Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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Good evening. Welcome to the November 13th meeting of the planning commission. And would you call the role? Uh, thank you, Chair. Uh, Commissioner Moran here. Commissioner Count here. Commissioner Strongman here. Commissioner Quac here. Commissioner Klopp here. Commissioner Nighting here. Vice Chair Niting, excuse me, here. And here. Chair Anderson here. We have a quorum. All are here. Very good. Do we have anything on the consent calendar tonight? Um staff has no suggestions.

Then uh we can move on to number three, which is public communications. Um you have two opportunities to speak tonight. You can speak on uh either of the individual uh hearings that we have scheduled. Um, if you have anything uh that you wish to speak on besides those items, something that is not on the agenda tonight, but it was within our jurisdiction, um, this is uh the time to do that. This for public communication. Yes, sir. And in in either case, if you could fill out a speaker card, that would be helpful before you do it. You can do it after you're done.

Okay. Uh I wonder if my kids started kindergarten. Um yeah, I I'm I'm really concerned about uh you know affordability and the cost of living here and um whether my kids or any kids can who grow up here can afford to keep living here. Um I think that we could do a lot more in terms of

getting the cost of living down in this area. Um in the last three years we built about 200 houses uh for a city with 70,000 people. um you know and uh my son just started kindergarten and there's you know it's it's great it's public school there's a lot of really affluent people who are there which is great it's great that they want to you know live in W Creek and and live here and um but you know uh it makes me nervous about who's moving out um you know if this was a lower income area we'd understand that pretty straightforwardly that's just gentrification right like richer people are moving in and lower income people are moving out including um people who work for the city or people who to the county. They just can't afford to to live here. Um, and I'd really encourage you to uh leave no stone unturned to try to make housing more affordable, right? With looking at how many houses you can build on a lot, uh, looking at the building code, looking at how long it takes to approve permits, um, to try to make that happen. Um, and the other thing is

just a minute, Jack. Just, uh, a lot of times the reason that people oppose new housing is because of traffic and and parking. Um I I think there's a lot that we could do in terms of traffic, you know. Uh I think there's something like 400 kids that go to my kids school and maybe eight of them ride their bike to school. But there's no reason we can't that's a solvable problem, right? If you look at Palo Alto, they have this whole website where 50% of the kids 50% uh ride their bikes to school or walk to school. Um and it just it just goes up over time. And it's because they've made it like they've actually focused on it, right? And so they measure it. Like if you were ask a principal or the superintendent how many kids walk her bike back to school, they don't know the answer to that question. Um but we could start measuring that and we could start optimizing it and we could work with the PTA's. We could work with the city. We could work with the schools to try to get kids to actually like ride their bikes to school instead of driving to school and that might

Jack be quite pretty. Okay. I did not have the timer on on I do have it on my I'll wrap up pretty pretty quickly. Um the other thing is around parking. you know, yeah, it is an inconvenience if uh new neighbors move in and and it makes parking harder to to find on the street. Um we could, you know, we have solutions for this. We have we have meters. We have um parking passes. We could issue parking passes and then let people sell them who live here. Um anyway, thanks very much. I appreciate your time and um best of luck with the rest of the agenda tonight. Thank you very much. Sorry about my kids.

Sorry. No need to apologize. Um okay. Anyone else have to wish to speak on something not on the agenda? If not, we will continue. Um are there any exparte communications to disclose? Going once, going twice. Well, I think most of us have received multiple emails on the uh topics on the agenda. So indeed,

but known dialogues based on those. Okay. Very good. We'll move on to the uh first public hearing and that is uh uh item 4 a retrojunkie

and ask for a staff report. Okay. So, um, good evening, commissioners. My name is Gerardo Victoria. I'm an assistant planner in the community development department. The project before you today is a special use permit and design review application for the eating and drinking establishment Retro Junkie located at 2112 North Main Street. So, just some site context. This is North Main Street right here. And this is North California. Retro Junkie is located right here where the star is. It is located in the city's core area surrounded by a mix of uses. Uh the project calls for approximately 1,200 square feet of new outdoor patio area and one food truck. The uh general plan designation is auto service and custom manufacturing. It is also located in the city's uh north downtown specific plan. And the zoning designation is auto sales service and custom manufacturing. Food trucks are permitted uh with approval of a special use permit. So the business plan, the current hours of operation for Retro Junkie are outlined here. Tuesday through Saturday 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. and Sundays occasionally from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Those hours are not changing. The food truck hours of operation uh will be Tuesday through Saturday 6:00 p p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Uh no bar will be located in the new outdoor patio space. Uh there will be two to three security guards located at all times in the new space as outlined in the staff report and highdefinition cameras will be

located in the new outdoor patio space. So this is the existing space right here, this picture above and the proposed is what it's going to look like. if permitted. You see the new outdoor space here with the food truck located there. So, uh here's the site plan. This is North Main Street right here. This is where the food truck is going to be located. According to the uh elevation drawing, the new decorative CMU fence will be located here with an exit door, an exit gate here and an entrance here located on this side as you can see it on the north elevation drawing right there. with new landscaping lining the exterior of the fence located right here and up to the side. Right here, right here is the entrance that is down here. So the special use permit findings are the same as the conditional use permit findings with one additional finding that states that the uses provided that the use provides a necessary service to the community. staff as proposed finds that the uh project does provide a um uh valuable community service uh by expanding the local dining and entertainment options and also provides adequate parking for Retro Junkie. The design review findings are outlined in your staff report and they are here. I really don't want to read the whole thing because it's just uh staff recommends a move to determine the sequel exemption and approve the special use permit and design review findings based on the findings outlined in the draft resolution to allow a food truck and a new outdoor patio patio space at 2112 North Main Street. And I am available for any questions. The applicant uh Robert Linham is also here along with the business owner Enrique

Monto. Any questions staff? Commissioner Strongman Sean, you may be referring me to the applicant, but I'll start out. Do they currently serve food at this establishment? I will ask the Okay, that next question. Yes. Um there appears to be a entrance in the back going into the parking lot. Will that also have security a security guard at the various times along with the front? I will let the business owner have answer that

and my big concern is there seems making sure that the pedestrians and the cars don't interact adversely. Um you have one entrance there going into the the five stalls and then the other entrance just bound going around to the real the real parking lot should we say.

Yes. Uh if I was pulling in there, I would probably pull in the first one myself uh when realize I'm in the wrong place and that creates issues with the sidewalk and north main getting out of there is what are we doing to resolve those things and also um pedestrians along the um driveway going to back to the main parking lot.

So okay um let me answer it this way. So, yes, there are going to be uh let me go back. So, there is a parking stall here and there's a sidewalk here. As you can see, those are all existing and uh this is going to be accessible parking space. Yes, you can pull in here and park your vehicle there. Also, along right here, the Oops, let me go back. There is like you stated the alley here, the entrance to the rear of the property where there's 42 parking stalls on site and then they have a shared parking agreement. So, they are uh satisfying the parking requirement. They're also going to as part of this new outdoor patio space, there is a new sidewalk that is going to be, you can see here and along here. Uh so, this existing sidewalk I wish I had a better picture. I'm sorry. Yeah, it like it goes to it extends past here to the Autoia Park uh business. But um I don't believe and maybe Robert Lam can can answer this. I don't believe there's a plan right here to do a a sidewalk along here.

Okay. Does that answer your question? Uh yes it does. Okay. Thank you. So So would the expectation be that um for most people they're parking in the back they come in through the rear entrance? Yes. So they wouldn't actually be walking down the alley? No. Okay. Any other questions? Commissioner Moran,

this might be uh better directed towards the applicant, but I'm curious if I'm walking down North Main, can I just pop in and grab some tacos and be on my way or do I have to Is there a a tiered system where I I have to go into the the bar or there's a cover charge or can I hang out on the patio? Can I Can I go into the bar and do all three? Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. And I'll let the business owner answer that. Yeah. They're going to deal with that. Right. Anyone else? All right. Well, we'll give the uh business owner a chance to uh speak for 10 minutes if you choose to use it.

