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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStudy Session-Sycare Grove Condos Stg 2 PD Rez & SDR AGENDA STATEMENT PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING DATE: January 9, 2007 SUBJECT: STUDY SESSION - Stage 2 Planned Development Rezone and Site Development Review for Sycamore Grove Condominiums, Fairway Ranch, PA 06-037. Report Prepared by Michael Porto, Project Planner ATTACHMENTS: 1) Applicant's Design Package RECO~~ATION: PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 1) Receive Staff presentation Background On June 24, 2003, the Planning Commission adopted Resolution 03-31 approving the Tentative Tract Map, and transferred the decision making authority for the Site Development Review with a density bonus for affordable housing for Fairway Ranch to the City Council. On July 1, 2003, the City Council adopted Resolution 141-03 approving the Site Development Review with a density bonus for the Fairway Ranch project. These approvals included the subdivision of 152 acres of land within the Eastern Dublin Specific Plan, Dublin Ranch Area B, for the creation of Parcels 1,2, 3, and 4. Parcel 4 was mostly a remainder parcel to be subdivided further. Parcels 1, 2, and 3 comprised the Fairway Ranch project. Together, the three parcels encompassed 24.78 gross acres of land intended for the construction of 930 residential units. Parcel 1 is the senior rental housing component of the project with 322 units. The project is mostly completed and partially leased. Parcel 2 is the multi-family rental housing component of the project with 304 units. This portion of the Fairway Ranch project is also nearing completion and is also partially leased. Existing Approval Parcel 3 was intended to be the for-sale condominiums component (also now known as Sycamore Grove) of the Fairway Ranch project with a proposed 304 residential units. Of the 304 units, 52 were to be designated for households qualifying as a "moderate" income household. This development was mostly a mirror image of the 304 unit multi-family component to the north. A five-level parking structure was to have been centrally located on this parcel surrounded by four-story residential buildings in the same manner as the multi-family component to the north. Combined with other on-site parking, the condominium project met the 1.9 stalls per unit parking ratio required in the Area B zoning. The surrounding residential structure was also arranged around smaller, well-designed courtyards. The site for COPIES TO: Applicant Property Owner File Page I of6 G:\PA#\2006\06-037 The Groves CondominiumlPC Study Session 1-9-07\PCSR Study Session 1-9-07.doc ITEM NO. 10, I the Sycamore Grove condominiums is bordered by Keegan Street to the west, Lockhart Street to the east, Dublin Boulevard to the south and Maguire Way to the north. The site contains a total of 8.8 gross acres (6.4 net acres) and would have had an overall net density of 47.8 units/acre and a gross density of 34.6 units/acre. Proposal The Applicant, James Tong, would like to revise the Site Development Review to change the architectural style of the building, to add a significant amount of additional parking and to develop a Stage 2 Planned Development Plan to include 22 units within this project that would be termed "live/work." The only remaining portions of the existing approved project would be the provision of 304 units of which 52 will be provided for moderate income households. The overall project proposal includes 278 condominium flats within the podium portion of the project as well as 22 live/work units and 4 town homes. The project would still be a maximum of 304 units and contain 52 moderate-income units, meeting the requirements of Dublin's Affordable Housing Ordinance, the Conditions of Approval of the previous Fairway Ranch SDR, the Affordable Housing Agreement and the Development Agreement executed for this portion of the overall Fairway Ranch project. The proposed Sycamore Grove condominium project would still be a high-density residential community but is proposed to be redesigned with two podium buildings as well as several separate buildings containing attached live/work units and/or town homes. The western podium building will be built as part of Phase One and has two levels of subterranean parking and up to four stories of residential flats. There are a total of 135 units within this building consisting of one, two and three bedroom flats as well as one, two and three bedroom flats with lofts. The eastern podium building will be built in Phase Two and will have two floors of subterranean parking and up to four stories of residential flats. The eastern podium will have a total of 143 units of one, two and three bedroom units as well as one, two and three bedroom flats with lofts. In addition to the proposed revisions to the previously approved project cited above, a new structure comprising the 22 Live/Work units is proposed and will face Dublin Boulevard and will surround the front portion of the parking structure. Four town house units will be incorporated a a transitional building type to link the podium structure to the live/work units. Each flat within the podium buildings will have interior entrances. Direct access from the parking garages to the units will be provided via elevators and stairwells located in the lobbies of each building. Each podium will also have a large, internal landscaped courtyard that will be