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