Good evening.

Welcome to the November 13th meeting of the Planning Commission.

Would you call the roll?

Thank you, Chair.

Commissioner Moran.

Commissioner Cound.

Here.

Commissioner Strongman.

Commissioner Quok?

Here.

Commissioner Klopp.

Here.

Commissioner Knighting.

Vice Chair Knighting, excuse me.

Still here.

Chair Anderson.

Here.

We have a quorum.

All are here.

Very good.

Do we have anything on the consent calendar tonight?

Staff has no suggestions.

And we can move on from number three, which is public communications.

You have two opportunities to speak tonight.

You can speak on either of the individual hearings that we have scheduled.

If you have anything that you wish to speak on besides those items, something that is not on the agenda tonight, but it was within our jurisdiction.

Yes, sir.

And 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.

Getting the cost of living down in this area.

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 Walnut Creek 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 work for the county, they just can't afford 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 to try to make that happen.

Um and the other thing is, just a minute, Jack.

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's 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 asked a principal or the superintendent how many kids walk or 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 PTAs.

We could work with the city, we could work at the schools to try to get kids to actually like ride the bikes to school instead of driving to school, and that might Jack, be quite pretty.

Okay, I did not have the timer on it on my card.

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.

Oh, sorry.

No need to apologize.

Um, anyone else have to wish to speak on something not on the agenda?

If not, we will uh continue.

Um, there are any ex parte communications to disclose?

Only one's going twice.

Well, I think most of us have received multiple emails on the uh topics on the agenda, so indeed.

But no dialogues on based on those.

Okay.

Very good.

We'll move on to the uh first public hearing.

And that is uh item 4A, retro junkie.

Um, 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 1200 square feet of new outdoor patio area and one food truck.

The uh general plan designation is auto sales service and custom manufacturing.

It is also located in the city's uh North Downtown Pacific 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 p.m.

to 2 a.m.

And Sundays occasionally from 4 p.m.

to 9 p.m.

Those hours are not changing.

The food truck hours of operation uh will be Tuesday through Saturday, 6 p.m.

to 12 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 high-definition 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 gonna be located.

According to the uh elevation drawing, the new decorative CMU fence will be located here with an exit door and exit gate here and an entrance here are 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 use is 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'm available for any questions.

The applicant uh Robert Lynham is also here along with the business owner Enrique Montero.

Okay, any questions, staff?

Commissioner Strongman.

Well, yeah, 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 business.

Yes, um, there appears to be an entrance in the back going into the parking lot.

Will that also have security?

Uh security guard at uh various times along with the front.

I will let the business owner have to answer that.

And my big concern is there seems making sure that the pedestrians in the cars don't interact adversely.

Um you have one entrance there going in to the five stalls, and then the other entrance just about going around to the real the real parking lot, shall we say?

Yes.

Uh if I was pulling in there, I would probably pull in the first one myself.

Uh, then 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 uh driveway going 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 gonna be accessible parking space.

Yes, you can pull in here and park your vehicle there.

Also along right here, that 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 the 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.

Uh I wish I had a better picture.

I'm sorry.

Yeah.

It like it goes to it extends past here to the Autopia park uh business, but um I don't believe and maybe Robert Langham can can answer this.

I don't believe there's a plan right here to do uh a sidewalk along here.

Okay.

Does that answer your question?

Uh yes, it is.

Okay.

Thank you.

So would the expectation be that um for most people that are 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 have to go into the the bar or there's a cover charge or can hang out on the patio?

Can I go into the bar and do all three?

Does it make sense?

Yeah, it does, and I'll let the business owner answer that.

Yeah.

Anyone else?

No, 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 gonna 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 gonna 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?

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 pop-up once in a while in the back just to serve food to the guests, um, but it's not all the time.

Uh, 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 and 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.

So just to follow up, you said the the entrance at the back is just 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 per case 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 on 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.

I think.

Robert Lyman, Johnson Lyman Architects.