Hello, I'm Enrique Montero, one of the co-owners of Retro Junkie. I want to say thank you for allowing us the opportunity to be here. Um, in regards to your question about the food truck, we are going to designate the food truck. We plan to designate the food truck for patrons only. Um, and they'll have to have a wristband uh to be inside and we'll police it or monitor it rather um to make sure we don't have any unwanted guests walking up um especially at the end of the night at midnight. Um we don't want people pulling over and hanging out the food truck. So, that's just a service we're going to offer our guests so, um, they can stay longer and have food and, uh, you know, be safe when they drive home so they're not, um, you know, just eating a candy bar or something, you know. Um, so that's how we plan to operate the food truck. What was the other question you might have had?

What was it?

Oh, that's right. The back door security. So, we do have a guard um station at the back door and um he makes sure they make sure that everyone walks around to the front. That's an exit, emergency exit only. Um as far as uh serving food right now, your question, we have uh a popup once in a while in in the back just to serve food to the guests. Um but it's not all the time. Um, but we when we did have our beer garden before during the pandemic, we had a food truck for four years. So, we're very uh experienced operating a food truck already and monitoring regulating the area with the food truck. Same same standards will uphold not allowing any guests to pull up and order unless they're entering the establishment. message.

So, just to follow up, you said the the entrance at the back is just a an emergency exit or

100%. Yeah, we don't allow ins and outs. So, when people leave, our guards instruct the patrons. Um, are you leaving? Have a nice day. Get home safe. If they are saying, "No, we're just using the phone. We're going to the car." Okay. If you leave, you have to go back around the front, get searched again, show your ID. Um, and and that's on a perase basis. Um, so yeah, that's an emergency action only. A lot of our patrons, I'd say 90, probably 80% of them park in the back. We get a lot of Uber drop offs and lift drop offs in the front and they don't pull. You know, you'd be surprised a lot of them don't pull in the front parking lot. They just pull over and drop off and and get out real quick. Um, I think they kind of either know or see that it's full.

Um, and so hopefully that'll continue to be the case. Yeah. Okay.

Robert Lyman, Johnson Lyman Architects. Um, and I just wanted to point out a couple of access uh access uh points. Um, there is a sidewalk that connects the back to the front. So, you can walk down the alley safely um if you're packed in the parked in the back parking lot. Um, there are also two accessible parking stalls in the back. Um, so, uh, the back door does serve alternately, I hope I'm correct here, for it's an accessible entrance for use by people uh, who need to use the accessible parking stalls. Oh, ADA. Yeah. Yeah.

So, it does serve that purpose.

Um, and then one last point to make. Um, it's not clear in this rendering, but there is an accessible path of travel that connects the from the front door to the city sidewalk, which um I don't think exists now. Um, and it it runs along the I think that's the Toyota building to the to the south uh which is behind the food truck. Uh there's a path to travel that goes along the building and then hangs a left and then you can see the sidewalk wrap around the new outdoor patio. That was really the only place we could make an accessible path of travel. Uh there's there's utility poles and utility boxes and a storm drain along that alley and it just made it really difficult to get a clean accessible path of travel. So that's that's why the route is looks a little circuitous. Thank you. A question about the the hours. Um, since the interior is open till 2:00. Um, but the food truck will close up at at midnight. Correct.

I'm sorry. I have bad I'm hard of hearing. All right. Can you The interior uh business is open till 2:00 a.m. Correct. Um, but the food truck closes at at midnight. Correct. And the outdoor patio as well.

Uh 1:00. Uh, we stopped letting patrons in at 1:00. So that's when we plan to do a sweep and push everyone inside. um when we stop letting patrons in. And then we allow we do last call at 110 and then we stop serving drinks at 1:20 and we stop the music at 1:30 and then we allow patrons at 140 145. We allow patrons once the music stops to use the restroom um find their friends, finish their drinks. Um and then at that point our security guards uh go around and make tell people in five minutes start making your way to the exit. Get home safe. and our number one priority is to make sure all our guests get home safe. Okay, Commissioner Quark.

All right. Thank you for the presentation and the explanations. It was very u helpful to understand. Um I did want to uh make sure I was understanding the um business plan properly. So the the food truck is not a permanent establishment on the property. It's a separate um business that comes and goes with the hours. I'm sorry. I'm really bad, hard hearing and I really am because I've been in the the nightclub business my the nightlife business my my whole life. Um can you repeat that question a little louder please? Yes. So the food truck um that's going to be on the parking lot. It's not going to be there all the time when the food truck is uh when it's not Tuesday through Saturday 6:00 p.m. through 12:00 a.m. the food the food truck is somewhere else.

Is the food truck going to be somewhere else? Yes. So I mean the food truck won't be on the parking lot. um when it's not operating? Yes. No, not at all. No, the food truck it will not be on the will will will not be on the premises. It'll only be there from 6:00 to 12:00 p.m. And at 12:00 p.m. they'll ship up and pack out. Gotcha. And then the other question I had was regarding the there's a shared parking agreement with the neighboring business. And that parking agreement goes from um until June 3rd, 2027. Mhm.

But the special use the special use permit that we're looking at goes until November 13, 2027. So there is a staggered time frame of of about four to five months. So um is this shared parking agreement new or is it a an existing one that's likely to renew? That's a great question. We actually uh we put this parking agreement together, I believe a year ago. We can amend it. uh we can do whatever we need to do to go ahead and and make it uh fit for the time frame. Okay. All right. Those are my questions. Thank you. What else?

Very good. Thank you. Are there any members of the public who would like to speak on this item? Have a speaker slip? You can hand it. Yeah. Hi, Jan Morren. Live in the Woodlands and I came down for the second one, but since I'm here, I'll give you this in a second. Um, I'm just curious. It it seems like because I'm not familiar with the location or with the the business. Seems like it's been just an a uh a bar, if you will, only drinks and no food, and they're bringing in the the um truck for food. Is that is that the understanding? Okay. because it still seems to me like you're uh my concern is uh you know over overuses of alcohol in our city and um so okay that's that answers my question. Thanks.

Good evening. I'm Kathy Hemmonway. I'm the executive director with the Walnut Creek Downtown Association. And um I have a little statement just to share um that on behalf of the association, we'd like to express our support for Retro Junkiey's um application for an outdoor dining area and on-site food truck. Um although Retrojunkie is just outside of our um boundary um we've worked very closely with their team um as they've been active participants in the hospitality alliance um which consists of downtown and most um uh city bars and restaurant operators um as well as a associate member. Um so our association has worked closely with um the economic development department in establishing the current outdoor dining program and um transforming the retro junkie space into an attractive well-designed social environment really aligns perfectly with the goals of that program and um the north downtown specific plan um to encourage outdoor gathering um and pedestrian friendly um designs and improved um site frontage which which is badly needed in this little neck of the woods. So, um adding that um consistent food option for patrons will enhance the customer experience, reduce the need for guests to leave the immediate area in search of dining, and support a safer and more complete evening environment. So, these are meaningful benefits not only for a retro junkie and their um guests, but also for the neighboring businesses as well. So that outdoor outdoor active activation has become a critical economic lifeline for many of our um businesses and this project gives an established local venue the flexibility needed to become remain resilient and competitive and responsive to changing customer expectations. So for these reasons we are um supportive

of um their application and we thank you for your your consideration. Excellent timing. Okay. Any questions for speaker? No. Okay. Any other speakers on this item? I guess I'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the commission. Discussion vice chair needing

I think this might be more of a question for staff. Um the one thing the rendering is beautiful by the way. I don't know who did it. Um, I just had to say that. But the one thing um that I wanted to ask about because I did see on the site plan the accessible path. That was the first thing that I noticed. Um cuz when you're interacting cars and pedestrians with regards to the photometrics, were there only photometrics done for the one street light that's in in the street and nothing on site? And the only reason why I ask is because if there's going to be a car that's parked, the food truck, it's right in front of the accessible path. And so and and it's next to a tall building. And so I was just wondering if there was any thought I did notice that it said that the landscape was going to have lights to try to provide safety. Um maybe it's not for staff. Maybe it's for the Can I ask the

Sure, but let me try to answer your question. Yes, the photometric study was done for the existing street light in the front, but nothing for onsite with for and so I I guess my my question is is with this new accessible path particularly since we were discussing the proximity between the cars and the pedestrians going to and from the back. Is there lighting to provide safe travel from the the ride ofway through up and over? I'm seeing the foot little foot candles for the street but nothing on site. So that's what I had to

Yeah. Robert Lyman again. Um yeah, the the phototric study was done to satisfy the city engineers requirement to to look at the street light levels and there was no requirement for us to do it on site. So that that's why it's only for the city street. But it's a good question. Um the concept of the outdoor areas is to have it well lit uh with with string lights and maybe some landscape lighting as as the rendering tries to show. By the way, that was Robert Becker who did the rendering who's been on the design review board forever or he was. Yeah.