accessible to all residents as well as a large central courtyard containing a pool, spa and direct access to an office and recreation room. The Live/Work units will have direct access on-grade from the parking area to a central courtyard as well as direct access through an individual front garden to Dublin Boulevard. Specific details of proposed unit types by building and phase are included in the following breakdown: UNIT TYPE PHASE 1 PHASE 2 TOTAL 1 Bedroom 35 50 85 1 Bedroom with Loft 3 6 9 2 Bedroom 66 57 123 2 Bedroom with Loft 11 8 19 3 Bedroom 16 18 34 3 Bedroom with Loft 4 4 8 Live/Work Units 11 11 22 Town Homes 2 2 4 TOTAL 148 156 304 20f6 Additional on-site amenities will be provided for the Project including a swimming pool, spa, and a clubhouse to accommodate a full range of indoor recreational and community activities and interior courtyard areas for passive activities. Architecture: The general design theme and concept for the building exteriors reflect upscale elements of the Craftsman style which represent significantly higher quality and higher design parameters than the previously approved project. These elements include simulated hardboard siding, stone veneer details; shake singles, wooden accent trims, and window mullion patterns. Given the mass and scale of three and four-story structures, a variety of materials and color schemes are used to simulate the features of a wooden structure. Attention has been paid to the articulation of exterior fayades, rooflines, window openings, and terraces. The site slopes from the existing multi-family project toward Dublin Boulevard. This proposal takes advantage of the topography and nestles the parking structure into the grade. The Live/Work units fronting Dublin Boulevard are only three stories reducing the massing and overall height from the previously approved project (four stories raised above Dublin Boulevard on a dirt berm). Additionally, with the front garden access to Dublin Boulevard, the appearance of the structures will have much more of a pedestrian friendly feel. Parking: The Fairway Ranch Site Development Review was reviewed consistent with zoning approved in 1996 before the current Stage 1 and Stage 2 Planned Development Zoning requirement was in place. In conjunction with that 1996 approval, the parking standards for Area B (of which Fairway Ranch is a part) was established at 1.9 parking spaces per unit; well below the current standards. For the 304 units approved for the condominium portion of the project, a total of 577 parking spaces were provided. That parking ratio; 1.9 parking stall per unit compled with the Ordinance in effect at the time the property was zoned and the Fairway Ranch project approved. The applicant is proposing, with the redesign, to significantly upgrade the amount of parking for the project. The applicant is proposing to provide a total of744 parking stalls as compared to the 577 parking stalls provided with the approved project. The proposed parking ratio of 2.45 parking stalls per unit complies with our current code and exceeds the previous ratio of 1.9 stalls per unit. The number of dwelling units remains the same at 304. Seventy three of the units would only have to provide 1.5 parking stalls per unit to comply with are parking code as these are one bedroom units. The remaining 231 units would be required to provide 2.5 parking stalls per unit or a total of 578 parking stalls. Together, the requirement for parking on the revised project proposal would be 687 parking stalls. The applicant is proposing 744 parking stalls, well in excess of the requirement. The majority of the parking spaces will be enclosed within the parking garage. Only 20 of the guest parking spaces will be on-site surface spaces for visitors, the additional guest spaces will be provided within the garage. The residential parking within the garage will be gated so that only residents with an access code will be able to enter those designated parking areas but a significant amount of guest parking will be available in the parking garages. The table below depicts the number of parking spaces shown on the parking plan for the revised Sycamore Grove condominium residential project. 3of6 Parking Tabulation USER TYPE TYPE OF SPACE PHASE I PHASE II TOTAL PARKING PARKING PARKING SPACE SPACES SPACES GUEST STANDARD 64 65 129 ACCESSIBLE 5 4 9 SURFACE/STREET - - 20 RESIDENT STANDARD 265 266 531 TANDEM 2 2 4 UNASSIGNED (STD. SPACE) 10 28 38 ACCESSIBLE 7 6 13 TOTAL SPACES 354 371 744 SPACES PROVIDED (2.45 Spaces/Unit) Live/Work Units The applicant is proposing to introduce a new type of residential living unit to Dublin. The term Live/Work generally describes a residential unit that makes a provision for the owner to work from the home. Uses are mostly business and professional offices or other like uses that do not generate loud noises or smells and do not depend on a large amount of client traffic. The uses are unlike home occupations in that a live/work component does provide for some limited client traffic where a home occupation prohibits client traffic. The applicant's proposal cites these Live/Work units along Dublin Boulevard to give a pedestrian face to the project. The proposal also serves to soften the parking structure which is only partially underground by blocking views of the parking structure with the Live/Work units. The Live/Work building also serves to reduce the massing of the structure by keeping the Dublin Boulevard elevation at 3 stories