Um, and uh I just wanted to point out uh 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 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 for 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 two, 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 until 2 a.m.?

Correct.

Um but the food truck closes at midnight.

Correct.

And the outdoor patio as well, uh one o'clock.

Uh we stop letting patrons in at one o'clock, so that's when we plan to do a sweep and push everyone inside when we stop letting patrons in.

And then we allow we do last call at 1.10, and then we stop serving drinks at 120, 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, find their friends, finish their drinks, um, and then at that point our security guards uh go around and make tell people five minutes to start making the way to the exit, get home safe.

And our number one priority is to make sure all our guests get home safe.

Commissioner Qualk.

All right, thank you for the presentation and the explanations.

It was very uh 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 of hearing.

That's fine.

And I really am because I've been in the nightclub business, my the night life 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 p.m.

through 12 a.m.

the food the food truck is somewhere else.

Is the food truck going to be somewhere else?

Yes, I mean the food truck won't be on the parking lot when it's not operating.

Yes, no, not at all.

No, the food truck, it will not be on the will will not be on the premises, it'll only be there from 6 to 12 p.m.

And now 12 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.

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 about four to five months.

So 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 the Spark and 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.

Very good.

Okay.

Are there any members of the public who would like to speak on this item?

Have a speaker's clip.

You can hand it.

Yeah, hi.

Jan Moran 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 uh 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 overuse of alcohol in our city.

And um, so okay, that's that answers my questions.

Thanks.

Good evening, Kathy Hemingway.

I'm the executive director with the Walnut Creek Downtown Association.

And um, I have a little statement just to share.

Um that we on on behalf of the association, we'd like to express our support for retro junkie's um application for an outdoor dining area and on-site food truck.

Um although retro junkie is just outside of our um boundary, um, we've worked very closely with their team as they've been active at participants in the hospitality alliance, which consists of downtown and most um uh city bars and restaurant operators um as well as an 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 junky space into an attractive, well-designed social environment really aligns perfectly with the goals of that program and um the North Downtown specific plan to encourage outdoor gathering um and pedestrian-friendly um designs and improved um site frontage, 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 and evening environment.

So these are meaningful benefits not only for 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 their application and we thank you for your your consideration.

Excellent timing.

Okay.

Any questions for the speaker?

No.

Any other speakers on this item?

I guess I'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the commission.

I think this might be more of a question for staff.

The rendering's beautiful, by the way.

I don't know who did it.

Um I just had to say that.

But the one thing 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, because 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 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 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 landscaping 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 button.

Try to answer your question.

Yes, the photometric study was done for the existing street light in the front.

But nothing for on-site with 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 right-of-way through up and over?

I'm seeing the foot foot little foot candles for the street but nothing on site.

So that's what's I had to have.

Yeah, uh Robert Lyman again.

Um, yeah, the photometric 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's 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, uh 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.

Right.

So it's unclear.

I'm sorry to interrupt you.

It's unclear because of the photometric 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 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.

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 Y 24-027 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 look at.

How does that get?

Is that in the resel?

Does that get added to the resour?

Amendment.

That can be added to a condition of for the project that about looking to there is a good place for that.

Yes.

It's just to provide safe lighting along the identified path of travel on sheet.

Because they labeled it quite beautifully.

SW1 is where they showed that path of travel ship, right?

Yes.

Can I suggest some language?

Okay, I thought I'd suggest it.

Uh the one question uh nod of the head would be good.

Is there an SDP for this?

No SDP.

So 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.

Do that capture it.

From to the rear, okay.

Okay, and I'll just uh if the chair I can ask the applicant that they agree with that.

I don't know if we agree if you guys would be discussing adding my can you come up to the podium and say it on the record?

Thank you.

So 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 will 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 candlelight for you.

Excellent.

Okay.

I understand what you guys are saying, and I we didn't notice so, but it will be done.

So, okay, so that can be um added to a planning condition number 10.

Correct.

Okay.

Um, and then I said the make her in motion and the second agree.

Yes.

Yes.

All right.