Um great renderer. Um anyway, it's a great question about the path travel. Do you see how the wall is tall and then it's it would be blocked by the food truck? You just want to make sure that you have I can't Normally the foot candles have an expression beyond it doesn't just cut off like that. So, it's unclear. I'm sorry to interrupt you. It's unclear because of the phototric plan did not go on site. Um, all I can say is we'll make sure that we have adequate lighting for the entire path of travel. So it it isn't unsafe. Um that's all I can offer. I I couldn't give you foot candles right now. I know.

But it's a great question. It's a good point. Thank you for that.

Else entertain a motion if someone has one. Yeah. All right. So, um, I move that we approve the resolution for the Retro Junkie food truck and new outdoor space special use permit and design review application number Y24-027 at 2112 North Main Street. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Motion, Mr. Strongman. In light of the lights, uh, do we need to include that in part of the recommendation that there is adequate lighting on that path? If you all agree, I think it would be it's such an easy thing to to look at. How does that get is that in the reso? Does that get added to the reso? higher. Yeah. Amendment that can um that can be added to a a a condition of for the project. But am I looking to Yes. Is there is there a good place for that?

Yes. It's just to provide safe lighting along the identified path of travel on sheet because they they labeled it quite beautifully. SW1 is where they show that path to travel, right? Yes. And can can I suggest some language? Suggest.

Go ahead. Uh the one question nod of the head would be good. Is there an SDP for this? No STP. So, um the applicant shall revise the the site plan as adopted by the um planning commission to include adequate lighting along the ADA path of travel from the front to the rear. Did that capture it front to the rear? Okay. Okay. And I just um if the chair I can ask the applicant that they agree with that. Can you come up to the podium and say it on the record? Thank you.

The path the path of travel goes from the sidewalk. It goes all the way around the entire building. I will be helping him build out. I will make sure there's lighting going out onto the wall, which we'll get permission from the neighbor to do so. and all the way around the path of travel from the rear exit to the front it will be lit correctly and a lot so plenty of candle light for you. Excellent. Okay, I understand what you guys are saying and I we didn't notice so but it will be done. So, thank you. Okay. Okay. So, that can be um added to a planning condition number 10. Correct. Okay. Um, and then I the maker of the motion, the second agree.

Yes. Okay. Yes. All right. I think we're ready to vote. Okay. To call the role. Commissioner Quac, yes. Commissioner Klopp, yes. Commissioner Moran, yes. Commissioner Count, yes. Commissioner Strongman, yes. Vice Chair Nighting, yes. Chair Anderson, yes. Motion carries.

Thank you very much, gentlemen. All right. Um, we move on to uh following project 4 B. That's the Sierra Garden multif family residential affordable apartments. Good evening, commissioners. Simmergill, um, senior planner with the city. We are here tonight to consider uh the design review for Sierra Garden affordable multifamily development that will be located at 150 Sierra Drive. The applicant Jonathan Aman and his team are here tonight to answer any questions that you may have after the presentation. And just to quickly orient you, um the site is 1.4 4 acres and does consist of a 29 unit development housing development and the site is zoned planned development. However, it it follows the multifamily development standards and the site is also identified um in the housing inventory table as a um as a site that encourages or envisions more housing. And the project request before you tonight is to demolish the 29 unit structures uh to build the new six-story 87 unit um housing development. Uh it does consist of a mix of studios, one, two, and threebedroom units, new landscaping, 58 surface parking stalls. Uh the project also uh is requesting tree removal and drip line encroachment permits. And um it is also utilizing state density bonus law which um under that the applicant is requesting four waiverss to the city's development standards as well as two concessions

which we'll go into more detail uh further in the presentation. And uh just to give you a little background, this project did go before the design review commission earlier this year. The DRC did uh review the project as well as uh made a recommendation to move the project to planning commission uh with uh several design related comments that are uh listed on this slide and the plans were revised to address these DRC comments specific related to building colors, material, screening and landscaping. Um however, no changes were made to the uh parking layout. Um, a shadow study has been provided and I believe that's included as attachment nine of your packet tonight. Uh, the applicant also has a presentation and um, he will go into more detail on the shadow study. So, tonight uh, the planning commission um is consider considering the design review, the tree removal and ripline encroachment permits as well as the uh, density bonus uh, waivers. As mentioned earlier, this project is being processed under the SB330 Housing Accountability Act. Um, which essentially means that if the project meets the city's objective standards as well as the city's design standards, uh, the project cannot be denied. And this project does qualify to be processed under SP 330 as is a residential um, project with is 100% affordable housing project. And uh to go into a little more detail on the density, uh the lot is 1.4 acres. Uh and under the multi-family very height uh general plan density range, they are allowed to build up to 70 units, which is the base density. um utilizing state density bonus law because of providing affordable units uh

then gets them an increase of 80% in density which then is 76 uh bonus units in addition to the 70 base. Um the applicant uh could essentially build up to 146 units under density bonus law. However, um the applicant is only building 17 of those bonus units, which then results in a 87 unit development uh requesting four waivers and two concessions. And here is just a list which was also of the concessions and waivers requested tonight. This is also included in the staff report in more detail. And again, the applicant is presenting tonight. So, um he will go into each of these uh line by line. Uh but an example is uh a parking that the city requirement is 96 stalls. The applicant is proposing 58 which is a concession request under density bonus. Here is a look at the existing site plan on the top and the proposed layout which is the bottom um image and um the vehicle access is provided from the existing drive aisle uh from Sierra and a central walkway will connect various parts of the development. Um providing uh pedestrian access throughout the site and on-site amenities will include a private outdoor space that's located towards the rear of the site. Again, um I'll go into more detail when we get to the landscaping plan to show that area. Uh the there is an existing pool at the rear which will remain and the proposed building is set back approximately 41 ft uh where 15 ft is required along the frontage and 15 ft is required in the rear. Um I did want to point out that the um development is surrounded by multifamily uses to the north, south, and west which is across the street. Uh but however to the east which is the

rear of the site uh there are single family homes and this um uh the developer has proposed to build the building 20 121 ft away from the closest single family home. And here is the uh ground floor plan. Um as you see here there's a lobby that then takes you to the stairs or the elevator to go to the upper floors as well as the ground floor units. Uh the amenities are highlighted in the blue area. Uh there's a a bike room as well as the mail drop or mail room area as well as a community space um that does open up to the uh patio or the pool area in the back um with all the amenities and uh the other the orange everything highlighted orange is basically the waste collection or maintenance or utility areas. And um so the material pallet consists of horizontal um and vertical fiber uh cement panels and as well as uh fiber cement board and batten panels and perforated metal screens as well as uh window glazing. And the architectural vision for the project does use uh natural inspiration such as tower elements at key corners to feel like clusters of trees. And there is the material board with the actual material samples. And um the next few slides I'll probably quickly run through them because the applicant uh the design architect is here and they could go into more detail. So here is the south elevation um which is the um primary entrance for the building. Um and these uh renderings this thank you. So these renderings here um really just show where the front