rather than the previously approved project that was four stories sitting on a raised berm adjacent to Dublin Blvd. Guest parking for the business uses, countercyclical to resident parking, would be in the parking structure behind the units with direct pedestrian access to the front garden entries. The live/work units would be approximately 2,103 square feet with the ground floor area devoted to a 25' X 25' work area, a handicapped accessible bath, closet and the ground floor portion of the stairs. Levels two and three would comprise the remaining portion of the unit and includes 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, 2 bathrooms a living room and dining room. Live-Work Garden Court: A Courtyard separates the individual units from the parking garage, providing the residents of the Live/Work and town home units with private access and gathering spaces. The area will be highlighted with specialty pavements, providing identity to the area while reducing the linear nature of the space. Stone veneered seat walls as well as planter walls with lighted pilasters at the gated entries to the private patios, and trellis structures will provide scale relief and define individual spaces and, in the case of the trellis, introduce shade and a ceiling plane. Plantings will be at a pedestrian scale and consist of flowering trees, shrubs and foundation plantings consistent with a residential theme. A fountain will be proposed in the center of the space as focal element, providing visual and auditory stimulation. 40f6 Town House units The four town house units will be used to transition from the live/work structure to the podium structure. They will also serve to screen the exposed corner of the at-grade portion of the parking garage. Designed somewhat like the live/work unit, the 1,800 square foot town home provides a large ground floor living/dining combination area with a kitchen and handicapped bathroom. There is an option to convert a portion of this area to a third bedroom. The second and third floor floor plans each have a bedroom and bath and the third floor also incorporates a roof deck. Vehicular Access/Circulation: Since all of the streets bordering the Project site currently exist, no new streets will be required to serve the Project. Primary vehicular access to the parking garage will be from Keegan Street and Lockhart Street. There will be a secondary garage entrance off of Dublin Boulevard for residents as well as deliveries and maintenance personnel, but guests and residents will be encouraged to enter at the Keegan and Lockhart Street entrances. Maguire Street is a private street which was constructed in conjunction with the family apartments to the north. There will be no vehicular entry to Sycamore Grove condominium flats off Maguire Street. Existing Site Conditions and Uses: The Project Site is currently vacant, but recently served as the staging area for the family and senior apartments project that is under construction to the north. There are no permanent structures in place on the property. The site is generally rectangular in shape and is surrounded by existing streets on all four sides. The southern half of the site has a 5' +/- high embankment around the perimeter behind the current right-of-way for Dublin Boulevard, Keegan and Lockhart Streets that creates a flat pad for the majority of the site. The average existing slope across the site is typically under 1 % due to this berm. In the southern portion of the site, along Dublin Blvd. and the southern stretches of Keegan and Lockhart Streets, there is a four- to five-foot-high embankment as the grading transitions from the flat pad area to the sidewalks on the already constructed streets. There are no existing drainage courses or any native vegetation on-site. Current land uses surrounding the project include a 304-unit apartment building to the north, high-density residential units to the west (the Terraces at Dublin Ranch Villages), land zoned for Campus Office to the south and land zoned for medium density residential to the east. The previously approved Army Corps of Engineers permit and Regional Water Quality certification for the balance of the Dublin Ranch holdings and its associated mitigation requirements cover the Project site. The permit specifically addresses mitigation for all existing on site environmental features and allows the proposed development to proceed as proposed. Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance: The project contains 52 moderate-income for-sale units that comply with the requirements of Dublin's Affordable Housing Ordinance, the Affordable Housing Agreement and Development Agreements for Fairway Ranch as well as the Conditions of Approval for the previous Fairway Ranch SDR. RECOMMENDATION: Receive Staff presentation. 50f6 GENERAL INFORMATION: PROPERTY OWNER: APPLICANT: LOCATION: ZONING: GENERAL PLAN LAND USE DESIGNATION: SPECIFIC PLAN/ LAND USE DESIGNATION: Lin Family c/o Charter Properties 4690 Chabot Drive, Suite 100 Pleasanton, CA 94588 James Tong Charter Properties 4690 Chabot Drive, Suite 100 Pleasanton, CA 94588 West of Tassajara Road and Tassajara Creek, approximately 1.5 miles north of 1-580 Planned Development Single Family Residential, Medium Density Residential, Medium High Density Residential, Neighborhood Park, Open Space and Public/Semi-Public Single Family Residential, Medium Density Residential, Medium High Density Residential, Neighborhood Park, Open Space and Public/Semi-Public 6of6