for 100% density bonus pursuant to state law. Maximum allowable density per uh per downtown Vista specific plan is 72 uh 70.2 units equivalent to 30 unit drilling unit per acre. Proposed density is 141 units equivalent to 60 D unit per acre by providing an allocation of 15% which is 11 units for

very low income households. AB 1287 allows for a density bonus of 50% or 36 additional units and on top of that by provid providing an allocation of 15% for moderate income households AB1287 allows for an additional 50% density bonus uh which is 36 additional units for for a total of 72 um additional units per density bonus. The project is qualified for four concessions. Concessions may be requested to relieve open space, building height, minimum setback, and minimum step back requirements. Density bonus parking requirement is half a space per unit since the project site is less than half a mile from a tricus center. City has limit limited discretion regarding project density and concessions. some specific about the proposed project. Uh the projects include a multifamily residential building including 26 studio, 49 onebedroom, 66 two-bedroom floor plans from 480 ft to 910 ft² total of 141 units. Very low income units would include two studio two studio, four one-bedroom and five two-bedroom units. Mate low income also include two two studio four onebedroom and five twobedroom units. Proposed density is 60.2 unit per acre. Zoning allow 30 unit per acre and this is a under density bonus. The proposed height is five stories 68 feet and 6 in maximum allowed maximum

allowed 45 ft and this one will be a concession parking 166 spaces provided 71 spaces required per density bonus state law open space 28,200 ft² is required with a minimum of 33% as private open space for each unit. 15,464 ft² is provided consisting of 6,900 ft² of common open space and 8,564 ft of private open space provided as residential balconies. This is the uh proposed site plan for the project. Site access will be taken from South Santa Fe Avenue. There are two access driveways, entries at the west and east ends of the site. There are uncovered surface parking spaces around the building and parking spaces inside the parking garage. Parking garage entry is on the east side of the building. Here is the proposed landscape plan. The landscape plan will cover approximately 33% of the project site. There are vegetation at the northern part of the site and will remain undisturbed. Common open spaces. There are two amenity open space decks on the second floor of the buildings including uh fire tables, seating areas, barbecue islands, outdoor dining areas, outdoor TVs, and resident lounge areas. And there is also

a uh dog park on the ground level with a K9 grass dogway station and uh outdoor seating. This is the first floor plan which includes the parking garage, surface parking, driveways, the uh leasing office and lobby, utility rooms, and trash enclosure. There are a total of six unit floor plans proposed for the project from 480 ft to 910 square foot. There is one studio one bath floor plan, two one bed, one bath floor plans and three two bed two bath floor plans. This is the second floor plans which show 34 residential units, two amenity decks, the lounge room and co-working space. The third and fourth floor plans are identical with 36 residential units on each floor. This is the fifth floor plan with 35 residential units and a share roof deck. This is a perspective elevation uh rendering looking uh east at the project from South Santa Fe Avenue. The building is contemporary modern architecture articulated with varied building faces, decks, windows, and a blend of exterior stuckle colors such as off white, tan, gray, brown. Residential balconies would include metal railings. And here are some additional uh perspective renderings. And here are the architectural elevations.

staff request that the planning commission provide comments to the applicant related to the proposed design of the project. No formal vote or action on this item. And that's concludes staff uh presentation for this edr and um the applicant is here to answer any questions and they will have their uh own presentation that they can share with us. Any any commissioners have questions? Staff. Okay, then we're ready for the presentation. The There it is. Uh, good evening, commissioners. Uh, my name is Rob Honer. Um, I'm one of the principles at Ambient Communities, and I was the one who was up here a little over a year ago when you approved a different project on the site for us. Um, I'm going to start the presentation just talking about reminding you of the project that uh you previously approved, go through the reasons why we're coming back with a revised uh plan. Then my colleague uh John Reing, who's the project manager, is going to give a presentation on the new project. Um, at Ambient Communities, we have a history with the uh Corki McMillan Companies. We started Ambient back in 2011. Um, we currently have a 119 unit multif family project under construction in San Marcos. Uh, we're converting a hotel in uh, PointLoma to 127 multif family units. Um, we've done single

family, we've sold homes, we've done some retail projects. Um, this is an asset just like the previous project was that myself and and uh, our uh, our investors plan on building and holding for a long time. So we like the city of Vista. We want to do more projects in the city of Vista. We're actually looking at some other opportunities. Um so that's a little bit about us. Th this is the current site plan of the building. Um the previous project was focused on keeping the existing building because of its layout and then developing two new structures. One um along South Santa Fe uh where the cars are in the bottom picture and then putting another building uh behind. Here's kind of a side by side of that previous project. Um, after we got approved, we um, we were consulting with our construction team before that and we got into really construction design feasibility and um, basically got to the point where we realized that the project we had designed, this is a painful conclusion, was more or less financially infeasible. Um the reason it was was because um of the of how we were trying to keep that building in the middle um in order to get the number of units that we were for the project site. Um we had a two-story building in front. We kept the existing two-story building in the middle and to convert that from commercial to residential and we're building a new three-story building in the back. Here's um the site section of how that was all going to be stepped. The site's unique in that it's lower along South Santa Fe and steps up in the back. And there were challenges um with the hillside behind. There were sensitive vegetation that we were avoiding. Um here's kind of the bullet points of of of the challenges we we had with it. Um

because we were keeping that middle building, we had to push the setbacks uh in front and uh and behind. So, we're going up the hill a little bit and we're going basically out to South Santa Fe. Um, still keeping up some walkway, but but uh limiting the amount of uh space we had between the the building A in the front and building B beh be behind it. Um, fitting the number of units we needed and that number amount of square footage resulted in the units being relatively small and most of them being one-bedroom units. So you can see here our average square footage was 617 square f feet with 60% uh onebedrooms. Um the thing we struggled with the most with this was on the building we were keeping the second floor um sorry the bottom floor backs up to a retaining wall and so it's hard hard to get natural light into those parts of the building. Um and so we had these kind of light wells we were using to try to get natural light back there which then had impacts for uh ingress and egress for fire and safety and those sorts of things. Um because we were putting the buildings in front and back we reduced the amount of parking that existed on the site. So we had 77 spaces which met the code um but we were parking less than one space per unit. There is ample parking on South Santa Fe, but um and that was a concession we're willing to make. Um but really when it came down to the costs with three separate buildings, we had three separate foundations. We have foursided architecture on three separate buildings. The corridors were single loaded, so you have twice as much windows, twice as much stucco. Um and and again the the the uh cost exceeded where we needed to be to make this a successful project. So we went back to the drawing board, hired a new architect um and are ready now to present the new project um that John's going to present.

Good evening commissioners. My name is John Reing with Ambient Communities. Um uh first thanks to city staff uh on such a good comprehensive uh presentation and overview. Um uh that's already covered a lot of the the salient material. So, so I don't have a lot to add, but um but I'll go through some of the key elements and uh kind of piggyback on what what Rob said that you know sometimes with real estate projects uh you go down a rabbit hole and you uh you don't realize until it's uh too late that you're quite literally in a in the hole. Uh but thankfully with this project we were able to to realize that before it was too late and and pivot and we think that uh um this new version of the plan is the highest and best use of the property. Um, so you know, given that there are many other existing commercial opportunities throughout the city and given that this is a prime residential location near job centers and uh educational hubs and transit, we felt that this site was exactly the type of site that could support uh densities of of 60 units per acre. As you can see from the tables on the right hand side, the the proposed project is 141 units and that includes 22 affordable units. Uh the project proposes a mix of studios, one and two-bedroom units ranging in size from approximately 480 ft to maximum of 910 square ft. This averages out to about 709 square feet per unit and works out to just under 60 units per acre on uh 2.4 gross acres.