entrance is and also the visibility from the street I have identified with a star just to show that it's still partially visible from Sierra Drive. And um it is there's a mix of material and colors that are carried along all elevations. Um, per DRC comment, the fiber cement sighting, um, initially was all white. So, to break up a lot of that white facade, they've incorporated a darker color. Um, I'll let the applicant, uh, confirm which color that they've decided on. Um, as you know, we we just received the material board tonight that's before you, presented before you. And here's the north elevation, which is essentially access the rear of this uh, building. And again uh fiber cement sighting was changed to be a darker color uh based on DRC's suggestion. Uh the west elevation this is the street facing elevation which features that rounded corner element. Uh lands uh here you can also see that landscape setback which really provides that area or transition between the sidewalk and the new building. And this is the east elevation. And uh this is the back of the site again which opens up to the the community room which opens up to the outdoor space. Uh it connects uh to the garden and the pool and other amenities. Um as mentioned earlier as part of this project there are also trees that are being removed. Uh there are 17 on-site trees. Of these the uh city's consulting arborist was able to support the removal of most of those trees due to the health and species. However, there were four trees which are identified with the red circle which are inferior to good health. Uh so they would require planning commission consideration to remove. And uh the trees that are identified with the green star are all

of the um offsite or neighboring trees um which the uh project will um preserve as part uh have protective fencing during construction to preserve these trees. And I also wanted to point out tree number 393 I believe is also on the neighboring property. Um and that tree is also being preserved but it wasn't really clear in the arburest report. So I wanted to highlight that. And moving on to the landscape plan. Um there will be a mix of five gallon shrub grasses and vines as well as 47 new trees that will be planted. And uh per DRC suggestion um the applicant has incorporated I believe four or five additional trees um from when DRC last saw this project to um provide further screening uh in the back as well as a larger tree in the front to really um uh because there'll be ben the bench and a larger tree which is just to activate that frontage and uh the design does retain and enhance the existing pool. The key improvements include the permeable paving, the garden planters, the play areas as well as the benches. And the landscape does uh the open spaces. It connects to the garden and um is also that entire area or the entire development will be enclosed by a uh wood fence along the um property lines. Um so as part of the um city's review, this project was subject to the city's design review standards and guidelines. Uh what you see to the left is a checklist again included as part of your agenda packet. That's just a snippet, but there's a entire uh a list of uh standards that needs to be complied to. And this project does comply with all standards, design standards.

Um so this project is also subject to review under SE sequa and pursuant to uh the uh California Environmental Quality Act. It does qualify as a infield development project um and meets the uh requirements for the categorical exemption as um the project is consistent with the multi- uh family general plan land use as well as the um plan development zoning. Uh the project site is less than five acres. Uh so it meets that uh that criteria and the project site has no value as habitat and it's it's been a site that's been developed for years. The project uh does not generate any significant effects related to traffic, noise or air quality. And this project um has been reviewed by the city's traffic engineer and um the engineer has confirmed that um it screen the VMT screens out as it's um an affordable housing project that's located in an infill location and consistent with the general plan and housing element which does encourage higher or more density near transit. Um and uh the noise levels will be within the city's acceptable noise range for residential uses. And the construction um emissions are anticipated to be minor and will comply with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District uh screening thresholds as well as uh it will go through the um building permit phase where there will be inspections and uh careful review of um construction hours and um construction process. Uh the project site uh is also currently served by existing utilities infra infrastructure and for these reasons it does qualify for that exemption. Uh so tonight uh staff does recommend that the planning commission um adopt

the draft resolution um to approve the design review the density bonus as well as the tree removal and drip line encroachment permits. And for the record, I wanted to um mention that there was a minor typo or error on um uh page one of attachment one, which is the draft resolution. Um so it's in the background section. So it's not a condition. So there was a typo, which we will have corrected after prior to the adoption of the decision you make tonight. And I I believe I should also mention that we received 18 um public comments uh of which 17 were in support and the one written comment we received was in opposition. Okay. Thank you. And I'm happy to answer any questions.

Questions. Commissioner Strongman. I'll take on first. Um could you give me the square footage of each of the floor plans? you know, threebedroom, two-bedroom, the like. It's in the uh the plans, but I didn't have it in my presentation, but it's detailed. And um I believe the applicant's presentation is going to touch on that. And what is the uh income range for uh being a resident here? Great question. Again, um applicants will cover this. Yeah.

And third question is, will this rema how long will this remain in the affordable housing stock? Is it going to be 20 years, 40 years, or Oh, it's the it's the 55 year. 55 years. And that's a condition of approval as well. Okay. And since we're reducing the number of parking spaces, how are they going to be divvied up between the the units? I'll let the applicant okay cover that as well. I'll pass then. Thank you very much. Other questions? request your meeting.

Um I see in the Sierra regarding relocation FAQs um and it's interesting because it says will it provide relocation um assistance when who wrote this? So that is provided by the applicant but the city also has a relocation assistant. Uh it's in our municipal code. So it's a requirement that the applicant will have to abide to. Okay. And it this meets the criteria because the housing crisis act which which um modified the housing accountability act pursuant to SP 330 states what's required for re relocation. And so I just think it's interesting that they automatically state between$1 to $2,000. Um because it's really depending on income for the past five years. That's the way that's the way the law is written. I can ask the applicant when they come up also. Um which I'm sure they already know because they filed under the HCA. I read it that way at first too, but then when I reread it, I read that as that's the m moving assistance.

Moving assistance, correct? And then the financial assistance that's separate is a different number. That's the difference between the current rent and a Yeah. And our municipal code does state um I think I have it right here. I'll just read it straight out of there. Do you want to pass this as well? Does the but does the municipal co It matches what the HCA requires? Yeah, it does because it talks about the uh monthly rent.

It's just interesting because I didn't think that you could qualify the moving assistant assistance to a certain that's all I mean I know that you need to provide the financial you know either I think it's like x amount of months of rent that's curious. It says the sum payable in cash equal to four times the current monthly rent of the property uh being vacated. Oh, in this that's in the municipal and it will need to comply to Got it. Okay. That I didn't read that in the relocation. Sorry. And maybe I misunderstood me. I was like, "Oh my gosh, just $1,000." And that's actually just there's actually moving and that's for moving. No, there I know there is.

Yeah, we're moving right right before it. Yeah. Okay. Um well, that's great. Thank you. So if anything uh what the applicants presented tonight is exceeding what our municipal code requires. Yeah. Those lines since we seem to have state law or municipal code and what they're offering which one controls I'll let Claire the municipal code implements the state statute. So it's in line. Okay.

I think about questions. Um the concessions and the waiverss. So that's those are the ones that they're requesting. Um is there any actual discretion in that? I mean they're requesting them or are they just telling us the ones that they're going to use?

So yes. So they list out the ones that they believe they cannot meet which a waiver basically physically precludes uh feasibility of the development. So, it's waiverss to development standards and uh city evaluates to make sure none of those standards or even concessions result in any uh public health or safety impacts. Uh for an example, is vehicle access emergency access still being provided? Will egress windows be provided? Uh other building code and safety requirements, are they still would this conflict with any of those? And if it doesn't, then the city really cannot deny it without making substantial findings. Thank you. Um, and the, uh, the neighbors to the north, uh, those are multif family housing as well. Uh, and how tall are those buildings?

To the north? Yeah. Two stories, three stories. Um, they're two stories. Yeah. And that area allows up to 30 foot height limit. Okay. Um, okay. Yeah, that's all. Any other questions? Thank you very much. No problem. Appreciate your report. Thank you. Um and then we will have the applicant they wish to speak for 10 minutes indicated you have a presentation. So I'm guessing you will do that.

Introduce yourself.

Good evening. My name is Jonathan Astman, director of development with Satellite Affordable Housing Associates. I'll take a couple minutes to describe Saha and why this project is needed and then hand it off to Padram Faraj Bondi, principal at David Baker Architects to dive into the design. Saha is an established mid-size affordable housing developer, owner, manager based in Berkeley and we operate primarily in the East Bay. Uh we have own and managed five communities in Walnut Creek. So in addition to Sierra Garden which is affordable housing currently uh Kasam Montego and Montego Place are adjacent senior communities near John Mir Medical. Akalanes Court is on Trinity A just east of the freeway. So just west of downtown here and the newest one completed in 2015 is Arbala which you could see here is uh about a block west of North Main Street on Third Avenue. Why is the project needed? Two reasons. The current design is obsolete and the housing crisis. Um, CR Gardens was built in phases beginning in 1948. We acquired the property and performed a moderate rehab in 1995. We take care of it, but it's a relic. The second reason is coastal California in general and desirable areas like Walnut Creek in particular are in the midst of a housing affordability crisis. Um, yeah, crisis. Um, and this is a 1.4 acre underutilized site just east of downtown already owned by SAHA. So, we propose to exactly triple the amount of housing on site from 29 homes to 87 to 86 um 87 of the manager's unit. These are future residents incomes profiles. So, for example, on the far right, a family of four would be earning roughly $50,000 to $100,000 a year. This gives you a sense of rents which are several hundred or in some cases over $1,000 below market.