I think we're ready to vote.

Okay.

Commissioner Quok.

Yes.

Commissioner Klopp.

Yes.

Commissioner Moran?

Yes.

Commissioner Cound.

Yes.

Commissioner Strongman.

Yes.

Vice Chair Knighting?

Yes.

Chair Anderson.

Yes.

Motion carries.

Thank you very much, gentlemen.

Thank you.

All right.

Um move on to uh following project 4B.

That's the Sierra Garden Multifamily Residential Affordable Apartments.

Good evening, Commissioners.

Simmer Gill, 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 Astman and his team are here tonight to answer any questions that you may have after the presentation.

And just to quickly orient you, the site is 1.4 acres and does consist of a 29 unit development, housing development, and the site is zoned plan development.

However, it follows the multifamily development standards.

And the site is also identified in the housing inventory table as a um as a site that encourages or envisions more housing.

And the project request for you tonight is to demolish the 29 unit structures to build the new six-story 87 unit housing development.

It does consist of a mix of studios, one, two, and three bedroom units, new landscaping, 58 surface parking stalls.

The project also is requesting tree removal and drip line encroachment permits, and it is also utilizing state density bonus law, which under that the applicant is requesting four waivers to the city's development standards as well as two concessions, which we'll go into more detail further in the presentation.

And just to give you a little background, this project did go before the design review commission earlier this year.

The DRC did review the project as well as made a recommendation to move the project to planning commission with several design related comments that are listed on this slide.

And the plans were revised to address these DRC comments, specifically related to building colors, materials, screening, and landscaping.

However, no changes were made to the parking layout.

A shadow study has been provided, and I believe that's included as attachment nine of your packet tonight.

The applicant also has a presentation and he will go into more detail on the shadow study.

So tonight the planning commission is considering the design review, the tree removal and drip line encroachment permits, as well as the density bonus waivers.

As mentioned earlier, this project is being processed under the SB 330 Housing Accountability Act, which essentially means that if the project meets the city's objective standards as well as the city's design standards, the project cannot be denied.

And this project does qualify to be processed under SB 330 as is a residential project with it's 100% affordable housing project.

And to go into a little more detail on the density, the lot is 1.4 acres, and under the multifamily very height general plan density range, they are allowed to build up to 70 units, which is the base density.

Utilizing state density bonus law because of providing affordable units then gets them an increase of 80% in density, which then is 76 bonus units in addition to the 70 base.

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 image, and the vehicle access is provided from the existing drive aisle from Sierra, and a central walkway will connect various parts of the development, providing pedestrian access throughout this site, and on-site amenities will include a private outdoor space that's located towards the rear of the site.

Again, I'll go into more detail when we get to the landscaping plan to show that area.

Approximately 41 feet where 15 feet is required along the frontage, and 15 feet is required in the rear.

I did want to point out that the development is surrounded by multifamily uses to the north, south, and west, which is across the street.

But however, to the east, which is the rear of the site, there are single-family homes.

And this the developer has proposed to build the building 2012 feet away from the closest single family home.

And here is the ground floor plan.

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.

The amenities are highlighted in the blue area.

There's a bike room as well as the mail drop or mail room area, as well as the community space, that does open up to the patio or the pool area in the back with all the amenities.

And the other the orange, everything highlighted, orange is basically the waste collection or maintenance or utility areas.

And so the material palette consists of horizontal and vertical fiber cement panels, and as well as fiber cement board and batten panels and perforated metal screens, as well as window glazing.

And the architectural vision for the project does use natural inspiration, such as tower elements at key corners to fill like clusters of trees.

And there is the material board with the actual material samples.

And the next few slides, I'll probably quickly run through them because the applicant, the design architect is here and they could go into more detail.

So here is the south elevation, which is the primary entrance for the building.

And these renderings.

Thank you.

So these renderings here really just show where the front entrance is and also the visibility from the street.

I have identified the star just to show that it's still partially visible from Sierra Drive.

And it is there's a mix of material and colors that are carried along all elevations.

