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HomeMy WebLinkAbout3B - Supplemental Letter Responding to Neighborhood Concerns - 10-3-2022 rfs October 3, 2022 Nick Melloni Senior Planner City of Palm Desert – Development Services 73510 Fred Waring Drive Palm Desert, CA 92260 Nmelloni@cityofpalmdesert.org RE: Frank Sinatra and Portola Development – Response to Neighborhood Concerns Dear Mr. Melloni, Please find this memo as a supplemental submission for the proposed multifamily development at Frank Sinatra and Portola. This memo is intended to provide a response to the concerns of the residents in the neighborhood and how we have addressed or mitigated those concerns. The concerns, questions and comments listed below have been combined and/or summarized from the 10 opposition letters and emails provided to Hayes Dietrich through September 30th, 2022. 1. Neighborhood Changes: Our neighborhood, The Retreat at Desert Willow, consists of 112 units on 15 acres. The proposed complex is 395 units on 18 acres. Although the recently changed zoning for that property allows 22 units per acre, installing a development such as that within an area which is primarily 12 units per acre, is a drastic shift in our community. It will change the entire dynamic of the desert community that we love. Also note large three- story boxy buildings. a. Response: The General Plan updates were studied from 2013 to 2016. In 2016 the City Council adopted the Town Center Neighborhood designation at this site, which allows for three stories and up to 40 units per acre. The zoning code was subsequently adopted by the City Council in 2017 to allow for 22 units per acre. Figure 1 below shows the growth of the area and building out vacant and infill sites like the one we are proposing to develop. The northern sphere of the city is mostly zoned Planned Residential (see Figure 2 - Orange). As stated in Chapter 25.10 Residential Districts, “the purpose of this district is to provide for flexibility in residential development, by encouraging creative and imaginative design, and the development of parcels of land as coordinated projects involving a mixture of residential densities (4.0—40.0 du/ac), mixed housing types, and community facilities. The district is characterized as providing for the optimum integration of urban and natural amenities within developments and is organized around formal, walkable, and highly connected streetscapes.” This project incorporates mixing of housing types across arterial roads and follows what is been recommended and planned for by the city through the General Plan and Zoning Code designations. The standards for this district also go on to say, “The PR district is also established to give a land developer assurance that innovative and unique land development techniques will be given reasonable consideration for approval and to provide the city with assurances that the completed project will contain the character envisioned at the time of approval.” The development is a high-quality project that has been designed to have the first elevator building in a non-senior rental project and the first residential project with underground parking in Palm Desert. This allows the project to provide more open space and more view corridors through the site for the neighbors to the east. The three-story buildings were originally designed as a more traditional style architecture. After review with the Architectural Review Commission on June 28th, the design was modified to be a more modern simple structure. The buildings have recessed windows, undulating walls and built secondary walls to create shadow lines and slight differences in the plane of the façade while maintaining the modern aesthetic. The three-story structures also provide for further views through the site that would be blocked by shorter buildings that are closer together. Figure 1. Figure 2. 2. Detrimental Noise: A high-density housing complex would alter the quiet enjoyment that we relish in this neighborhood. The introduction of a high-density housing project would significantly increase the amount of street traffic and noise that we currently encounter. a. Response: The development is across an arterial road from the neighbors to the east and the north. The General Plan has planned for the increase in traffic and there is infrastructure in place along the arterial roads to accommodate the density of this development. This will not change the noise level of traffic on Portola Avenue or Frank Sinatra Drive. The development will be made with high quality materials, and the Applicant provides additional framing details, subfloor treatments and additional drywall details to reduce the sound transmission from unit to unit and we take the overall development just as seriously. The pool, clubhouse, and courtyard area are in the central portion of the site to reduce sound transmission. As part of our efforts to enhance the view corridors through the site, we moved a building to where we originally had pickleball and tennis courts. There has been more feedback about these amenities in recent years that they are a noise nuisance. Due to this we decided it would be best for the neighbors and our future residents to remove them entirely from the project to avoid this noise concern. The level of density doesn’t alter the noise levels as these are people’s homes no different than a lower density multifamily housing project like the Retreat at Desert Willow or a single-family home. This is evidenced by Palm Desert Municipal Code section 9.24.030 Sound Level Limits. This section of the code applies average sound level limits and all residential zones from single-family homes to multifamily homes follow the same standard of 55 decibel limits over a 10-minute average between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.. 