39B - DENSITY APP - 217 AND 219 S BIRCH ST

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DBA 2010-03 and SPR 2010-02 December 13, 2010 Page 3 Proiect Description Santa Ana WBBB, L.P. is proposing to construct two 2-story buildings to create five apartments. The buildings will be arranged around a central courtyard, which will provide the common open space for the project. The primary access to the two street level units will be directly from the street, while access to the three units located on the second level will be from the courtyard. The garages and guest parking will be accessed from an alley at the rear of the property. A direct pedestrian connection from the courtyard to the alley will be provided for the convenience of the tenants and guests. The two street level units will be 1,614 square feet in size each and will have three bedrooms, two full bathrooms and a two-car garage with two additional tandem parking spaces on the driveway. Two units will be located above these units. Unit 3 will be 1,684 square feet in size and also have three bedrooms and two full bathrooms. This unit will have access to a two-car garage and two tandem parking spaces on the driveway to serve as additional parking for that unit. Unit 4 will be 1,480 square feet in size and will have two bedrooms and two bathrooms. This unit will have direct access to a two-car tandem garage and one additional tandem parking space on the driveway. Unit 5 will be located above the garages and is located at the rear of the courtyard. It will be 1,108 square feet in size and have two bedrooms and two bathrooms. This unit will have access to a two-car tandem garage and one additional parking space on the driveway. Each unit will have private open space, which will exceed the minimum requirement, and private laundry facilities. Perimeter block walls are proposed for privacy (Exhibits 3, 4 and 5). The project has been designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival architectural style, which is a style that, although not predominant in the Heninger Park neighborhood, does have precedent, particularly in multi-family projects. In order to reduce the massing and to create architectural variety, each building will have slightly different detailing. The walls will be painted in an off-white tone and accented by cornices in contrasting color, and decorative vents. The windows will be recessed, multi-pane with decorative cast concrete sills and wrought iron railing on the balconies. The primary entrance to four of the five units will be through covered porches, while the entrance to the carriage unit located above the garage will be via an open stair with wide sweeping curbed guardrails. The roof will be tile in a terra cotta color. To maintain architectural consistency, the residences will incorporate enhanced architectural elements, including complete architectural treatments on all sides of each building (Exhibits 6 and 7). Density Bonus Law Background The State density bonus law was created to encourage the production of quality affordable housing by allowing cities to approve qualified projects that would have units, or densities, in excess of cities' statutory density caps established under General Plans and zoning. The rationale here being that baseline density, in part, establishes a property's market value. By allowing more units to be constructed on the property than would otherwise be allowed under the existing zoning, it 39B-5