Per DRC comment, the fiber cement siding, initially was all white.

So to break up a lot of that white facade, they've incorporated a darker color.

I'll let the applicant confirm which color that they've decided on.

As you know, we just received the material board tonight that's before you presented before you.

This is the street-facing elevation, which features that rounded corner element.

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.

This is the back of the site, again, which opens up to the community room, which opens up to the outdoor space.

It connects to the garden and the pool and other amenities.

As mentioned earlier, as part of this project, there are also trees that are being removed.

There are 17 on-site trees.

Of these, the 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 in fear to good health, so they would require planning commission consideration to remove.

Are all of the off-site or neighboring trees, which the project will preserve as part of 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, and that tree is also being preserved, but it wasn't really clear in the Arborist report.

So I wanted to highlight that.

Grasses and vines, as well as 47 new trees that will be planted.

And per DRC suggestion, the applicant has incorporated, I believe four or five additional trees from when DRC last saw this project to provide further screening in the back as well as a larger tree in the front to really because there will be bet the bench and the larger tree, which is just to activate that frontage.

And 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 is also that entire area or the entire development will be enclosed by a wood fence along the um property lines.

Um so as part of the 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 C CEQA and pursuant to uh the uh California Environmental Quality Act, it does qualify as an in-field development project and meets the uh requirements for the categorical exemption, as um the project is consistent with the multi-family general plan land use as well as the 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 uh it screened 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 and for infrastructure, and for these reasons, it does qualify for that exemption.

Uh so tonight uh staff does recommend that the planning commission adopt the draft resolution 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 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.

I'll take on first.

Um, could you give me the square footage of each of the floor plans?

You know, three bedroom, 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 gonna touch on that.

Yeah, and what is the uh income range for uh being a resident here?

Great question.

Again, um applicant will cover this, yeah.

And third question is: will this remain how long will this remain in the affordable housing stock?

Is it gonna be 20 years, 40 years or?

Oh, it's the it's the 55 year 55 years 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 divvyed up between the the units I'll let the applicant okay cover that as well I'll pass them thank you very much other questions vice chair easy um I see in the Sierra guarding relocation FAQs um 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 real relocation and so I just think it's interesting that they automatically state between one to two thousand dollars 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 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's for moving I read that as that's the music 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 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 code it matches what the HCA requires yeah it does because it talks about the it's just 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 so I'm curious it says the sum payable in cash equal to four times the current monthly rent of the property being vacated oh in this that's in the municipal got it and it will need to comply to our okay that I didn't read that in the relocation sorry and maybe I misunderstood me I was like oh my gosh just one thousand dollars and that's actually just there's actually moving and that's for moving no there I know there is moving right for 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 we 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 about questions um the concessions and the waivers 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 waivers 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 multifamily housing as well.

Uh and how tall are those buildings?

To the north.

Yeah.

Two stories, three stories.

They're two stories.

Yeah.

And that area allows up to 30 foot height limit.

Okay.

Um, yeah, that's all.

Any other questions?

No.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate your report.

Thank you.

Um, and then we will have the applicant wish to speak for 10 minutes.

And 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 Parashbandi, principal at David Baker architects to dive into the design.

Saha is an established mid-sized affordable housing developer, owner, manager based in Berkeley, and we operate primarily in the East Bay.

Uh we have own and manage five communities in Walnut Creek, so in addition to Sierra Garden, which is affordable housing currently, uh Casa Montigo and Montego Place are adjacent senior communities near John Muir Medical.

Akalane's Court is on Trinity Ave, just east of the freeway, so just west of downtown here.

And the newest one completed in 2015 is Arboleda, 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 Sierra 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 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 residence 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 dollars or in some cases over a thousand dollars below market.

All right, thank you, Jonathan.

Hi, my name is Pedron Farishbande.

Um 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 Walnuts 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 Hall, 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 a 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 site.

Um, this is 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 access, the two axis of the project is connected with this fine-tuned, custom-made uh perforated metal panels.