The project also proposes 166 on-site parking spaces uh in a configuration of uh surface and uh podium garage parking parking areas. uh the configuration uh of unit size and type is more in line with the demographics of the Vista subm market. So as you can see here the green column on the left is the approved project from last year and the blue column in the middle shows the proposed project. So on the right is is is the variance between the two. By comparison, the proposed project adds uh 14 additional affordable units for a total of 22 affordable units and the pro and the proposed project adds 31 market rate units as well. Uh compared to the approved project, the amount of studios increased by 14%. While the amount of one-bedroom units decreased by 21%. the two bed units increased by 9% and then we removed the three bed units uh entirely. So lastly, the common open space increased by uh about uh 1878 square ft and we added 89 parking spaces as I mentioned through the use of a podium parking structure. And this slide shows how we calculated the state density bonus and that was already covered by staff and I'm happy to answer questions. But um uh in summary uh this the the state laws were updated as we were processing the uh the last project and uh the new law results in more affordable units and concessions few more concessions to help facilitate infill uh multifamily development.

Uh staff touched upon the open space requirements and however uh just to point out the proposed project provides a surplus of private open space and passive open space. So when comparing the common open space requirements, we end up with a net surplus of 11,841 square ft. These are the some of the some of the conceptual colors and materials. And u as staff mentioned uh uh we chose a combination of earth tones and lighter colored vertical massing to break up the look along the street. The darker tones are more prevalent along the sidewalk and uh the lighter colors are more prevalent at the higher the higher levels of the building. This shows the uh existing sidewalk on the left and the proposed uh plan view um on the right hand side and the proposed uh on street parking and street trees. Uh here's a rendering rendering showing uh what I just talked about uh that there's going to be a combination of street trees and sidewalk planters along South Santa Fe to give a pedestrian scale and also provide shade from the afternoon sun. And as you can see in the top left corner, which is the southwest side of the building, we designed a rooftop deck which serves several purposes. Uh it provides a beautiful overlook for residents and guests. It breaks up the massing of the the building fenestration to the observer uh looking at the building from the west and it creates a nice common open space area.

Uh this shows the parking layout on the ground floor with 166 parking spaces and the garage would have 102 would also include 17 uh EV charging spaces and 67 EV ready spaces. There's also a 1,000T leasing office on the ground ground floor uh southwest corner, a 1,400T dog park area on the east side of the building. And as you can see on the bottom, which is the second floor plan, there are two uh passive amenity decks. These serve to provide partially shaded but open areas for residents and guests and and they also serve to break up the facade uh the street front facade. Uh lastly, on the second floor, there's a 600 foot co-work area and a 1,000 square foot uh lounge. Uh this slide just shows the third, fourth and fifth floors with repeat which uh excuse me repeat uh in shape and form. Uh just to touch on the project amenities. As I mentioned, the second level uh amenity deck areas contain 20 uh 2350 ft each. So each deck is about 2,300 square ft² and each deck would contain some outdoor furniture, trellis and shade structures, uh outdoor fire pits and uh and pos possibly barbecues. Uh so in total there are uh 6,900 ft of common amenity areas. And this kind of gives you a conceptual idea of the type of outdoor furniture and recreation slash lounge areas. Other features um could be outdoor string lights for ambiance and and and planters

as shown here. And here are some conceptual ideas for incorporating sund decks and outdoor lounge areas and fire pits. And so this is the um the next three slides illustrate the height comparison of the approved project and the and the existing topography to the northeast. So the top of the slope to the northeast is 470 ft. Uh as you can see the approved project was 450 ft. So the proposed project is 466 feet, but instead of being pushed back into the slope, as Rob mentioned, the massing is moved forward to engage South Santa Fe and also opens up the area behind the project for increased natural light. And this is uh this this slide just shows a plan view of of what I just talked about where the prior version's footprint uh shown in green uh that that's going to be removed. Obviously that goes away with this project and the building is instead shifted to the street front. So that concludes our presentation and Rob and I uh greatly appreciate your time and appreciate uh uh everything and we'll remain here for questions. Thank you. Thank you, commissioners. Commissioner Jolith, uh there was mention in the staff report of a concession on setback. Um are you What would the setback look like?

Uh yes. Uh for uh the downtown vista specific plan south gateway district the front setback is uh require 15 ft front setback. uh the project is proposing about 2 ft for the front setback and they uh the applicant may request a concession for the setback. Okay. Um I guess really my feedback would be that a setback is nice if you're walking along the street and having if the street trees could be on the street side. Um, I think that makes people feel more comfortable walking. Uh, probably more shade, but also just in between them and the cars. That would be my only feedback. Thank you. I'd like to to first address your initial project. I was here when you brought that forward and I did have a big concern that the doors of the front units were going to be opening onto the street. Um and um just the design I thought that street is a lot faster than 35 miles an hour. That is the speed limit. So it was a concern as a resident that people would walk right out of their house right into that uh type of traffic. So I I'm I'm kind of happy to see I'm not kind of I'm happy to see the difference. I like the new project because all the parking is on that first level on that street level. It seems that uh the parking is um is what you'll walk by when you're um when you're walking down the sidewalk, you'll they'll have a a parking space there. So, um to that end, I I like I appreciate the design change. I am concerned about, you know, that that height, but I think that the massing coming forward away from the hillside is um I'm glad you thought

about that. Um and the open space uh areas um on the second level I believe uh is uh only available to the tenants. So you don't have any public access to that. Um and finally um I I think the number of units that are affordable um that allow the density bonus and allow the concessions uh for the project um uh you've kept all that in mind and and I I I like the project. I think it looks I think the colors are nice. Um I like the the massing being forward. Um and uh I think you did a good job with the change, Commissioner Martin. Yes, thank you. Um yeah, I have a lot of comments actually um in looking at design aspects of this project. Uh I really like the floor plans. I think the mix of floor plans is is really nice. The units look very livable. Uh they're good sizes. Um so yeah, I appreciate the floor plans and I like the way that those lay out. Um the rest of it though, I mean, if we're looking strictly at the design aspect, this building is massive. Um and I know you're allowed concessions, and I'm not really happy with at least two of the concessions that you're asking for, and I wish you'd asked for different ones. uh particularly with respect to the building height. So 68 feet um you know normally when we we see concessions or we ask for exceptions over what the building height limit is which is 45 ft you know it's usually within five or seven maybe eight or nine feet but here you're asking for an exception that's 23 feet higher than what the downtown specific plan allows. That's a lot. That's a lot to to take in.

Um, and if we could go to the site plan, Daisy. Yeah. Yeah. Go to the colored one, please. the front setback of two feet, and I know it varies a little bit with some of the little ins and outs, but the front setback of 2 feet for a building that goes up to 68 feet tall is just way overwhelming on the street scene. And I think that that building uh if it's going to remain that large, really needs to be pushed back. And if you look at the back uh east side of the project, you've got a retaining wall. You know, it varies from about what 2 to 4 feet. Push that whole thing back, make that retaining wall 8 or 10 feet, and then you could allow much better street frontage, make it much more walkable, um presentable, because really all you're relying on is those crepe myrtles that are being planted in the city's rightway. You don't really have any trees on your own property on the front. Um, and I think that if you were to push the building back, that would allow a lot more landscaping in that area and it would help uh screen just the massiveness of of that building. Um, yeah, I I I not kind of following up on something Commissioner Grim brought up in one of the previous projects with the uniform roof line. I'm seeing that here in this project, too. it just seems like we've we've taken that that elevation, whatever that number was, and we're bringing that roof line all the way across. And so, I mean, to me, maybe a mix of four and five stories um would certainly make the building look a lot more attractive, especially if you push it back and allow

