June 12, 2024

Hanover Group will be on site for the entire building of the project. 

The project will start building the units in the back first, which should allow for them to have on site parking. The last thing to be developed will be the park, which will mean that 2.5 acres will also be available for parking equipment and vehicles right up until the end. The Hanover Group believes there will be no workers parking in our neighborhood. 

Traffic routes are the dictated by the city, the builder has nothing to do with it.  They said that we should contact the city regarding truck along ROP.

The Hanover Group believes that the city should be the one to repair any damage caused by their vehicles. 

Saturday construction was not answered.

Traffic impact was not really addressed. The developer did not address added traffic on ROP or the fact that there wasn't a signal at Montague and Seely and how that will impact traffic. 

Parking was a main concern. The neighbors expressed concern that there wasn't enough parking. The developer stated that they didn't have to build any parking spaces if they didn't want to. The developer stated that the city is pushing for fewer to no spaces because they want to push public transit, which is down in ridership. They also stated that they have many apartments and they feel they are building enough spaces - 1.3 per unit in the market rate. The affordable developer was not there to answer the even fewer parking spaces in their building. The neighbors expressed their frustration with the current problem of apartment dwellers parking in the private homeowner complexes to get around the  issue of not enough parking. It was pointed out that the park and retail parking will become apartment parking and there will be no street parking because there will not be enough parking for the residents.  To illustrate the point, the neighbors invited the Hanover Group to visit Moitozo, Iris Change, or River Oaks Park to see what parking was like. It was also pointed out that there isn't the infrastructure to support people without cars. The neighbors asked the  Hanover Group to request from the City or VTA that they provide better routes for the neighborhood. The Hanover Group didn't really respond to that request. 

There was a comment about the amenities for each building, no detail. Again, the affordable builder was not there to discuss if that building will have less than the others. 

The Hanover Group said that they pushed hard to upgrade the park but the Parks Department  was resistant towards their suggestions. What wasn't discussed is what happens when a park is upgraded. Does this take from the impact fees? Does upgraded equipment cost more to maintain? The neighbors would like to see more of a playground and more pickleball courts and less plain grass. Everyone felt that the grass area would just turn into another area for people to run their dogs, even though there are two dedicated dog park areas in the new park. 

The developer thinks the city should use some of the park impact fees to maintain the park. This would take money away from the future Agnews Park. In contrast, Irvine donated money to help maintain the River Oaks Park in front of Crescent Apartments. Epic Apartments does not contribute to Iris Chang Park.  You can compare the condition of these parks based on developer input.  Some members of RONA want to ask Parks and Rec to use some of the impact money to maintain this park, others do not want to take away from Agnews.