Uh these are the sustainability features we're incorporated into the project, but I also want to highlight uh 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, 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 bookend and the organic shape.

Uh, and then the rest of the volume is articulated by sun shades facing south.

Uh, a little bit about the materials.

We have uh this random baton siding, which is essentially hardy panels.

You can see some of these uh, you know, 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 perfated 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 custom perf panels that mark the entry and also uh filtered uh 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 courtyard beyond the lobby, and it's open air, so you have through ventilation.

And in the back, uh we have the toddlots 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 bookend 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 residence garden, the existing pool, and the driveway.

Um, as Samir mentioned, we're back as much as possible from the back of the property to allow more trees and uh more parking.

This is what the maximum density was.

I understand that there are state laws to allow that, but I think as designers, this 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 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 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 is start shadowing the neighboring building in the back.

Uh, and then 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 building to northeast.

So these are all three compared to each other.

And Jonathan will walk us through waivers and concessions.

Thanks, Padram.

Well said.

Uh, so we're entitled to request these waivers and concessions because we're committing to set aside fifteen percent 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 waivers 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, 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.

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 by 20 foot light court in front of the primary living room windows and a 10 by 10 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 income 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 of 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 gonna run quickly.

Yeah, and I I can talk about the other things in answering questions.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you both.

Um questions.

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 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.

I would 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 questions?

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 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 did I miss anything?

Thanks.

And to uh do you typically uh 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 in that particular spot?

Or buses that go by or do they have to get uh uh to a different spot to uh get transportation?

Yeah, there's public transportation relatively close.

I think it's within a third of a mile, 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, so 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 it 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 uh two people in a a three bedroom, that's roughly eighty-five people, which we're expecting I I would imagine a lot more.

On the high end, if you have three people in a three bedroom, two people in a two-bedroom and all that, my numbers come out to about two hundred people living in the building, which is fine.

With fifty-eight parking spots.

And I'm just curious, I uh what's interesting to me is it seems like you know, in the the parking information that you guys 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 it the 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 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 or we're in the suburbs.

Um can you just talk to about about that?

Uh 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, uh yeah, 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 follow-up, 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're we uh 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 uh an 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 uh physical impairment where they need parking close to the entrance, they could tell our property manager they readily uh 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 uh 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 the parking stall usually because they're the people who have kids, and we have uh less than fifty-eight trees 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 gonna be.

Is it assigned?

I have spot forty two, right?

It has to be assigned.

Right.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, I have you there.

If you would.

Um just wanna go through quickly the design review comments.

Um you've described the change in the color that's 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 may we change the colors to gray that you can see on the material board.

And we also change the orientation of the material to be instead of being horizontal horizontal, they're they're vertical.

So it's both the change in color but also the orientation of of the material.

So some of these are not terribly detailed when the way they just tried it.

Uh, elevations need more work.

I think that's what you're just describing here.

Yes.

Changes there.

Yeah, so I can go.

Yeah, so you can see it here.

Uh the the gray base that you see.

You also can see the vertical lines that used to be white, and we we changed those those four bays to to gray color.

Um it uh it also said uh use fiber cement that looks more like wood.

Yeah.

What was your response to that?

Yeah, so we um I'm gonna use the the example because it's a material that's it's hard to to render, I guess.

So I'm gonna use um the very beginning example that we had.

So this one.

Um so we're using that a brown material, and uh in 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 five years from now.

So using actual wood is it's not good, and then if you you color it like it would like, I think it's cheating.

Okay.

Um the last one here 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 would set back, you know, the the required amount instead of the uh sure amount, they're quite low and you're quite tall and and uh you're on the south side, so they're gonna get a lot of the shadows, excuse me.

Certainly in December, maybe in September as well.

Um uh and plus you're closer on that one.

So what are you what can you do to help those people deal with that?

Yeah, well, that comment was also towards the the east side, and we increased a lot of uh 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 gonna 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.

So for instance, you know, 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.

Uh thank you.

Okay.

Any other questions?