some landscaping to soften that front edge. Um, but I think that's something that I would I would ask you to to consider. If we could go to the uh elevations, Daisy, especially the east elevation, the rear. So, the upper right hand corner shows the east elevation, which is the rear of the building. And what you're seeing there is you've got three floors of bedrooms that are cantalvering out from the building and supported by what looks like sticks. There's just no form there at all. And and so I really think you almost you really need to kind of reconsider that and how that's working. Um because you're dropping those poles right down into in between parking spaces. And of course I don't want to see us lose parking spaces by providing more mass there. But is there a different situation? Maybe uh you change those units and draw those that building back in a little bit so you don't need those supports. Um, but what you're showing there to me is not a really a good architectural solution. I'd like to see something different. Um, so yeah, I think that uh that's it for my comments. It's a good start, but I I think it really needs some work. Thank you, Commissioner Grim. I agree uh with a lot of things that Commissioner Martin said. Um but I will start out by really saying that I basically like the look of your architecture. I like it. The point about being um high is is an issue. That's a that's a very very tall project. One of the things though that I noticed, I spent a lot of time when we were when I was working for another city of down at being down in San Diego and walking and

looking at what you know they've done down there. One of the things that really does help when you're looking at height and you're walking along the street is to do what you guys have done and you have kind of a one-story element that runs along the front there. And I'm not sure I didn't scale it off. I'm not sure how deep those go back, but if you look at some of the buildings in downtown San Diego, you'll see that there's a a one or twostory element that's maybe I don't know 20 ft wide and then after that push they push the height back and then it goes up. And to some extent, I think what you've done with that those elements relieves a little bit of the height at least if you're walking walking along the street. But I still think that's a that's a really high building and I would concur with what uh what Commissioner Martin said. Um one of the other things I did want to note that I really like about the project is that um you guys have done a really good job on a mix of units. A lot of times we get, you know, all studio units or all one, you know, you you've got a great mix of units there and I I really do appreciate that. So those are my comments. More discussion. We have a speaker card for Jacob Aldridge. Hello, my name is Jacob and I'm here because we are in a housing crisis. I think this is a good location to build more housing. There's a bus stop right on the corner to this building. It's near shops and across the street from a

grocery store. However, I think this space is too primed to not consider for truly mixed use. It's half a mile from a train station and along a major thoroughfare. Please work with the developer to approve a mixeduse building with commercial spaces on the bottom floor, furthering the sustainable development of our downtown. Growth requires compromise. Let's build a future we can all live in. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any more comments from the commission, Commissioner Jolof? I guess I' I'd just say that I'd be very amenable to uh mixed use. Uh it's nice to have things that you can just go downstairs and grab if there were perhaps a small grocery store or, you know, things like that. Um either way. Yeah, Commissioner Thompson. I did notice in the rendering it didn't really have shade trees, and I agree. It would be really nice if people could walk and be shaded and bike or be safe in the front and have like a little bit of shade. So, those kind of trees don't really look like they'll provide shade. And I'd like to echo Commissioner Martin's comment about being two feet uh well, two feet set back uh from the front and having a five-story building. those of us that live in that neighborhood or live near there and drive down that, we know that that corridor will probably be have a lot of housing in it in in time, but that's sort of a behemoth when it comes two feet off the off the street. Um, something to think about. Um, if that that's something you can change, that would be great. Um, and with that, if we don't have any more comments,

we'll go ahead and move on to the next that concludes the item. We'll go on to the next item. Thank you. The next item up is EDR2, early design review. Again, we won't be voting on this. It's an early design review uh P25-000095 Pepper Tree Mixed Use Development and the Vista Pepper Tree uh by Vista Pepper Tree Owner LLC. Thank you, chair, members of the planning commission. The project before you tonight is an early design review for the pepper tree mixeduse development. The application number is P25-000095. I think Daisy went over the the purpose of the EDR, so I'll skip that slide. Uh, the project before you tonight proposes a demolition of four existing commercial buildings in construction of a mixeduse development consisting of 109 apartment units and two retail commercial spaces on 1.3 acre site. The site is irregular in shape, located at the northeast corner of South Santa Fe Avenue and Eucalyptus Avenue. The site is currently developed with the Pepper Tree Frosty Restaurant, Danny's Donuts, and two retail buildings to be demolished. That's approximately 4,500 square ft. Associated site improvements with this project include ground level parking, landscaping, as well as open space amenities. The developer is proposing a uh a 100% density bonus uh pursuant to state density bonus law.

Uh maximum density allowed in the downtown Vista specific plan is uh 40 dwelling use per acre. For a project site this size, it would allow for 52 units. Um the proposal before you is 109 units, which equates to 83 dwelling units per acre. In return, the project would uh allow allocate 24% of the units prior to the density bonus to low-income households, which equates to 14 units. In addition, the project would allocate 15% of the units prior to density bonus to moderate income households, which equates to nine dwelling units. Uh based on the affordability of the project, the project would qualify for four concessions. Uh the project would utilize the density bonus parking requirements and keep in mind the city does have limitation in terms of discretion on the project density and concessions. Here's an aerial photograph of the site. Surrounding land uses include commercial to the north, commercial to the south, multifamily residential to the west, and a future multifamily residential project to the east. General plan land use designation for the site is mixed use which allows for a mix of commercial and residential development up to 40 dwellings per acre. The zoning of the property is downtown Vista specific plan historic downtown subdist again allowing for mixeduse commercial and residential with the residential being up to 48 dwellings per acre. The site itself is 1.3 acres, currently maintains four commercial buildings, landscape improvements, as well as parking lots, which will be demolished as part of this project. Here's some panoramic photos of the site. The top photograph is looking

northeast at the project site. The bottom photograph uh is a vantage point from the northeast west or excuse me, northwest of the project site. The pro proposed project would require a site development plan pursuant to the downtown Vista specific plan. The project proposes 109 apartment units, 14 of the uh units being allocated to very low in excuse me, lowincome households and nine uh allocated to moderate income households. Project would also include 2,958 ft of retail commercial space. As proposed, the project would have a zero foot set a zero setback along the front and street side, 14 feet on the other adjacent side, and 50 ft from the rear. The project would uh encroach into the required 10-ft uh step back along Eucalyptus Avenue. However, it would comply with the 10-ft step back along South Santa Fe Avenue. The unit makeup would be 59 studio units, 44 one-bedroom units, and six two-bedroom units. Uh proposed density again is 83 dwelling units per acre where the downtown Vista specific plan as well as a general plan allows for a maximum of 40 dwellings per acre. A building height would be five stories, maximum height of 57 ft. This exceeds the restrictions of the downtown Vista specific plan, which is 45 ft. In regards to parking, the project uh uh pursuant to the downtown Vista specific plan would require 155 parking spaces. This project proposes of 100 parking spaces, which would exceed the state density bonus parking ratio, which is would require 55 parking spaces. For a project of 50 units or more, three common uh uh recreation amenities is required. The proposed project is providing uh a second story and a

rooftop community deck, private balconies, bike storage area as well as a community room. In addition to the residential open space amenities, there is commercial amenities as well that would include an outdoor dining and seating area on site as well as a public plaza offsite. Here's a conceptual site plan uh which illustrates the five-story building located along the street frontages with the parking to the rear of the building. Uh vehicular access would be provided along the southern edge of the project as well as along the eastern edge uh along Eucalyptus Avenue. Um the conceptual landscape plan illustrates uh residential open space amenities again a second story and rooftop deck uh private balconies bicycle storage and community room as well as the commercial amenities that I mentioned before. From an architectural standpoint, the architectural design of the building would be considered contemporary utilizing a wide variety of materials including uh a mixture of cement plaster, corrugated metal cladding, perforated panels, uh vertical board form concrete as well as decorative block. Here's some perspectives of the project uh which illustrates articulation with varied building faces uh decks as well as buildings or excuse me windows. Here's a perspective of the project looking uh from Santa Fe Avenue. And here's a perspective of the project looking from the adjacent uh traffic circle along Santa Fe. They've also included perspectives of