All right. Thank you, Jonathan. Hi, my name is Pedan Farish Pandandy. I'm principal at David Baker Architects. Uh we're based in San Francisco. We've been doing housing for the last 43 years in the Bay Area. This is our first project in Walnut Creek that we're very excited about. Uh we've done over 20,000 homes. Uh but out of those 20,000 homes, we always choose to show this photo, not because we designed San Francisco City AL, but we designed the two buildings framing the photo. Uh and but what's powerful about this image is one of them is a high-end condominium building and the other one is supportive housing. And a lot of people cannot tell which one is what. And that's because we bring the same amount of care and design philosophy to every project regardless of the affordability level. And that's one you know design for human experience connect to a place that we're designing for and essentially sustainability is big part of our practice and it's by betting on the future and do less uh do more with less. Uh the overall design is you know we talked about the context where it is and how close we are to downtown. It's also in the transitioning zone. So we have single family on one side and apartments on the other side. Uh the current buildings are scattered around the site and what's standing out to us is how uh permeability is basically non-existent right now on the side. Um this is the the first sketch we did for the project and we came up with these organic shapes that were informed by the uh the beautiful redwood trees on site and also the axis the two axis of the project is connected with this fine-tuned custommade uh perforated metal panels. Uh these are the the sustainability features we're incorporated into the project. But I also want to highlight a couple things.

One is uh reducing the footprint of the built uh building and giving back more to the land and also bringing daylight into our circulation. So this is the current site plan. You can see we're proposing a lot of surface parking uh but also all those will have permeable pavers. Uh as Samir mentioned, we're enhancing the pool and adding a lot of greenery as well. Uh this is the project how you see it from uh Sierra Gardens. Uh you can see the book end and the organic shape. Uh and then the the rest of the volume is articulated by sun shades facing south. Uh a little bit about the materials. We have uh this random batton sighting which is essentially hardy panels. You can see some of these u you know the the materials and our current projects. Uh it it brings depth also to the facade. You can curve the volume because it has it's segmented. Uh this is a project we did uh along Coliseum Bart and a successful use of uh perforated panels. So as you approach the project, a lot of it is the driveway and the fire access. Uh but on the side we have this uh really nice nicely planned ramps that also provide accessibility to the site. and also the the custom perf panels that mark the entry and also uh filter air for this open stair that we have at the entry. And as you walk in, the landscape also goes into the lobby and then there is a a courtyard beyond the lobby and it's open air so you have through ventilation. And in the back uh we have the toddl lots and you know gathering spaces that are connecting to our community space on the ground floor and a view from the pool. And you can

see the book end element repeating itself in the back as well. And our landscape architect is not here today but we're using a lot of native planting opening up the ground and uh allowing more permeability. Uh these are different features of the site. You can see the resident's garden, the existing pool, and the driveway. Um, as Samir mentioned, we're back uh as much as possible from the back of the property uh to allow more trees and uh more parking. This is what the maximum density was. I understand there are state laws to to allow that. But I think as designers it is also our responsibility to propose something appropriate for the site to make sure this laws stays. Uh you already saw this but then I want to highlight what what it would have been if we would have built the maximum density. These are a couple sections through the side. This is the existing condition. I want you to pay attention to the red dash line. This is the current view uh of the sky. This is the max density and this is how far we're setting back the building. And then we did uh have some shadow studies. I believe you guys have have this printed also. This is the existing condition. This is in June. And in September the existing building start shadowing the neighboring building in the back. Uh and then in December also it does in the afternoon. This is the max density allowed in June. Uh and then you can see how in December it would have been really shading. This is what we're proposing. In June we're not shading that. And then in September also uh there's more access to sunlight. It's early uh or late afternoon in December that we start shadowing the the building to to norththeast. So these are all three compared to each

other and Jonathan will walk us through waiverss and concessions. Thanks Pam. Well said. Uh so we're entitled to request these waiverss and concessions because we're committing to set aside 15% of the homes for very low affordable households. But keep in mind we're restricting the other 85 or 83% of units as affordable as well. So we respectfully request four waivers and two concessions in accordance with policy H1.5 and the current housing element which says in part quote the city shall advise developers on how to maximize their use of waiverss and concessions. Uh first is a waiver of the 30-foot height limit enacted by ballot measure A in 1985. Page 3-26 of the current housing element says, quote, "Affordable housing developers are taking full advantage of state density bonus law to secure the height concessions needed to optimize the number of units in a project. This strategy is fully supported by the city. Uh we request a waiver to also to the 25 foot side setback requirement, which is particularly challenging on a long narrow site such as this. We request a waiver to the requirement to provide 200 cubic feet of storage per unit. And we request a waiver of the requirement to provide a 20 foot x 20 foot light court in front of the primary living room windows and a 10 x10 light court at the primary bedroom windows. We request two concessions to make the project economically feasible. The first is to provide 58 parking spaces as simmer mentioned instead of 96. Regarding this, consider that one, more parking leads to more car ownership and therefore more traffic. And two, that lower inome households tend to own fewer cars. And there's a page in your packet that provides citations of recent data and studies in California to demonstrate these two points, but they're well supported by numerous other studies over decades in various parts of the world. And the second concession is not to provide a formal passenger loading loading zone for a couple reasons. The

main one being it would result in a loss of four parking spaces. We're running out of time, so I'm just going to run quickly. I just want to consider how challenging it is. It's this is the fire access diagram, and in order to build anything there, it it's really it's really hard. Yeah. Through the chair, the applicant was informed that they they could have up to 15 minutes. So, that's fine. Yeah. And I I can talk about other things in answering questions. Okay. Thank you. Very good. Thank you both. Um questions. Mr. Count,

thank you so much. First of all, I just want to say this is gorgeous and so well planned out. It's really exciting opportunity. Um, having walked around the site uh myself, uh, this is looks like a huge improvement in terms of walkability, in terms of access. Um, I'm thinking about the residents who live there right now. And since you own the property, um, I would love to hear more from you about what your process is, uh, for when this goes into construction, what happens to those residents and what um, you know, because you own other properties in Walnut Creek, do they have the opportunity to move there? Do they have priority to come back to move here? Just a little bit more about your plans for taking care of those residents. Great question. Thank you. So any relocation over 12 months is considered permanent relocation. Um because the this building is currently affordable housing, it's subject to the Uniform Relocation Act, which provides a lot more assistance than what's what's required by city code. Um, so residents will receive the difference between their current rent and a market rate rent for 3.5 years to five years. We're I can't confirm five years yet depending on individual household eligibility. So that could easily be six figures. That's a down payment for for a lot of households there. Um, sorry, what were the other question? Oh, oh, yes. We've already met with residents. We have a relocation consultant on board. We've met with them. um they're they're aware. Um we'll keep them posted with our time frame which right now is uh uncertain like we don't have a clear construction start date yet. It's at least a couple years off

and yeah our relocation consultant will work with them to find to find housing um to help them as much or as little as they want. Um, residents who want who meet the income and eligibility underwriting guidelines can get a preference to move back into the new building when it's completed? I think that's was Did I miss anything? Thanks.

And do uh do you typically own and manage the your properties once you've built them? We've done a couple developments where we were a fee developer for a different entity, but in general, we're just a indefinite long-term owner manager. So, try to build high quality, durable materials buildings built to last. Um, and uh given that uh you have substantially fewer parking spaces than units um planned, uh what is the transportation situation that particular spot? there buses that go by or do they have to get uh uh to a different spot to to get transportation?