Mr.

Strong.

Yeah, there was a comment made by the applicant that it would be a couple of years before you actually start construction.

And I believe our resolution doesn't last that long.

Our secretary could correct that.

I think the resolution is suggests two years.

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's why we don't know.

So the the planning commission wishes you could increase the life of that original resolution.

You can consider that in a motion.

Okay.

Um I had a question about I understand that the project screened from VMT, 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 VMT 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?

Cause 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 CEQA, 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, an enough where you're not deep down ignored.

Could you talk about that?

Yeah, they have it here.

Uh yeah, so the building will have six EV parking spaces, and then I think an additional seventeen will be EV ready where we could easily add charges to that.

Uh to your question, are we providing more indoor secure bike parking than is required?

There'll be room for at least 92 bikes and e-bikes.

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 uh 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 carpool together.

I know that in and it's difficult when you're doing for sale um affordable, but since this is um for rent and you are gonna 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 uh 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 kind of core facilitating people to the transit passes c cost you money, and that's not what I don't want to do that.

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, uh 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 gonna continue um developing a 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.

That's a great idea.

Thank you.

And those transit passes, there's a grant program that we okay.

I'm not I'm not trying to charge you more money.

I'm writing a grant.

Yeah, so related to uh a few of the the prior comments.

Um 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 w I would imagine that at least for elementary and middle, they can walk from there.

Um actually depending.

Okay, you're right, 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 carpool 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?

Well open air, I mean on the sides there's opening and then even the fence it it's perforated metal.

Uh 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 it's also open.

It really helps with smell and then also reviews the the HVAC load on these circulations.

Nice.

So if you're cooking, for instance, and the next door it's uh the the smell doesn't concentrate.

Interesting.

Yeah, and then also the stair is open air that encourage people to to use this there and feels also safer, especially your if you're on the lower floors.

But that's been our experience that people use the elevator less when there's an ICE stair in the lobby to use.

Right, nice.

Okay, thank you.

No, the public hearing.

If you have uh something to say on this, I don't have two minutes to do so.

You provide a speaker slip, that would be helpful to us.

Well, my name's Mike Swan.

I live on f 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 ten or fifteen years ago to get a s permit C permit 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 anymore.

There's not a real problem now because we're not getting as much uh traffic as we would be getting with this m proposed uh 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 gonna want um it gives them uh what is it um more spaces would lead to more car ownership I'm understanding that um that's uh a forty five uh when you guys were saying that uh fifty eight um spots are what they're asking for um the city was requiring ninety six and that's what this concession is gonna 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 um 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 gonna happen a lot more if there are no places for people to park within this facility because there's no street parking as if you drive down there right now drive down Sierra and any time during the middle of the day there is no places to park so this overflow that's gonna come from these um only 58 spots rather than 96 spots there's no place for these people to go they're gonna start encroaching.

I don't know if it's uh you know if I'm gonna have to um talk to the Walnut Creek police department to be more proficient in monitoring the street than they are now.

And then the other concern is with uh a lot more of that congestion that three-way stop sign on Edmund 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 gonna be coming through there I'm worried uh also that uh you know there's gonna be more problems with that intersection.

So thank you for your time.

Can I ask uh ask staff is the do you know how many parking spaces are there currently uh 29 units.

I don't have the exact number but I think there's currently 29 or 30.

Okay.

Hi I'm Harrison from Edmund Court uh right in the right eye shot to this development.

Uh thanks for taking community input on this project.

Well 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 of 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 alm 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.

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 yeah kids same thing from a city perspective as Mike said strict parking enforcement would 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 it that'll 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.

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 Edmonds so it's gonna 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 a saw has a wonderful reputation.

And uh they actually uh do what they say they're gonna do.

Uh I have a few questions regarding how many units are gonna be for dispeople 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, all of us uh out in the hinterland are working on uh 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 then it's uh 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 mamosas or something, and it is a bit of a mess, so uh you might want to reconsider that.

Um let's see here.