the open space areas which would include seating areas, fireplace, fire pits, barbecue, and landscape improvements. And with that, staff is uh requesting that the planning commission provide comment to the applicant regarding the uh preliminary design of the project. At this time, the applicant, Leb Gershman, has a PowerPoint presentation for the planning commission. Staff as well as the applicant are is are available to answer any questions you might have tonight. Thank you. Uh good evening uh uh honorable commissioners and city staff. Uh my name is Joe Venor. I am the uh son of Danny and Linda Venor, the owners of the Pepper Tree Frosty. Um, and uh I am I'm honored to be here before you tonight. Um, my family is now in its fifth generation uh uh in Vista and we are very proud to be part of this community. Uh I raise this because we are partners in this project and we will remain owners and I know this is somewhat unique in this setting where the owner remains and stays around but that is uh the reality of what we're doing here. Um we aren't going anywhere. We uh aren't selling anything and we aren't being forced to do anything. Um we are you know a proud partner uh to help create uh this vision and to create this development with our development partner. Um I just want to clarify that so there's no misunderstanding with the the public in that sense. Um we've been heavily involved in every step of this process. Uh we've invested a lot of our own you know time and resources. Um and we will continue to do that as part of this project. uh we we have carefully approached each

uh step of this. We uh have thought, you know, long uh and hard about um each uh um step that we've taken and we carefully chose a development partner who shares our joint vision uh for this project uh which is what you will see in our presentation. Um we support the project as it will revitalize the uh area will enhance the growing arts district here in Vista uh and it will connect downtown with the po Santa Fe uh which has been tremendously successful so far. So we are looking forward to those aspects of the project uh uh from our family's point of view. Um it's going to also create a public gathering space which you'll see. Uh the the space is important to us because we've had a lot of community events uh at our property over the decades as you maybe uh you know recall and uh we wanted to continue that. So we wanted to bring community together and continue that uh space and continue that tradition. Um, so we look forward to continuing the pepper tree as part of the project and improving our community and creating a better quality of life and more opportunities for our friends and neighbors. Um, so thank you very much for your uh attention and time this evening. Joe, thank you so much, Joe. Good evening. My name is Lev Gershman. Um, thank you members of the public. Michael Wrestler, thank you so much. uh director cow uh and commissioners uh before I dive into the uh presentation I want to say two important things that shouldn't be forgotten one uh pepper tree frosty staying it's going to be part of the development it's not going away two is it would have been a lot easier for the fia senors to sell the property and wash their hands instead over the last two years we've worked together to get the property out of the flood zone and by doing that got a lot of other properties

out of the flood zone by adjusting the FEMA map and um some of our engineers are here that could speak to that. So um thank you for for the trust and with that a brief statement from our tideline team. We feel a great sense of responsibility. Pepper Tree is a special place and memories created there are woven into the fabric of the community full of shared moments, experiences, relationships and stories. Danny and the Via Seenor family embody the very best of Vista, a life of purpose, service, kindness that has touched generations. We're grateful for the trust and the opportunity to work with the Venor family, the community, and the city to write a new chapter honoring the enduring legacy of this special place and continuing the tradition of bringing people together. With that, I'll turn to our presentation and introduce our team. Um, Tideline Partners is a boutique uh, infield development firm. Uh, my team's flanking me behind. Um, we also have Office Untitled, our architect from Los Angeles, an award-winning firm, as well as Tina Chi landscape studio. We curate the teams uh for the projects based on the project needs and uh foundational core values which is a triple bottom line uh enduring e economic value, community value and environmental value. We have a simple goal. Our goal is to make places better. We try to do that through our work in development downtown Vista. Um I've shared this before. I've been up in front of the planning commission before. It holds a special place in my heart. I used to work in downtown Vista in the 90s when I was attending Mira Costa College. I used to go to Pepper Tree Frosty, you know, almost 30 years ago now, which is kind of crazy to think. And Vista, particularly downtown Vista's come a

long way. There's so much to be proud of. Downtown is coming back to its root of being a vibrant destination, a cultural heart, an economic heart for downtown the way it used to be uh back when the bank building was first developed. Um, the downtown specific plan calls for simple, timeless materials and unmbellished building forms, art and rich pedestrian elements materials um encouraging walking and biking. Uh, as you can maybe kind of make out on the map, uh, the site is almost equidistance from two high quality transit stops of the Sprinter. And, um, the district is designed with, uh, the the plan is designed with thoughtfully with district. the historic core, the PO Santa Fe which is envisioned as an arts and culture district. Um the South Gateway District, that community plan, that downtown specific plan is what attracted our firm to start doing work in downtown Vista in 2013. Uh everyone's familiar with the site, but a few quick things to point out on on the map here is uh the site is improved with roughly 4,000 square feet of commercial space. our development will um bring 4,000 feet of commercial uh space to the property. Uh you can see the beautiful frontage of the South Santa Fe and the improvements that were done as part of that capital improvement project. And in the lower leftand corner of the slide, you may be able to see the guard rail and some fence that obscures what is otherwise a 14t drop down to the uh concrete box cover below. Our hope is working with staff to cap the gap and turn it into a public plaza space that can enhance the memorial park that's just across the way. This is an aerial view that um we

probably have all seen before. Uh you could see um looking north you see Main Street and Broadway uh the historic core and looking south down south Santa Fe you see the PO point apartments directly on the right you know the central energy of that roundabout and down the way you can also see our found lofts project. This is a important transition site. We hope to energize and activate this site to drive energy from the core of downtown through South Santa Fe. With that, um, I want to, uh, make, uh, one more comment about our neighbors. We have Vestonian to the south and Best Pizza to the north. Uh, we've met with a lot of our neighbors. Some of them are here to speak in support of the project. Uh, they're excited about what this will do for their business, how it will support their business. And I want to transition it now to a Tideline principal, Ryan Spruston, who's an architect, to share the project and site concept. Thank you, Lev. Uh thank you, commissioners, uh staff, and members of the community. Uh I'm Ryan Spruston, a principal at Tideline Partners. As as Leb mentioned, um an understanding of the site has been foundational for us and a starting point uh for the vision of the project um that is uniquely rooted um in place and that acknowledges uh the importance of this site and the fabric of downtown. Uh we've been inspired by the potential uh to connect districts of downtown, but also by the potential to connect people. The mix of affordable units and market rate units will increase options for people to live downtown. Um but we'll also uh uh promote street level activation. Oh, thank you. Uh street level activation, walkability. Um uh I think you see in in some of the conceptual renderings the focus and hopefully as we walk through some of the

design elements of the project the focus on pedestrian oriented retail and places for people to engage with the building the landscape and with each other. Um the focus of energy on the uh is on the roundabout but also continues down south Santa Fe um and acknowledges the adjacent Buista Creek and nearby nearby Veteran Memorial uh Veterans Memorial Park. Um as Led mentioned, we are uh contemplating improvements to the uh uh Creek uh right ofway as well and the Wishing Well Park. Um the the vision of the place that we've embraced is what continues to drive the team and our efforts as we study and evaluate design elements and materials that make up the project. I think as many people know this site as Pepper Tree Corner and I think that started um for us as we were looking at the massing of the building and you can see an L-shaped building which is essentially a corner uh building. Um the the next steps for us were were to look at how to articulate that mass to effectively uh break down the scale of the building and also to open up that corner to provide uh sight lines through the site, provide uh places for breezes to pass through um and then also to shift volumes um to break down the overall apparent mass of the building. The integration of outdoor spaces such as the roof terrace and outdoor amenity on the corner further break down mass and create visual interest and create interesting moments um of experience in the project and in downtown Vista. So as I mentioned a point of departure has really been the focus on that pedestrian level activation. Uh the retail uh activation is focused on the street frontages on South Santa Fe and