Yeah, there's public transportation relatively close. I think it's within a third of third of a mile. Uh well, depending on resident interest, we can definitely look into setting aside one or two parking spaces for car share. Um you got a bike room that's handy. Yeah. And the bike room is larger than required by code. Other questions? Commissioner Moran,

I'd like to follow up just with the with the the parking situation because I my math is is a little rough certainly, but if you take the the number of uh on the low end, if say there's one person in the studio and there's one person in one bedroom and there's I think I did two people in a a threebedroom, that's roughly 85 people, which we're expecting I I would imagine a lot more on the high end. And if you have three people in a three-bedroom, two people in a two-bedroom, and all that, my numbers come out to about 200 people living in the building, which is is fine with 58 parking spots. And I'm just curious, I what's interesting to me is it seems like, you know, in the the parking information that you guys have provided, it says essentially that if you build it, they will come or rather they will not. meaning like people will will live there and forego their cars. Are we sure about that? I mean, because that's in the San Francisco area because it seems to me if there's 200 people in the building, there's 58 parking spots. That's roughly a quarter, right, of the people that will be able to to drive. And I'm sure that they, you know, might say, "This is perfect me because I want to give up my car." I think that I just worry that we're going to be putting way a lot more cars on the sidewalk because we're not in San Francisco. We're we're in the suburbs. Um can you just talk about about that other than you know the studies that have shown that uh if people get into this type of housing they may not own a car but just if you could elucidate on that I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Yeah well it's a correlation right? So if people are don't have a place to convenient place to park their car, they tend, you know, tend in general to have less car ownership. Um, is that your experience with the other properties that you own in Walnut Creek?

You know, we did do a parking survey of residents several years ago. I could look back on data yet. I don't I don't know exactly the data. I'm not even sure we have data on all the cars that residents own in Walnut Creek, but I could look into that. I I guess just as a as a as a followup, and I'm I I I'll tip my hand. I support the project, but uh if the numbers say that 38% of the people that live in low-income housing do not own a car, we're below that right here. If we're talking about Sierra Gardens, um I don't think there's anything to be done about that, but I would just like to point out that we to to Commissioner Strongman's uh point, I would love to know what who gets what, right? And how it is divvied up and the lottery system and I'll I'll let him ask that question, but I think that's that's a interesting point to be made.

Yeah. To council member Strongman's uh question, first residents can request a reasonable accommodation. So if someone for instance has a a physical impairment where they need parking close to the entrance, they could tell our property manager they read readily accommodate reasonable accommodation requests and then for the remaining spaces there would be a lottery I wanted to uh quickly go through uh

may add something to your question. So, usually our experience with other projects in general is um a lot of the larger units with three and two bedrooms uh they do get a park install usually because they're the people who have kids and we have uh less than 58 threes and twos essentially. So, if you have a three-bedroom and two-bedroom, you assign them a parking and usually that's how it works in other properties. I'm not sure how it's going to be. What is just as follow is it assigned meaning I have spot 42. It has to be assigned, right? Yeah.

Well, I'll have you there if you would. Um, I just want to go through quickly the design review comments. Um, uh, you you've described the change in the color that more varied and Yeah, absolutely. So, maybe I use this image. Uh, so um, we have some projecting base both facing south and north. So we made we changed the colors to gray that you can see on the material board and we also change the orientation of the material. Okay, to instead of being horiz horizontal they're vertical. So it's both the change in color but also the orientation of of the material. So some of the these are not terribly detailed the way they've described

it. Elevations need more work. I think that's what you're just describing here. Changes there. Yeah. So I can go Yeah. So you can see it here. uh the the gray bays that you see, you also can see the vertical lines that used to be white and we changed those those four bays to to gray color. Um it uh it also said use fiber cement that looks more like wood. Yeah. What was your response to that?

Yeah. So, we um I'm going to use the the example because it's a material that's it's hard to to render, I guess. So, I'm going to use um the very beginning example that we had. So this one um so we're using that a a brown material and our interpretation of wood is you either have to use wood or or not. And then our experience with affordable housing is you have to maintain wood in order for it to make good. um we want to we want to make sure the project looks good day one but also 5 years from now. So using actual wood is it's not good and then if you you color it like a wood like I think it's cheating.

Okay. Um and the last one he was incorporate more screening of rear elevations north and east from neighbors particularly concerned with the north because um I think the you know even if you had set back you know the required amount instead of the the shorter amount they're quite low and you're quite tall and uh you're on the south side so they're going to get a lot of those shadows excuse me certainly in December and maybe in September as well. Um so uh and plus you're closer on that one. So what are what can you do to help those people? Yeah. Deal with that.

Yeah. Well, that comment was also towards the the east side and we increased a lot of larger trees there. So that that one we could address given the site narrowness and the need for a fire lane. It it was really no room to to incorporate that. What we have is uh I'm going to go back to the site plan. Um maybe on the upper floors is that we also have um you know we have our regular setback but we also add a window to the side so not directly to the north I don't know if I can point with this yeah for instance you know the the bedrooms are further back from the property line but the living rooms we added this secondary window so if they want to block it off they still have a window and not looking directly at the neighbor. So that that was the the idea here.

Thank you. Good. Any other questions? Commissioner Strong. Yeah, there was a comment made um by the applicant um that it would be a couple years before you actually start construction and I believe our resolution doesn't last that long. if or secretary could could correct that. I think the resolution is is suggest two years. Um if if it if it takes longer than that to get a building permit, then they would have to come back request an extension. Yeah.

Yeah. The the way affordable housing fund works, you have to apply for it and you don't get it, you apply next year. That that's why we don't know. Yeah. question needing the

if the planning commission wishes you could increase the life of that original resolution. You can consider that in a motion. Um I had a question about I understand that the project screened from BMT and there's you know a lot of discussion regarding parking and there's always discussion about traffic. Um, I know that Walnut Creek has a TDM program that they have. And so my question is, I'm taking a look at this memo and obviously there's no BMT and LOS is out the door with, you know, that Senate bill a few years ago. It looks like there's some car share program, but considering that you know the applicant and maybe it's a question for the applicant, considering that you all have a practice of providing well-run developments, my question to you is were there any other TDM measures that are being implemented? because when I look at the site plan, I don't even see the EV EV parking spots noted, but you're but it says that there is a car share program. Could you elaborate some of those because there's I mean the city of San Jose, for example, because they're they're trying to strive for an incredible amount of affordable housing. They have a very robust TDM program that is not tied to SQUA. So, it's something that you do separately, but at least they have a lot of good programs like even education of residents to see what their alternatives are to get out of a car and you're so darn close to Broadway Plaza, you know,

enough where you're not deep down Ignosio. Could you talk about that? Yeah. Uh yes. So the building will have six EV parking spaces and then I think an additional 17 will be EV ready where we could easily add Yeah. chargers to that. Uh to your question, are we're providing more indoor secure bike parking than is required. There will be room for at least 92 bikes and ebikes. Um yeah, like I said, we're we'll evaluate the the car share program if there's an interest. We're happy to

for for your other developments. Um has it ever worked where I know a TDM measure is almost marketing or the ability to um you can sign residents up for any of the local programs or you know, bus news or something. so that they know, okay, I have these are my options for transit or there's options to also coordinate with other friendly neighbors that maybe want to carpull together. I know that and and it's difficult when you're doing for sale um affordable, but since this is um for rent and you are going to be a property manager, have you ever done that in any of your where you're helping connect residents to carpool and giving them accessibility to all the transit programs that are available? We have a number of properties where we obtain for residents free give residents free uh transit passes. So happy to look into that. And the carpool idea is a great idea. happy to

well to kind of facilitating people to the transit passes cost you money and that's not what I don't want to do that

what I would but it would be interesting to do the things that take minimal effort but provide such a big benefit and there's so I mean the city engineer could describe there's a plethora of TDM measures and the idea is to be able to get residents the knowledge or connected if hey If so and so has a car and you're going to the same school, owning a car for affordable for folks that can't afford it's expensive maintenance, insurance, all and so it would be I I personally would love to see that in some of your developments if you're going to continue um developing in Walnut Creek to be able to provide those measures that don't cost you any more money, right? but then help provide this benefit that you would normally look at when you didn't scream out of screen out of VMT.