3. There are 671 parking spaces planned for the project. That is a variance from the current required parking spaces for this type of development which is 2 parking spaces per unit. A complex with 395 apartments and 671 parking spaces makes for a very busy and loud project. There are only 78 visitor parking spaces allocated for 395 units. That equates to less than 2% of the population of the complex being able to have visitors at any given time. Where are all the excess visitors going to park? Overflow parking would spill over to residential properties across Frank Sinatra. a. Response: The development has been modified and is proposing to build out the full parking requirement of 2 stalls per unit and contains an additional 27 stalls in the underground parking that are tandem. These stalls are above the 2:1 requirement and would be used by the same home that has the stall in front of the tandem stall and it would be the resident’s responsibility to rotate their vehicles. The Applicant added an alternate plan for the Commissioners to consider reducing the unneeded parking and to provide more open space as previously contemplated. The Applicant would highly encourage the Commissioners to consider this as the difference to the plans adds 144 parking stalls to the development and takes away from the great open spaces that could be provided. Past projects completed by the applicant have had parking ranges for projects of this size and of similar locations of 1.5-1.6 stalls per unit, so we as the Applicant feel very comfortable with the parking ratio of 1.7 stalls per unit on the site. These three areas are the dog park/retention basin, the park area along Portola Avenue, and the green space behind the fitness center. It is our best interest as the Owners of the development to have sufficient parking in order to lease apartments, if we don’t have parking for the residents, they will not sign leases. The 78 visitor stalls item is being misconstrued from our note about stalls per bedroom at the neighborhood meetings. This response will not be needed unless the Commissioners decide to reduce the unneeded parking in exchange for more open space. To answer their concerns, their assumption for the 1.15 stalls per bedroom is that each bedroom uses a stall and the extra 0.15 stalls per bedroom would be for guests. All of the project underground garage stalls, garage stalls, and carports (there may be several that are unassigned), will be assigned to residents. This would leave 180 surface stalls (if the open space is reimplemented) that will be shared between extra cars of residents and guests and not the 78 noted by this concern. Even at 78 stalls, that would be approximately 20% and not less than 2% of the units as noted having a guest over at the same time, which would be extremely unlikely. 4. Traffic: The main entrance to the development is planned to be located almost directly across from The Retreat at Desert Willow. Our homeowners that face Portola will be subjected to car headlights being directed straight toward their homes in addition to the increased street traffic. Cars exiting the project on Portola will only be allowed to turn right. This means that the number of U-turns made on Portola, next to the Desert Willow Golf Academy will be very high. The increased risk for motor vehicle collisions will significantly increase. a. Response: The development is utilizing a left-turn in at the main entrance that is similar to the entry to the Retreat at Desert Willow and offset to allow for both to have individual access from the outside traffic direction. This is a common practice throughout the city and allows for traffic to keep flowing. We also worked with the city’s public works department and the city’s consulting traffic engineer to make this work and avoid adding an unnecessary stop light as a traffic control. In addition, we prepared a Traffic Analysis for the development that was also reviewed by the public works department and the city’s consulting traffic engineer. All concerns were addressed from these groups. As part of the move-in documentation provided to each resident, a map will be provided to highlight the best exits to use depending on the direction the resident is intending to travel. Currently, the Retreat makes U-Turns at the Frank and Sinatra intersection to travel south and this development would require the same to travel west at that intersection. The map will recommend using the Frank Sinatra exit to go north, east or U-Turn west. The Applicant is happy to add some additional signage in the street median to deter individuals from turning around. As for the car headlights, both the Retreat at Desert Willow (Figure 3) and the homes to the north (Figure 4) have 6-foot perimeter walls and landscaping to buffer the lights. Early in the process, the Applicant was recommended to have a perimeter wall design that allowed for more views into the development to provide more aesthetic interest. The previous design of the perimeter wall was 6-foot walls that are 4-feet of a block wall with the top 2-feet as rod iron pickets. There are pockets where there were 6-foot picket walls only. In response to the neighbor concerns, the Applicant has revised all perimeter walls along the street to the 4-foot-tall block wall with a 2-foot picket railing. Figure 3. Figure 4. 5. Light Pollution: Lighting standards installed over the vast areas of outdoor parking will impact the Dark Sky Initiative that we all rely upon in this area. It is important to our local wildlife as well as local sky/star watchers. a. Response: The Applicant has paid close attention to avoiding light pollution as part of the overall design. A photometric plan along with lighting cut sheets were submitted as part of the development application displaying this. The lighting design for the development is intended to provide a small neighborhood residential setting with low-scale lighting. The light poles are set at 12 feet tall to accomplish this. The light poles are designed to luminate light to the ground and are Dark Sky Friendly (Figure 5). In addition, the site design includes lit bollards along the sidewalk paths that project light down to illuminate those paths of travel. For the parking, the Applicant has used the creative technique of including underground parking, which is the first residential development in Palm Desert to do so. The underground parking accounts for over 25% of the overall parking and does not add to the parking on-site that would require lighting. By not building out the unneeded proof of parking, the development also doesn’t need to provide additional unnecessary lighting to service those parking areas, even though the lighting would be Dark Sky Friendly. Figure 5. 