Eucalyptus Avenue. Um you can see restaurant retail with outdoor seating areas. Um again a desire to incorporate a walk up window to integrate that experience that we all know and love of being able to walk up and pick up a frosty cone. Um but then also thinking about where you can go. Are there places for you to sit down? Can you go over to the creek? um go to Wishing Well Park where so many people have dropped and made a wish, but that's also been foundational for a a a com a component of community give back and philanthropy. Uh the front front door of the project is located on the corner on the roundabout and again is intended to integrate with pedestrian activation and really encourage walkability on the site. Moving further along uh Eucalyptus uh is the bike room and mobility hub. again furthering the idea that a resident or visitor to the building can easily get to the site um by multiple modes. Uh the parking is tucked behind the retail so while it's under the building and at site level um it's less apparent from uh from the sidewalk. Uh the building also utilizes the existing driveway locations and eliminates two of the existing driveways that currently interrupt pedestrian circulation on South Santa Fe. A moment of architectural inspiration for our team was reflecting on the popularity of the dipped cone. Um, and this became in a way a kind of metaphor for us thinking about the building. And I know this may sound whimsical in a way or maybe playful. Um, and the idea was not to make a building that looks like an ice cream cone, but to think more about the qualitative uh aspects of what that experience is like. um thinking about the different textures and materials and lights and what the history and legacy of the uh site mean, but also the simple timeless qualities that uh bring meaning to people. And so I think as as hopefully you'll see some of that spirit as we walk through some of the design elements and pallet of the

project. And with that, I think I'll turn it over to Sean Gaye uh with uh the design team uh uh principal at Office Untitled. Cool. Thanks, Ryan. Um, thanks commission and uh, planning staff. My name is Sean Gayy. I'm one of the co-founders of Office Untitled. Um, it's been a great experience working with Lean. Um, and Ryan, who I go back, we figured out almost 20 years. Um, so as Ryan pointed out, you know, the Pepper Tree Corner, um, there's just such an enormous focus that's been placed on that the experience of the sidewalk. Um, it's something that as we kind of hear the comments tonight, I think you see in this project a lot of the the sort of sophistication and how the the project not only meets the ground but how it meets the sky. Um, this is a a series of sort of very intentional moves. One of them is uh here at the corner which Ryan pointed out sort of a opened up corner piece that uh focuses energy towards the roundabout. Um in add in addition to that uh you can see on the left hand side of the the image you start to see the series of balconies and brows that um stick out. This creates a playful um kind of shadow play throughout the day. Um and in addition you see the upper portion of the building pushed back from the lower portion which creates a nice setback and a lowering of the scale right along the sidewalk level. Um as mentioned um the list of building materials uh does include uh plaster both white and gray um the breeze block material a concrete ble breeze block material. Sorry I'm getting a lot of echo myself. um board form concrete uh and then metal paneling sort of a raed uh darker color uh raked uh metal paneling and then on the bottom right hand side you see a series of these

framed uh windows and for us this is all about creating a lot of sense of depth uh and texture in terms of the the building face. Um, in addition to that, um, several of these materials, we're excited to to look at, uh, potentially locally sourcing the materials and particularly like the breeze block, which we feel like, um, is a kind of hearkers back hearkens back to some of the Southern California vernacular that I think is so indicative of, uh, of this area. Um, as I go back to the Santa Fe experience which, um, Ryan started to set up, um, I want to point out the unique storefronts along, uh, the street level. Um, you know, very au, uh, untypical, uh, in terms of storefronts. These are not typical sort of strip mall storefronts. Highly, uh, curated. Um, and as you can see sort of right there to the to the middle is that uh classic uh frosty walk up um window experience. Something that from the very beginning of the project has been something that that we've worked with the family and uh with Lev and the entire team to incorporate. Um you notice it has a very different sensibility than the other storefronts and that's really about celebrating the history of of of of that experience uh that's been there for generations and generation. Um, in addition, you start to see on the uh second level where the building pushes back a series of communal spaces. You see one on the right hand side. There's a bit of a brow there that starts to set up uh shadowing, but it also allows us to light it at night, create a little bit of a lantern there on the corner. And then as we move ourselves up and to the top left, you start to see a rooftop terrace, which was also uh referenced earlier. This is all in servitude of this idea of pushing um back from the the street uh cascading the building but also being able to cascade it in terms of the roof line. So um while we

undulate both in and out and plane we're also able to step down uh as we come to the Betreat Park. Um, as illustrated in the site section on the left side of this, you have Santa Fe Avenue. Effectively, level one is at sidewalk level of of Santa Fe Avenue. There is a fairly considerable amount of elevation change between Santa Fe and Eucalyptus. Um, it allows us to put the predominant amount of parking um directly behind the retail uh below grade and it also helps to reduce the perceived height of the overall building from the eucalyptus side of the project. um and then begin to allow much better relationship between uh our project and the adjacent projects just on the other side of uh Eucalyptus. Uh with that, I'm going to turn it over to Tina. Uh good evening, uh commissioners and staff. Um so I'm Tina Chi, um landscape architect for the project. Um and so as Lev and uh Ryan mentioned um open space the quality of the open space is very important to us and in creating the spaces for connection for well-being for the Vista community at large and you know obviously for the residents of Pepper Tree. Um and this is what you know we are thinking about it in a very thoughtful manner um with an intimate scale in its detailing in its proportions. Um and and so this is all starting out though first uh point want to point out that uh wishing well plaza that we wishing well park that we are creating by capping this first section of um the Buenov Vista Creek. And um

here we want to celebrate um the uh existing pepper tree first and foremost um there that's going to be remain on site as well as um the wishing well um and uh we we want to um preserve the history and the culture culture of place by keeping these two elements there. Um so we we will have a series of raised planters um that'll frame a um articulated um public plaza um that will have fixed seating as well as loose um cafe tables for outdoor dining um such as you know after you've get uh frosty uh uh and ice cream to have have it there. Um and then these tables can be easily removed to create um a flexible space for um small events as Lev mentioned. Um and then as you continue along Santa Fe um there's a series of planting areas um that will help soften the edge of the building. And then you make your way around to the corner um where we have uh we're celebrating that corner with a gathering space there as well with integrated seating um as you're overlooking the roundabout and sculpture. And then as you make your way around that corner um planting will also soften um the building edges as well. uh the existing trees we plan on exist keeping all the existing trees um as is um in the the street trees and then um with the parkway planting we plan on enhancing it as needed um so the planting plet it's it will be primarily California native um with some adaptive

climate adaptive planting um all of it will be uh low water the planting at the wishing wall park. It it'll be inspired by the uh Buista Creek um as well as the memorial park across the street so that there's this continuity of open spaces that uh people experience. Um so you'll have repairarian plantings such as sycamores and willows um that will create a sense of dappled sunlight and light shade. Uh the shrubs will be evergreen uh focusing on uh form the contrast of form fine and large texture um as well as the blooming periods for various flowering plants um that will encourage interest in the fall, spring and uh summer months. Okay. So uh let's see. I think I go like this. Okay. So we're going to take you through some uh exterior vignettes. Um beginning with um standing on Santa Fe looking into the Wishing Well uh park entry. Uh you'll notice the existing Pepper tree to the right. Um and then the uh wishing well itself um at the entry of this new um plaza park. Um and then to the right of that um image the top right um as you head towards further into the Wishing Will Park um there'll there's a pathway that is is a glimpse of possibly you know a future creek trail um where you get this sense of walking along the uh creek path. Um so uh to continue this idea of community of and wellness um

there are common uh residential open spaces as Lev and Ryan mentioned. Um so in level two um if you look at these vignettes in the second row um this is a view of the level two terrace um which you you have views over the downtown uh vista uh as well as the creek. And so through this breezeway um you feel this connection between the two uh uh apartment bars for example. Um and in on this level you have um fire tables, you have trees, you have um umbrellas to create shade. Um it's a place where people can connect, have a sense of well-being. Um it's the same floor level as the uh uh fitness level, fitness area. Um and then as you continue up to the uppermost level, uh there is a roof terrace as you can see on the bottom. uh left vignettes, bottom vignettes. Um it's basically an intimate um outdoor living room. Uh there's a barbecue area, a dining table, a built-in fireplace. Um so you you get this sense of community. You're overlooking the downtown vista and uh connecting to nature beyond. Um let's see. Okay. So uh I will pass it back to Thank you. Thank you, Tina. Take me there now. I want to hang out on that rooftop deck. Um, thank you so much. It's been a long evening, so we're going to wrap it up here. I want to share this kind of parting image here. This is a uh a picture we got from Danny, and this picture probably goes back 60 years. So, there used to be a wishing well walk that would lead you down towards where South Santa Fe is now. And what you see on the right hand side are the pepper

