6.2.b. PCSR 04-28-2020 - Laserfiche WebLink

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28 April 2020 Page 2 of 3 the fact that the property has been marketed as commercial for 10 years-plus without a viable proposal. I would reference the letter of support provided by Hempel Companies, the shopping center manager and land owner, in support of this assertion. Additionally, there is a larger commercial lot available within the shopping center that will remain available for commercial development. This lot is considered a more prime location as it benefits from better visibility from Highway 169, and is closer to the other shopping center retailers. Hempel continues to market this site for commercial uses. Additionally, the proposal will allow the City to provide much-needed additional affordable housing opportunities. The “Comprehensive Housing Needs Analysis” commissioned by the City in December 2015 recommended the development of 120-140 new affordable housing units. This was based off of an extremely tight market, with just 1.3% of affordable rental units being vacant as of the report date. Our more recent market studies have affirmed this high demand with current data. Finally, the proposed affordable housing provided by this project is supported by the City’s Comprehensive Plan, which states, “Affordable housing is important to a strong economy and a healthy community…” and “…the lack of affordable housing [for] people of all ages and incomes causes families stress, dampens productivity and stifles job growth.” Staff Comments We concur and agree with the staff comments found in the report, including the addition of seven more trees and the addition of site fencing. We will also continue to work with staff to ensure that the final architectural design complements the existing shopping center design guidelines. We appreciate staff’s suggestions and feedback to-date and their recommendation of approval for our proposal. Public Comments In reading the staff report and attached written public comments, we observed the following themes: traffic, lighting and design. We appreciate these important concerns, and have worked to address them in our development project. Our specific responses to each of these are provided below. • Traffic: We recognize there is concern in transitioning the current vacant lot to a developed use of multifamily housing. o As you know, the parcel is currently zoned commercial, making a commercial/retail development a permitted use for this site. Such a use would result in far more vehicular traffic than that of our proposed multifamily apartment property. In fact, the staff report concludes a commercial use at this property would generate 1,000-2,000 trips per day, versus the 360 anticipated from our proposed building. o The site design will route all traffic – residents, visitors and service vehicles – to the existing access off of Holt Street Northwest, not Irving Circle Northwest. As such, impacts on surrounding residential streets are expected to be de minimis, if any. Further, impacts on Holt Street Northwest will be moderate as residents will come to the site from the north and south, and not just one direction.