It's a great idea. Thank you. And those transit passes, there's a grant program that Okay. I was I'm not trying to charge you more money writing a grant. Commissioner count. Yeah. So, related to a few of the the prior comments, um uh so I used to live near this area and walk by quite often. Um, and so I'm thinking about um how your current residents um how the kids get to school from here. Are you aware of whether they're driving or walking, biking? I don't know. I'm happy to check with the property manager. Okay. I I would imagine that at least for elementary and middle, they can walk from there. Um Yeah. And actually

depending depending um right it depends if it's if it's Indian Valley Elementary then you're going up then you're not walking or biking but if you're Walnut Heights I'm not sure yeah right um but that would be good information to know in terms of uh then they wouldn't necessarily need the car and and even the car pool and the um yeah and then I just wanted to ask about um the open air lobby that's described on here. Um, how is it open air if there's floors above it? What how what does that look like? Can you just Well, open air I mean on the sides there's opening and then even the fence it it it's perforated metal.

So you have through ventilation and also that on the upper floors there's also openness. You can see over here where the red arrow is it's open. It's just guardrail. And then in the back is also open. It really helps with smell and then also reduce the the hback load on on these circulations. Nice. So if you're cooking for instance and the next door it the the smell doesn't concentrate. Interesting. Yeah. And then also the stair is open air that encourage people to to use the stair and feels also safer especially you're if you're on the lower floors. That has been our experience that people use the elevator less when there is a nicer stair

in the lobby to use. Right. Nice. Okay. Thank you.

Other questions. I'll open up the public hearing. If you have uh something to say on this item, have two minutes to do so. If you provide a speaker slip, that would be helpful to us. Hello, my name is Mike Swan. I live on uh Edmund Court, which is almost immediately north of the project that's being proposed. Uh maybe half a block. Um my main concern is the parking situation. I fought tooth and nail about 10 or 15 years ago to get permit seermit parking on my block and they finally granted it to me. Um it was great for a while but then I don't think they monitor that much anywhere. There's not a real problem now because we're not getting as much uh traffic as we would be getting with this proposed project. It's uh Okay. And what I guess I'm having a hard time getting my wrapping my head around the comment that if we build more spaces that they're going to want um it gives them what is it um more spaces would lead to more car ownership. I'm understanding that um that's uh 45 when you guys were saying that uh 58 um spots are what they're asking for. um the city was requiring 96 and that's what this concession is going to be. Is that's a 45% discrepancy. Does that mean that 45% of the people that are going to be moving into this place do not have cars? I know u Mr. Brand brought this up earlier. Um, that's my main concern is the traffic and the um problem with people parking on my block because it happens uh it's going to happen a lot more if there are no

places for people to park within this facility because there's no straight parking as if you drive down there right now. Drive down Sierra and anytime during the middle of the day there is no places to park. So, this overflow that's going to come from these um only 58 spots rather than 96 spots, there's no place for these people to go. They're going to start encroaching. I don't know if it's um you know, if I'm going to have to um talk to the W Creek Police Department to be more proficient in monitoring the street than they are now. And then the other concern is with a lot more of that congestion, that three-way stop sign on Edund Court and um Sierra at least five times a week people blow through that and I almost get t-boned. Uh again, the police don't monitor that much anymore. The considering the amount of traffic that's going to be coming through there, I'm worried uh also that uh you know there's going to be more problems with that intersection. So, thank you for your time.

Can I ask ask staff is the do you know how many parking spaces are there currently for the 29 units? I don't have the exact number, but I think there's currently 29 or 30. Okay. Thank you.

Hi, I'm Harrison from Edmond Court. Uh right in the right eyes I shot to this development. Uh thanks for taking community input on this project. While we're excited to welcome new neighbors and support affordable housing, I think it is also really important that we uh work together to minimize the potential challenges in the neighborhood and uh kind of limit the the effect the expansion will bring. So, I want to focus on some things that we can do. Uh we know parking is an issue. It has historically been an issue. help ensure tenants know that there will al almost certainly not be any street parking and uh to expect bike or walk or and to expect to bike or walk unless there's some kind of underground or multi-level parking which I assume was not feasible. Uh while we do walk to town a lot, right? Um you do still have to do a fair bit of driving. It's not quite as dense as San Francisco and you will have to drive to uh Walnut Heights um to because you have kids. Same thing from a city perspective. As Mike said, strict parking enforcement will be greatly appreciated. There's it's already impacted. Adding more cars, even if it's a couple more, will impact it quite a bit. And then, uh, traffic is quite heavy for an area with so much foot traffic as well. If there's anything we can do to add like bus routes, accessible walking paths, maybe a stricter flow control of people going through because there's lots of people who kind of skip downtown to kind of go through, that would be really helpful because with kids, we're trying to walk. We're trying to encourage more walking, but we're also putting more cars on the road and people in the area. It's kind of a we're trying to find a good balance, right? And also, it will be the tallest building in the community, almost kind of double the size of the next largest building in the area. Uh it will stick out unless we kind of pull out all the stops to really try and blend it into nature, blend in with everything. So, it's not just the tallest in the in the area. Like, I'm down the hill a little bit in Edmond. So, it's going to be like a large monolith on top of a hill, which is fine. But we anything we can do to help design it make it a little blending would be really really grateful. So uh

thank you for that. Thank you. Yes. Welcome back.

Yes. Thank you. Uh Jan Warren. Uh it's what I came for. I've been supporting affordable housing for years in this city. This is a beautiful development. Asaha has a wonderful reputation and u they actually uh do what they say they're going to do. Uh I have a few questions regarding how many units are going to be for people with disabilities uh in terms of showers or kitchens or whatever like that. Um trouble reading my notes. I was happy to see you have elevators. I couldn't find it on the draft. I'm like my gosh is it just stairs? So hopefully there's two. Uh I have a comment about wood fences as all of us uh out in the hinterland are working on defensible spaces in which wood is not up against our houses. So I assume it's like between the neighbors and it's not attached to the building. Um the roof appears to be white. Uh I hope it really is and that it's reflecting. Uh all the sustainability features uh on this uh are are wonderful. Um the uh I have a red bud tree and it's beautiful. Uh but after it blooms you get these very brown crunchy uh bean looking things like mimosas or something and it is a bit of a mess. So you might want to reconsider that. Um let's see here. We are moving to a micromobility uh position in this city. Our city's working very hard to make uh mobility for everyone and we're, you know, we're just in the process of this big transition. These folks won't have to sit on Valley Road unless they want to go out to the hinterland. Uh but the the the it's a wonderful location. It's close to all the amenities and good schools and I just can't celebrate enough. Thanks.

Thank you. Hi, my name is Rachel Loren. I am a resident of Walnut Creek. Um, I'm here to voice my support for the CR Drive uh project. As most of us in this room know, um, we need more housing, period. And as a renter, this fact is much more tangible and urgent than I would imagine it is for someone who already owns a home. So, I support turning the existing 29 units into 87 units that is proposed. Um, additionally, as somebody who lives within walking distance of downtown and BART, I cannot overemphasize how nice it is to be able to go shopping, commute to San Francisco, and go out without needing to drive. Um, in addition, being able to live in a walkable neighborhood, especially with kids, is something that should not be out of reach for families. Um, walkable cities are what builds community interaction and civic engagement. Um, this is the Walnut Creek that I hope for and imagine for the future. Um, if parking is an issue, as we have heard tonight, um, I would encourage this commission to think of some creative ideas for handling that separately on a broader level in Walnut Creek. um as well as do some research to understand how Walnut Creek can accommodate and encourage less car use. Um why not do your own surveys on car ownership in Walnut Creek um for renters? Um why not promote car share or transit information um on a city level instead of relying on private developers to do so? Thank you so much.

Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak on this? Perhaps we could have the uh applicant have five minutes to address any of the issues there and have come up. Uh in particular, uh residents with disabilities, what provisions for that? Um what is the fencing that you have around the property? And uh what's on the roof? What color is it?