trees before the Army Corps of Engineers encased the creek in concrete with a little DG path, you know, making its way down. And an image that's superimposed is from kind of the the the the vignette that Tina just shared for the landscaping plan. So, our hope is to um to bring this, you know, um idea to life and and bring it back to what it used to be uh long ago. Um, in conclusion, I'll I'll sum up. Um, this is an amazing opportunity. Uh, and we feel a great sense of responsibility to work with the Via Seenor family to preserve the legacy and have Pepper Tree Frosty as an iconic anchor tenant for the project. We're working towards capping the gap to create the spark. Not an undertaking would even consider had we not worked with Greg Mayor and the engineering staff, the planning staff. I knew that we had a partner in figuring out these complex endeavors. So again, would not be we wouldn't even attempt that at another city. Um, and we ultimately want to create a really beautiful building that's going to be something that we all can be proud of on such a prominent corner and that will uh bring new community members to support the small businesses in downtown Vista. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for such a comprehensive presentation u to the Vilisor family for making it clear what what the process has been for you. um for that I now I'll switch to the commissioners to see if they have any questions but and comments and because the project is vast and we want to be a little bit clear for staff too I I'd ask the commissioners to let us break it down into a few subjects like site plan layout so if you have questions uh Paty Madam Chair I believe there are comments

from the public then we so we might probably want to take the speaker slips first if I could suggest that. Thank you. It's been a long night, so we want to make sure we address that. Everybody has a chance to speak. My apologies. Uh the first person up to speak um can I'll I'll tell you I'll name three and if you can get in uh close to the to the speaker table, that would be great. Cliff Kaiser would be the first speaker, Jacob Aldridge would be the second speaker, and Rachel Beld the third speaker. So we'll start with Cliff Kaiser. Yes, these are for the speakers. Well, I have several slips. These are just the first three. My apologies. I'm just trying to get people up closer to the mic so we don't have to take too much time. So, if Cliff's not here, the next person would be Jacob Aldridge. Hello again, City of Vista. My name is Jacob and thank you for all of your time this evening. Uh first on it's m the project's mixeduse composition alone. Uh I love it and I think I'm I'm I would be proud of its existence in uh our community. Uh I saw online there was uh quite a lot of concern about this project and I wanted to address that uh in my three minutes. As a member of this community that has shared in the joy of Pepper Tree, I understand the deep connection that we all share with Pepper Tree, which has been a cherished part cherished part of our neighborhood for decades. I want to reassure everyone that the upcoming development is not an affront to our cherished memories, but rather an elevation of what we love about Pepper Tree. The shop will return as an integral part of this development, ensuring that its legacy and essence will be preserved and enhanced. The new development will bring modern amenities and a refreshed space, allowing the ice cream shop to serve us even better.

Imagine enjoying your favorite ice cream in a more comfortable and vibrant setting with additional seating and improved facilities. This is about enhancing our experience, not erasing our history. I understand that change can be unsettling, especially when it involves something as treasured as our ice cream shop. However, this development is an opportunity to celebrate and elevate what we love, ensuring that future generations can create their own memories in a space that honors our shared history. In conclusion, this development is a positive step forward made in partnership with Pepper Tree. Let's embrace this opportunity to celebrate our past while looking forward to an even brighter future. Thank you. Good evening again, commissioners and staff. My name is Rachel Beld. I'm the president and CEO of the Vista Chamber of Commerce. And tonight, I'm proud to be here on behalf of the Chamber board of directors uh to express our strong support for the proposed Pepper Tree development on South Santa Fe. The property is owned by the Via Senor family who have been pillars in our community for nearly 70 years. They've contributed so much to Vista through their business, civic involvement, and generous community support. The VIA senors have selected Tideline Partners as their development partner and have been actively involved in the design to ensure the project reflects the spirit and character of Vista. Importantly, the Pepper Tree Frosty will continue to operate in the new development and will remain under the ownership and care of the Via Senor family. This is a rare and special example of honoring history while planning for the future. The new design will even incorporate the iconic cone sign um and the included finishes and the additions um complement the arts district within the downtown. As we all know, Vista needs more housing. Apartment complexes across the city have lengthy wait lists, especially for studios and one-bedroom apartments. This

project helps meets that need in a thoughtful and well-located way. Additionally, this development will bring the area out of the floodway, enhancing infrastructure and benefiting surrounding properties as well. We also appreciate the inclusion of the green space, the charming Wishing Well Parklet, which will add to the vibrancy and pedestrian appeal of the area. Tideline has a history of working in Vista and has shown a commitment to preserving our city's unique charm while meeting modern needs. If if we had any feedback from the chamber, it would be that we wish there could be more parking. However, we understand the design reflects current regulations, site constraints, and a focus on walkability and smart growth. Ultimately, private property owners have the right to develop their land in ways that meet legal requirements, and this project does exactly that while doing so in a way that respects the community's character and our history. In closing, we believe the Pepper Tree Development um by Tideline and their team will enhance Vista, honor its roots, and contribute to a more vibrant, livable city. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Lauren Philhabber, followed by Germaine Cooper. Hi, my name is Lauren Philhabber and I am the neighbor of Pepper Tree and the property owner of the film hub co-working space in Vista. And that's what we stand for is community. And this was beautifully done um with love in the family. I believe um that just represents the purity of bringing the next generation of pepper tree to the city. I've also grown up here and chose to raise my kids here as well. And it's something that we do every week, too. We walk over and visit and get ice cream along with the 90 other members of the film hub to enjoy that. So, we all look

forward to um continuing to walk over with this new development and still enjoying the history and the heart behind the city uh or behind the pep um Frosty Pepper Tree um and this project. So, I am in support of it and um they've been very beneficial with our neighbors just making sure that we're happy with the design um as well. So, they've been very respectful with that. And my I have an easement behind my property um that is a great walkway access. So, one of the things that I wanted to mention is is there plans for developing that easement on my property that can include and add to um that walkway to the Wishing Well Park cuz I think that would be a huge benefit to continue to connect the community um in a great way with that Wishing Well Park as well. Thank you. Appreciate your time. Thank you, Germaine Cooper. Is Germaine here? Carl Phillip Mki. Hi. Hello. Um, my family's been here for 70 years. My the shagsteads used to live up on Elvato Road and they used to hire their workers when they were building their giant wooden house and they got pepper tree. So this was very near and dear to me. My family's been I'm 25. I've been going there my whole life and when I heard about it I kind of freaked out and I wrote in opposition and then came down here to kind of see what was going on. But hearing them makes me feel so good about you know history and keeping everything important. Uh, but I'll just say in opposition things just

to keep it, you know, straight. But I would, I guess my personal preference would be to keep it as it is. But seeing how much love they put into it, it it's hard not to be on the bandwagon and want to see what they do with it and how they continue on with it. But I like I like how how it is and it's hard to see places get torn down and, you know, we lost the bowling alley and all these other places in Vista. So, it's kind of just hard. And some actual concerns that I have are things with like traffic and because that whole area right there with the roundabout, the being in the main street near the 78, it's kind of a traffic hub from like 3 to 5, it's a it can be a nightmare. and putting more an influx of traffic coming in and out of these buildings could be an issue with street parking and all the events that happen right there right in front of right behind Vista Magna Middle School and that whole road right there. So, that might be an issue. Uh, and just in general, I'm not a huge fan. Like, I love that they kept the window. They do all that. I'd like to see more of the original, you know, pepper tree blue somewhere, maybe along the walls, but I just don't want it to like lose its charm. And I But hearing them makes me feel like they have a pretty good idea of what's kept it charming. But for now, I you know, we'll see how long it stays and if enough people either way, I think it's going to be good. Thank you. Thank you, Helen Wade. Hello, City Vista Council. My name is Helen Wade and I am a third generation Vista resident. My grandparents raised my father here and my father has raised me here. And when I have children, I hope to raise them in this incredible

