CORRESPONDENCE - 75E (GENERAL COMMENTS)

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EIR No. 2018-01, DA No. 018-01, GPA No. 2018-06, AA No. 2018-10 2525 North Main Street February 5, 2019 Page 2 statement of overriding considerations. Specific entitlements requested include a general plan amendment to redesignate the property from Professional & Administrative Office (PAO) to District Center (DC), and an amendment application to rezone the property from Professional (P) to Specific Development No. 93 (SD -93). In addition, a development agreement between the City and applicant/owner was drafted to require the modifications listed below as well as a number of community benefits: • Reduce the density to 81 dwelling units per acre, a maximum of 476 units • Revise the unit mix; reduce the number of studio and one -bedroom units to 70 percent of the project and increase the number of two and three -bedrooms to 30 percent of the project • Provide parking at a capacity of 2.0 spaces per unit • Provide courtyards along the north elevation With these project modifications and community benefits ensured, staff recommended to the Planning Commission approval of the project. At the January 14, 2019 Planning Commission meeting, 79 members of the public spoke on the item, 30 speakers supported the project, 48 opposed it and one speaker was neutral. After deliberating on the matter, the Planning Commission voted to recommend that the City Council deny the applicant's request to allow the multi -family residential development on the site. Specifically, the Planning Commission expressed concerns with the increase in traffic that would result from the project, the massing and density of the project, the project's incompatibility with the surrounding community, potential adverse effects of the project on the adjacent Park Santiago neighborhood, the lack of community support for the development, potential long term impacts associated with the proposed development, and concerns with potential parking intrusion on the adjacent neighborhood. Project Location and Site Description The subject site is a 5.93 -acre parcel located at the northeast comer of Main Street and Edgewood Road. Regional access to the site is provided from the Santa Ana (1-5) Freeway via Main Street, a 6 -lane arterial roadway, and via the State Route 22 (SR -22) Freeway. The properties immediately adjacent to the site include Santiago Park to the north, single-family residential homes to the south and east and the Discovery Science Center of Orange County is across Main Street to the west. The project site is located on North Main Street, an urban corridor within the City. �he site is also located at a main entry point to the Park Santiago Neighborhood, a residential neighborhood predominantly comprised of detached single-family dwellings.) The site is currently improved with an 81,172 square foot, two-story office building with 442 parking spaces and associated mature trees and landscaping. The building has been vacant since summer 2017 and was last occupied by Wells Fargo. The Discovery Science Center of Orange County leases the parking lot for employee and overflow parking. 75E-2 Commented [DH7]: Exactly. A residential neighborhood predominantly comprised of detached single-family dwellings.