June 17, 2024

Notes on the meeting:

The city presented Planning Process Overview before handing off the presentation to the develper.

The developer will break up the project into pieces. The Affordable building will be built by an affordable builder. The town homes will be built by a town home builder. The remaining apartments will be built by an apartment builder.  There will be no retail.

The developer confirmed that they plan for all the redwoods to be removed.  This was declared a fighting point by all the neighbors. They all agreed that they want to see redwoods and that it was the redwoods that gave the neighborhood its character. The landscape designer said that the arborist declared all the redwoods were dying. It was pointed out by the neighbors that the owner of the property was deliberately killing the trees by not watering them. It was also noted that Aire was doing the same with the redwoods in the dog park. 

Many expressed concerned about traffic flow especially on ROP and Iron Point Drive, which already has problems. It was pointed out that all traffic would likely go onto ROP to get to Zanker because Cisco isn't efficient. 

Concern was also expressed for the children trying to get to the school. 

The developer hadn't made plans for construction parking but it was pointed out that they would probably use Cisco. 

Concern was expressed that there wasn't enough parking and that the cars would park elsewhere in the neighborhood. It was pointed out that because there are no amenities, everyone gets in their cars and drives. So, there will be cars, in spite of the city wanting to reduce cars. 

Another concern was the height along ROP. The neighbors asked that the building be designed with stepped height so that along ROP it was more consistent with the surrounding height. It was pointed out that the design seemed like a wall and we didn't want it to feel like a canyon along ROP. It was pointed out that buildings higher than 5 stories belong on First street, not ROP.  Neighbors asked that the townhomes be in front and the apartments be in back to fit in with the neighborhood. 

The developer said that they would keep the meandering path, but replace the trees on ROP. There will be a crosswalk at Iron Point Drive for the kids getting to school and there will be a path that leads to the school at the end of the street.