city as well. This is what I'm here to speak about. The city of Vista is known for a small community, especially gathering areas that have a lot of meaning to the city. Destroying the pepper tree frosty area for luxury housing is going against everything that the city of Vista is and has strived for. This plan will essentially price out the people of Vista with overpriced housing, which we already have and has already not worked. Vista is a city of hardworking people who are part of their history and their culture. Over the last few years, we've watched city the Vista City of Vista grow and with that type of growth comes traffic which is already horrible on South Santa Fe. We understand that it's the family that wants to develop this um that wants to develop. But the city can make the land historic to stop the needless destruction of this buildings. Please don't let greed ruin our amazing city. We speak of community, but what the family doesn't understand that there is already one that they are ignoring. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Marisella Bowman. Yes. Thank you. I was anticipating when you would call me and didn't know if I should stay in the back or come forward. Sorry for the confusion. Um, so as you said then my name is Marisella. Um, I've been my family's been here for many generations. I'm elated that I came tonight because I needed and wanted to hear from the VSNor family as they not only have been pillars of the community but have um sponsored me in my endeavors when I was young for Miss Vista, my daughter for Miss Pride of Vista have um you know just poured into this community in so many ways. Um, it has actually been said and excuse me for erring whatever it is, my family.

I've been told they are my family. I was adopted by family and that has only come to light in the last year and so I am grateful. I'm so grateful. Um, other than that, there's often a desire to keep land pristine for safety. And because somebody wants to retain control of change, that is desired by all. Sometimes though, change is appointed by God. We have things such as ancestry 23 and me, which open the doors to such things as sealed adoptions. Hence my story. And so when I talk about that, my hope is that um where we are in present day current events and and with our community that you will continue to uphold what you speak to make wise judgments. My mom's easement, which is up off of Mar Vista, is in inaccessible to fire trucks, and they had a fire which burned down their neighbor's house when I was a child. And we were so lucky that it didn't jump, you know, and they said, "Oh, put a lean on your neighbor's house or, you know, together collectively get together so that we can make the addendums to the road." Have not been done. Also, there was a light installed off the road where I live off of Goodwin and Rush because an exchange student was hit hit on his way to Vista High School on his bicycle. So these are things that we need to consider. Um and lastly, um just that I wanted to hear from them so that we could honor the family, honor connectivity, honor community, um but

also hear the voice of the community. Thank you. Thank you, Heidi Hen. Hi there. Um, I'm Heidi Hit. I'm a first generation Vonian. I've lived in Vista since 2007. I own a home on Eucalyptus, so I'm very familiar with the area and I do, as everyone in Vista does, love the Pepper Tree Frosty. I will be sad to see it go. I understand that, you know, some things do go sometimes even though we don't uh want them to. Um I've just jotted out a few concerns that I have and in talking with uh other community members, I think we all have and a lot of them have been brought up. So, I just wanted to mention some of them. Um the community's concerns, as you probably know, are the additional traffic that this project will create um on an already, you know, smaller street. It used to be a four-lane street and is now a two-lane street. So that has kind of created some additional traffic in that area. the size of the building which as I think you've mentioned does exceed the height and the number of units per acre allotted for the city. So that's a concern that the community has. Um the the housing units that are creative I believe I heard like 50 studio apartments. I don't know that that is a need that that people have for studio apartments. I think more multi-bedroom family places are something that would

be more desirable to the community of Vista. Um, also the proximity to the street seems to be kind of dangerous. Uh 2 feet does seem like it's exceptionally close to a busy street and uh the parking doesn't seem to be enough for the amount of residents that will be we will be introducing into that area. So those are just a few of the concerns that I think the community has and any modifications that could be made to the project I think would be beneficial. Thank you. Thank you. I think now we can discuss. That's it for that's it for our speakers. Anybody else? Anybody else? Okay. Uh did you raise your hand? Come on up. I'll ask you to fill out a speaker slip after you're done, please. Um, my name is Dory K Wilson. I live at PO Point and my fa my apartment face is right on South Santa Fe. I'm on the second floor and I can I hear so many horns honking all night because people on the roundabout, they're not um uh paying attention, I guess. and they just um I just wanted to know if the roundabout if they're going to do anything else with it because they're going to be so many more apartments cuz I can hear horns all night from people not yielding and just want to see what um what the plan is. Thank you. Okay.

Can you fill out a speaker slip before you leave if you don't mind? Thank you. Commissioners, Commissioner McCarthy. Yeah, I just want to say that um I really love this project. Um, I've known the Danny via Seenor for quite a long time now and watched this thing evolve over probably 10 years from a thought to what it is today. Really happy to see all the different uh thoughts that's gone into this. Lev, you do a great job and I love the art. I love the uh wishing well and the walk and I think once they cover that covert, there could be some connectivity with downtown. I just want to say I'm fully supportive of it. I'd like to see more parking, but that goes for every project in Vista. And uh good luck, Commissioner Thompson. I think it looks really nice. Um the thing that I noticed first when I looked over the project was um it's missing the flower shop. That's my flower shop. I love that place. And seems like we put a lot of energy and effort into keeping the Frosty and the Donuts, but why don't we care about those women? Like, are they going to be there still? That's a really good observation. Um, other than uh Frosty, they're placeholders. We would love to keep all of the tenants. There's going to be a point of interruption when we demolish the existing structures and spend 20 months building the new project. But if the tenants are available at completion, we'd love to sign them. I get a lot of flowers from my wife there, too. The great flowers.

Commissioner Jolive. Well, you had me at Whimsy. Um, I I love that it's going to fit into the art uh of the community. I want to thank the the VS Seenor family for all the deliciousness they've contributed but now stewarding this new era. Um I think that this partnership is amazing. Uh you've had a really talented group. You guys have thought really deeply about what it means to be in this spot and it's a beautiful example of mixed use space. It gives us housing in a very walkable area and I love that. Um, the only thing I could think of is, uh, going back to the honking, is there a way, is it possible to do something with the materials of the building to attenuate sound? Um, as more high-rise buildings go up that we may need to to house people in the downtown area, you'll get sound bouncing between tall buildings, right? So, if there's any way to do that, that would be great. But I I love this um plan and and I thank you so much for all the love you've put into it. Commissioner Grim, thank you. Um I had some notes from before and I've kind of added them uh added some more tonight. So I'm just going to kind of go through those and it's kind of not going to be very organized. But I guess the first thing I wanted to say is that um uh this is a key property maybe in one of the most important properties other than maybe the Ryland property. I mean it's kind of an anchor on the far corner of what's

known as the traditional downtown area. So it's just such an important uh site and it's highly visible from South Santa Fe. And uh like I said, it's kind of a corner that anchors that traditional uh downtown area. So, I thought when I first opened the plans up, I thought, how in the world are they going to tie this property into the downtown? Because it really, you know, it's it's kind of out there because of the creek and doesn't necessarily, at least right now, walk that well toward the downtown. And I think what you did on the corner there along the creek with the plaza and stuff is just brilliant because it not only it just opens it up visually to to kind of tie that corner in with the rest of the downtown. And that kind of brings up a maybe a question while you're still still here is that um the other thing that kind of came to mind when I looked at the commercial is is how are you going to feed the commercial? Um there's no parking right in front. Um, I'm trying to think, well, what if somebody just wants a cone and doesn't want to go to the whole down through the downtown, walk the downtown, come down here? How are they going to do that? And so, I'm a little bit worried about that. At some point, and you would know, I don't know. But at some point, foot traffic downtown will be enough, you know, to cover that hopefully in the in the future. But if you look around at at lower level mixed use, you see a lot of small businesses going out because there's not that in the beginning they need a lot of drive up access. They don't have it. So maybe you could kind of give us your thoughts on that real quick. Um well, we want more parking too. um the site uh geometry and proximity to the creek uh with shallow groundwater creates essentially a a limiting factor and we had studied going subterranean doing split level parking. So, um, our retail