Yes. So for um mobility units, these are the accessible units. the the building code for this type of population requires 15% of the units. However, it has to be equally dispersed among all unit types. Um so it always end up being even more uh to get that. So I I imagine it's somewhere in uh between 15 to 20 of the units will be fully accessible. Um and the uh

gonna ask so public buildings like this building or a library are subject to section 11B of the building code but also affordable housing is so it requires so 15% of the units be like pram said fully mobility accessible but the remaining units are all uh easily convertible so they'll have things like um like your kitchen sink cabinet you can easily take out a few screws and pull that out. So, it could be like a roll on or there's all these ways you can easily convert the unit to make it um yeah accessible. And then Saha Property Management, I mentioned this earlier in regards to parking, but we readily um work with residents who submit a reasonable accommodation request. So, they might say, "I need a a door like where you press a button, my my front door automatically opens or whatever it is." They'll they'll request what they need and then we we work with them to accommodate their needs. I I think I noticed that that the the roof is primarily covered in solar panels. Um so so it's not reflective. Um but it converts it into electricity and moves it somewhere else. So that that should work as well.

I I think there's a green California green building code that requires you to use light surface for your roofing. So it's already embedded in our building code to use a white surface. And oh, and the fencing. Would you anticipate for the fencing around or between that property and others? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's it's wood fencing. New new wood fencing. Separate from along a property liner. Yeah. Right. Okay. Yeah.

Thank you. All right. With that, we can close the public hearing and bring it back to the commission. Any discussion? question needing

I I do want to ask Ryan was there any other TDM stuff contemplated as part of or was there no no transportation analysis done? Good evening, commissioners. Uh Ryan Cook, senior civil engineer with the public works department. Um I can't speak exactly on behalf of our traffic engineer who unfortunately couldn't be here tonight. Uh there another community meeting. Um, however, as is outlined in the uh the memo that is an attachment uh from our traffic engineering department, the there are TDM measures that were taken into place uh for the additional bike parking, the EV car share, uh and the accessible um nature to transit. Um, additional measures I I I can't speak specifically to, but I know that there's no requirement uh since they are SP330 in order to uh require additional measures.

Right. Okay. So, this the these this is the TDM. It's the EV car share bike facilities and then the fact that they're close to transit. Yes, that's my understanding. Okay. Um the one thing that Thank you.

Yeah. Um I did we we should um the civil site plan just doesn't even reflect the EV car share program which I I'd like to think that it works and if it works and it's it it should be reflected on the plans so that when they process their permits they're required to be in substantial conformance with the stamped VTM plans. Um, that's just a a com. Thank you so much, Ryan.

Commissioner Clark,

I just wanted to make a comment that um this is the first time since we approved uh the city design uh objective standards that we've seen the checklist used in the presentation about a project. and it was most helpful to see exactly what standards we were applying and not applying and it was quite a memor trip down memory lane. So, thank you for that. It was very helpful. I'd just like to comment that that uh there have been uh fairly recently last few years uh more studies uh looking at uh not just how many parking spaces we want or we should have but how many are actually used. Um and one of the findings that surprised me a bit was that that for lower income affordable housing um uh what they found is that if it has decent transportation nearby um the car ownership is is between 60.6 and 7 cars per unit which actually fits pretty well with what is proposed here. Um, and uh, you know,

I have intimate knowledge of a project that had big fights over the amount of parking and in reality is not using all the parking that was allocated for the residents. So, and that was in in our city on Trinity Avenue. Interesting.

Um, I would just like to say uh I'm really appreciative of this project. I know that um Saha has, you know, an excellent reputation for uh for everything that you do, the building and the housing, but also the managing of it. Um and so it's very exciting to see this improvement of a property that Saha already owns and is thinking about the design and the long-term sustainability of the property as well. Um I want to appreciate that um that a lot of thinking went into the design about how people will use it. So rather than you know filling out the full density that uh that you're allowed um really thinking through how are people using it creating that um the tot uh like area for uh for kids to play. I know walking around the site right now um there's not that much uh you know of an area like that for kids to play and kind of in that whole block there's not really a space like that and so adding amenities like that um as well as being thoughtful about um the ways that people will congregate in the building and outside um to build community is uh is really important and I think will really change the dynamic of how people interact with each other in that in that area. Um, so I'm very excited about this project. Um, and excited to see it move forward.

Commissioner Moran,

I' I'd like to thank uh our our neighbors that came out uh to give their thoughts on uh how this might impact uh their own neighborhood, especially long-term residents. Um I to a couple of the points made in that we feel that as a and I I also believe this is that if there is less parking there will be less cars but it's going to take some time. Uh and so I would encourage the city to look at ways that we can be smart about how we're going to uh have roughly, you know, 200 some odd people uh moving in and uh with about a quarter of the parking spaces. Um I think that this is the the way that our uh our neighborhoods, especially close to the downtown and public transportation, need to function. However, it's going to take a little bit of work to get to that point. And we've got a couple years before this is completed. Then we should be thoughtful about uh ride share, public transportation, and stuff like this because to your point, there will be you drive there now and there's difficult to find a spot on the street, let alone if we have 150 more people who are going to have cars. Maybe they won't over time, but it's it's going to take a little bit of a a grace period to get to that point. So, I appreciate you coming out and uh your your views and your opinions have been listened to. So, thank you.

Someone have a motion to make. Um, I move to adopt the resolution determining the project to be exempt from SQUA pursuant to a class 32 infill exemption and approving the design review and tree removal permits for the proposed 87 unit Sierra garden project. Second. Any discussion of that motion? Is there a need for any amendment relative to Commissioner Nighting's suggestion about the EV parking designation on the site plan,

right? It's just a just should be shown on the site plan. That's all. So, no, just they'll be required to do it. Yeah. Okay. Where where sheet A1 should be on the sheet. Go ahead. That was the motion. Then I got a second. All right. Any further discussion on the motion? If not, you call a roll for the motion as stated. Okay. Uh Commissioner Count. Yes.

Commissioner Quark. Yes. Commissioner Moran, yes. Commissioner Strongman, yes. Commissioner Klopp, yes. Vice Chair Nighting, yes. And Chair Anderson, yes. That's seven yeses. Motion carries. Okay. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it. All right, we have few other minor things to finish up. Um, commission considerations. Anything uh we have not publicly noticed that we needed to consider? uh for staff. Let's see. I did have one thing to mention and I do believe that Christine sends out the um the u forecasted agendas. Correct. Yeah.

I just want to point out that the planning commission is going to be probably busier at the end of the year than they were at the beginning of the year. Um so um the November 13th and the December I'm sorry that's today. the December 11th and the January both January meetings already have items and into actually end of February. So um that said let me know if if and off in the coming weeks if anybody cannot make any of those meetings.

That's all. Yes, I think I leave right after the December meeting and return right before the January meeting. Not because the planning commission just worked out that way, but I'll take credit for it anyway. Um, okay. Are there any uh commission member reports or

Yeah, I'll just quickly report on the Transpac uh meeting today. Um so Transpar is grappling with uh a wish to combine a bunch of disperate youth transmit transit programs into one so that there are not like five different programs that parents and kids get confused by. So uh but it's takes um heavy lifting from all the different jurisdictions. So at this point it appears CCTA will step up to manage all those programs and provide standard messaging uh information materials etc to students from July through November. So uh that's an improvement. Um and the second thing is that their uh CCTA integrated transit plan update is underway and it does include um a priority area as measured by feedback gathered uh of the Ignosio Valley entry boulevard. Um it doesn't have specific action plans yet of what will be done there, but those are priority improvement areas. So

thank you. Any other announcements, reports? Anybody? That's great news. And maybe as related to our earlier um conversation, if there are free transit passes for youth year round, y that you don't have to apply for. That was the question is like, okay, so now we got it to five months. How can we make it all year? What would it cost? Just the youth ride free and you don't need a pass. All that. Yes, that would be incredible. Um, and I just wanted to say the city did a really great job with as usual with um, their Veterans Day uh, ceremony. Thank you. All right, if there's nothing further, we are journed. We'll see you uh, in a month.