We are moving to a micro mobility uh uh position in this city.

Our city's working very hard to make uh mobility for everyone, and we're in you know we're just in the process of this big transition.

These folks won't have to sit on Ignacio Valley Road unless they want to go out to the hinterland.

Um but the the it's a wonderful location, it's close to all the amenities and good schools, and I just can't celebrate it enough.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Rachel Lorenz.

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 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 can have the uh uh applicant uh have five minutes to address any of the issues there.

And have come up.

Uh 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 ends 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 uh fully accessible.

And the uh, I was gonna ask things.

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 like Patron 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 under 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 think I noticed that the roof is primarily covered in solar panels.

Um it's not reflective, 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 uh light surface for your roofing.

So that it's already embedded in our building code to use a bit of a wide surface.

Oh, and the fencing?

Yeah, it's it's wood fencing, new new wood fencing.

Separate from along a property line or yeah.

Right.

Okay.

Yeah.

Thank you.

All right, with that, we can uh close the public hearing and bring it back to the commission for any discussion.

Right.

I I do want to ask Ryan.

Was there any other TDM stuff contemplated as part of or was there no transportation analysis done?

Good evening, commissioners.

Uh Ryan Cook, senior civil engineer with public works department.

Um I can't speak exactly on behalf of our traffic engineer who unfortunately couldn't be here tonight.

Uh they're another community meeting.

Um however, as is outlined in the uh the memo that was 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 say RSP 330 in order to uh require additional measures.

Right, okay.

So this the these 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 does 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 plan 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 comment.

Thank you so much, Ryan.

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 memory trip down memory lane.

So thank you for that.

It was very helpful.

I'd just like to comment that that uh uh there have been uh really recently uh 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 for lower income affordable housing.

Um what they found is that if it has decent transportation nearby, um the car ownership is is between six point six and point seven 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 that was in our city, on Trinity Avenue.

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 wanna 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 lot playground 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'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 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 gonna 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 if we've got a couple years before this is completed, then we should be thoughtful about uh rideshare public transportation and stuff like this.

Because it 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 a hundred and fifty more people who are going to have cars.

Maybe they won't over time, but it's it's gonna 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 it um I move to adopt the resolution determining the project to be exempt from CEQA pursuant to a Class 32 infill exemption and approving the design review and tree removal permits for the proposed eighty-seven unit Sierra Garden project.

Second.

Motion.

Is there a need for any amendment relative to Commissioner Knighting's suggestion about the EV parking designation on the site plan?

It's just a just should be shown on the site plan, that's all.

So no, just a note to it.

Okay.

It's not a sheet A0.

Where?

A09.

Sheet A01 should be on the sill sheet.

Sorry, sorry, go ahead.

That was the motion and I got a second.

Any further discussion on the motion?

Not the call.

For the motion as stated.

Okay.

Commissioner Cound.

Yes.

Commissioner Qualk.

Yes.

Commissioner Moran.

Yes.

Commissioner Strongman.

Yes.

Commissioner Klopp.

Yes.

Vice Chair Knighting?

Yes.

And Chair Anderson.

Yes.

That's seven yeses motion carries.

Okay.

Thank you all very much.

Appreciate it.

Right.

We have a few other minor things to finish up.

Um commission considerations.

Anything we have publicly noticed that we need to consider.

For staff?

Let's see.

I did have one thing to mention.

I do believe that Christine sends out the um the uh forecasted agendas, correct?

Yeah.

I just want to point out that the planning commission is gonna be probably busier at the end of the year than they were at the beginning of the year.

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 in to actually end of February.

So, um that said, let me know if if uh and off in in the coming weeks if anybody cannot make any of those meetings.

Okay, that's all.

I think I'll leave right after the December meeting and return 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 TransPrac is grappling with uh a wish to combine a bunch of disparate youth transmit transit programs into one so that they're not like five different programs that parents and kids get confused by.

So uh but it 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 Ignacio 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, okay.

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, 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 to pass all that.

Yes, that would be incredible.