strategy is really designed around creating a storefront and experience that's so irresistible that the tenants are going to want to be in this location because it is so iconic because we do have uh an iconic anchor tenant like Pepper Tree that consistently draws foot traffic. Um, you know, u uh parking is is a is is a is a problem, a high quality problem, but people still go to Little Italy. people still go to their favorite restaurant in Ensenas. Um, so I wish I had a better answer other than people will have to find parking, but we will have a designated portion on the property for commercial parking as we work through the leasing plan. We're already talking to coastal tenants, and we have good interest from kind of um high uh high-profile desirable tenants. So, we've been hoping to pull from the coast for a long time. uh back to when we were doing our first deal with Tom Fleming, which is the beer garden. And at the time, nobody wanted to look at Vista. They're like, "Oh, Vista, it's not there yet." Now, we're actually getting a lot of interest, which is great. I think that's a that's a good answer. I think, you know, if it's cool enough, it's it's it's going to work. And you go down now on a Wednesday or Thursday night, you can hardly find a place to park. So, I think there's a lot of upside to what you're what you're saying. Um, and again, I just want to emphasize the use of that plaza in and in and the tie into downtown is is is fabulous. Um, a couple other things. Uh, one, um, I'm really happy that you guys have spent a lot of time um, thinking about the history of of this property. It means a lot to a lot of people. I know when I first came to Vista was down there all the time, and I'm not going to tell you how long ago that was, but it was a long time ago. Um, I was I was kind of looking at your murals and I thought, well, maybe there's a chance, and this is maybe just you can tell me it's a stupid idea, but maybe of a, you know, kind of ghosting

the old building on a mural or something that gives it a an homage, you know, to the to the former site. Anyway, just a thought, not a request. Good idea. Finally, the only thing um the only thing that worried me and somebody else brought it up uh one of the people that spoke, but I am worried about the the unit mix. I would like to see more one two-bedroom units, particularly onebedroom. Two are a little more difficult to to make work, but um there's just a lot of a lot of studio units. Those are only 480 square feet, which isn't much bigger than a twocar garage. So there's a need for them, but I don't know how many. So anyway, those are my comments. I generally like the project. I think it's it's going to be a great thing. Commissioner Martin, thank you. Um yeah, I have a couple questions for um both the applicant and staff. Mr. Wrestler, uh starting with you. Um so Wishing Well Park, that's kind of a new thing for me. I don't really understand what it is or whose property is it on. Is it on city rightaway for the drainage channel or is it on their property? That's correct. It's on public property. And so will we be putting a cover over the drainage channel? How's that going to work? Um they're proposing to cover the channel, but I think this will probably be an improvement that will be discussed at the city council level rather than the planning commission level. Okay. Yeah. I was just wondering, you know, who owns that? Where is it? Yep. Um and then we hear a lot about um you know this is a the pepper tree frosty is a historic resource in the city. Um and uh certainly it's over 50 years old so it meets that SQA threshold at least for study. So is there a study underway or will there be a historic resources study? There has actually been a preliminary study that's been completed by the applicant and I think Leb might want to dive into that. If not, I can

kind of relay the message. Yeah. At this point, the preliminary study took a look at the buildings. Uh, yeah, they do in fact exceed the 45-year, you know, threshold in terms of of requiring evaluation. At the conclusion of the report, however, based on all the modifications that have been made to each one of those buildings over the year, the historic significant of the building has kind of gone away at this point and there's nothing to preserve. Okay. Um, and then as for the project itself, a couple of comments. Um, the streetscapes are really nice. I I really like what you've done with that. Um, the mixeduse component, the commercial uh looks really good. Uh, so the first and then on the second floor, the common open space, very well done. Uh, I like uh, you know, what you've you've done with that as well. Um, kind of following up on Commissioner Grim's comment regarding the studios. Um, so here in the streetscape where we have on South Santa Fe, you pretty much have all onebedroom units. Um, and then along Eucalyptus, it's pretty much the same, but then as you look at the back side of the building, that's where you're stacking the studios. And so what it does, at least in my mind, is it gives the impression of a almost like a budget hotel look on that back side of the building. Um, I don't really know, you know, how you could change that other than maybe pushing them out a couple feet, giving those studios another three or four feet of floor area uh to break up that those wall planes. or maybe you integrate some of the onebedrooms on the backside to kind of break up the window placements that you see on the back side of that building. But right now, it looks really really uniform and um kind of detracts from the overall look of the the um

project. Um the floor plans, honestly, I'm I'm just not a fan of them. Every unit has a galley kitchen. Um I get it for the studios where you have limited floor area. you're going to push that all those kitchen amenities right up against one wall, but I don't really see why it needs to be done in the onebedrooms. Um, it'd be nice if you could put some bar seating in the kitchen maybe or an an island, something to kind of break up that that uh that uh floor plan a little bit. Um, and then my last comment is really about the trash uh the trash room. I don't understand how Edco is going to be able to service that. I don't know if you've talked to them yet. Um because it's underneath the building, certainly they can't get their truck under there. You've got some pretty big containers in there. So, I'm not sure how that's going to work. It's tricky. We talked to them. Okay. Thank you for those comments. I wrote them down. We will study it. All right. Thank you, commissioners. Anything on the site plan, parking, landscaping, floor plans? Okay, thank you so much. Thank you very much. Okay, now it's time for in this meeting that we um have any reports um from the commission. Any comments or reports? No comments from Patsy or anybody in staff. I'm looking at Director Vaka if he had any uh comments or updates at this point. Uh does not appear to be the case. I do have uh just one quick or a couple of notes. Um don't have any specific projects lined up at this point for an upcoming meeting I

should say within you know the next two meetings or so. So, um perhaps a little break after tonight's long meeting. Um well deserved. And I just wanted to let you know there's something that I wanted to share with you. Um a state bill um 1439. It has to do with uh what's called the living act. Uh and it references city officers which actually is addressing to any members of a board or a commission. So that would include the planning commission. It's something new that we're going to start um putting in our applications about uh any contributions that our applicant or developer are making to an elected official or a member of a commission such as yourself. And we have a disclosure form that's part of our application. And I just wanted to let you know that that's something new that we're going to start uh so that there is uh wellinformed decisions about um developers and whether there there's been some financial contributions made that will be part of the record uh when they apply for a project and then we'll be putting that together along with the staff report so that everybody is aware of it um as decision making process takes place. So just wanted to share that with you. What was that? What was that SB? It's called the SB Senate Bill 1439 and that would require that means that when a developer comes forward with the project that if they've contributed to that council person or what they that would be disclosed in that moment. That's it would be actually disclosed through a disclosure form at the time of application. And we would make sure as staff that prior to coming before a hearing for decision-m process or 6 months prior to that we would have these forms updated so that it's pretty current um as far as any financial contributions. So there's disclosure on that. Okay. Thank you. Sure. And that's all I had unless other staff in our team

had anything. Looks like not. Thank you very much. Thank you. Um, side note, it's my first meeting as chair. Um, I had a I'm a little nervous, but I I love being part of this community and uh I really appreciate our staff very much. They work so hard and um uh appreciate all the community involvement. All of your posts on social media and that you're here tonight means a lot. So, thank you for that. And uh to that end, meetings adjourned. Thank you.