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The proposed project of 496 units (83/DUA) by way of a blocky, modern 5 story apartment <br />building surrounding an 8 story parking structure, is not at all a complementary or <br />compatible neighbor to the single family homes, primarily one story, in historic Park <br />Santiago. One of the Planning Commissioners stated she believes that the integrity of one <br />of the City's historic neighborhoods was at stake due to the proposed project. I couldn't <br />agree more! The proposed project does have a frontage along Main Street, but that <br />shouldn't be the only driving force in the design as it also abuts the historic neighborhood <br />on two sides as well. <br />The current zoning of the property is Professional Office which is a more compatible use <br />adjacent to our neighborhood. This use is more complementary because people come to <br />work there during the day and leave at night. This works well with the neighborhood as <br />most people leave their home during the day to go to work and come home at night. This <br />is especially favorable during the weekend as most of our neighborhood residents are <br />home on the weekend when most people working at the office building are off on the <br />weekend. It is symbiotic. This will not be the case with the proposed project since the <br />proposed multi -family use is 24/7 and will encroach on the adjacent neighborhood with <br />more noise, traffic, less pleasing aesthetics, building shadows, building light at night, more <br />overall pollutants generated by well over 1,000 residents in a very small location, etc. <br />Again, the proposed project is just too dense and too intense at this location. <br />I would encourage you to think about the following prior to the February 5th hearing...... <br />Option <br />Deny the proposed project and proposed rezoning of Special District <br />Keep the site zoned as Professional Office, encouraging business redevelopment <br />which through recruitment, could provide more office/managerial and/or medical <br />jobs for Santa Ana. (Could also include a museum/art use as part of the <br />Professional Office zoning to continue the museum corridor.) <br />Option 2 <br />If you have already predetermined that this location needs residential then I would <br />absolutely encourage you to request that the applicant and staff redesign the project <br />to a density of less than 38/DUA, the preference being 30/DUA, which is more <br />compatible at this restricted location. Also, project design needs to include the <br />following elements: <br />0 2 and 3 story buildings where the 3 stories are orientated towards Main Street <br />and the park and the 2 stories orientated to the south and east sides which is <br />where the single family homes are located <br />0 90' set back along the eastern boundary (Spurgeon Street) <br />0 25' set back along the southern boundary (Edgewood Road) <br />o Minimum of 2 parking spaces per unit <br />o Architecture of Spanish/Monterey/Mission style which is much more <br />complementary to the historic nature of Park Santiago <br />