6. Loss of Views: As the project is currently designed, even though the developer has stated that they have created “view corridors” between the buildings, the obstruction of our beautiful mountain views will be almost complete obliteration. The proposed 3 story apartment buildings are massive and a supposed “view corridor” is a sad excuse for mitigating the views that we will lose. We paid a lot of money for our views when we purchased at The Retreat. Also note that when The Retreat project was approved and construction began, the project property was zoned R-8. There was no way for prospective homebuyers at The Retreat to even begin to think that the city would make such an aggressive change in zoning for this area. For the city to change the zoning from R-8 to R-22 is shocking. We realize the need for growth and the need to develop the property in question, but to do so in such a drastic fashion is not conducive to the area. Homeowners along Frank Sinatra will be subject to complete view loss. A 3 story building will obliterate their south facing views. In addition to the fact that residents on the 3rd floor would have views directly into homes along Frank Sinatra. a. When The Retreat at Desert Willow had started construction, the General Plan framework was put in place and the development was guided for up to 40 units an acre per the Town Center Neighborhood designation. While The Retreat was under construction in 2017, the city approved the updated zoning to PR-22, which was within the 40 units per acre allowed in the General Plan that was approved in 2016 and the framework started in 2013. Please note that if a development were to propose a 40 unit per acre project that was in accordance with the zoning code, the City would have to consider revising the zoning code to allow for the development as the General Plan supersedes the zoning code, and the zoning code is required to match what is allowed in the General Plan. Initial concept plans of the development had the majority of buildings along Portola Avenue set up parallel with the street. Through discussions with staff, and reviewing further, we revised these to be perpendicular with Portola Avenue, which would provide view corridors. These view corridors were setup as approximately 110-foot wide between buildings. After the initial neighborhood meeting on April 25th, we took the main building impacting the views of The Retreat and tucked it in the back to open up the view corridor further. This moving of the building required us to modify that building to remove a stack of units to allow it to be pushed to the south further. The results of moving this building created an approximate 310-foot uninterrupted view corridor that allowed the buildings at The Retreat facing the west to continue to have views through the development. Figure 6 shows the views prior to the moving of the one building and Figure 7 shows the current view corridors after making that modification. For the homes to the north, it becomes inherently difficult to allow for view corridors through the site as the north portion of the site is more square and allows for layering of buildings. With buildings layered throughout this area the buildings behind still block views through the site. Due to the site being shaped like a piece of pie to the south, this allows the development to provide view corridors through the site. If the site was a rectangle or square, the entire site would be layered and would not be able to have view corridors. See site plan for the Bravo Gardens development (Previously The Sands) as Figure 8 that shows the layering of buildings through a site. Lastly, please see Figure 9 showing the 8-foot wall at the neighboring former Santa Rosa Country Club and Figure 10 showing the 1.5-2 story building Avenida about a mile south from the site on Portola Avenue. Although Figure 9 is an 8-foot wall, you will notice that it blocks half of the views of the mountains to the south. Figure 10 shows that a 1.5-2 story building along Portola blocks the entire view of the mountains. By providing 3-story buildings, the development is able to provide the views throughout the site, whereas a 2-story product of single-family homes, townhomes or condos would block the entirety of views of the mountains from the neighbors at the Retreat. Also, please note that the ends of the buildings perpendicular to Portola are 33’ 6” tall. The buildings at The Retreat range from approximately 28’ tall to 30’ 6” tall. The Retreat is a high-quality development, but a similar type of product would not allow for the view preservation that has been incorporated into this development. As it related to privacy of the homes along Frank Sinatra, the development team took drone photos from the buildings along Frank Sinatra looking at the Pele Place neighbors and looking across Portola at The Retreat neighbors. Photos were taken at 5, 15 and 25 feet above finished grade to exemplify a resident sitting on their patio or in their dining room (buildings perpendicular on Portola do not have balconies facing the street) of each level. Figure 11 shows a view of the Pele Place neighbors from the third-floor balcony and Figure 12 shows a view of The Retreat property from the third-floor dining room of the building on the south side of the main entrance. As the images show, the residents at the development will not be able to see the pools and into the backyard of the Pele Place neighbors. You will see the denser landscaping along The Retreat in Figure 12, and the development will have this level of landscaping as well that generally shields the lower two levels. The Applicant has also discussed with several of the Pele Place neighbors including the President of their HOA and we have agreed to provide them with some additional landscaping along the north side of Frank Sinatra. The Applicant will walk this area and determine what is best on a home-by-home basis with that HOA. Figure 6. Figure 7. Figure 8. Figure 9. Figure 10. Figure 11. Figure 12. 7. Design of Project: The developer is trying to sell this as a high-end, upscale residential complex. However, as designed all the building will have exterior staircases. Buildings with exterior staircases are unattractive and in no way say “upscale”. I find it hard to believe that they will be able to charge $4,000/month for a 3-bedroom unit in a building with no elevator. The design as proposed tends to make me think that multiple families will start to share units to cover the “upscale” rent. The only building with elevator service is located in the center of the complex. a. Response: While the Applicant appreciates the concern with the business plan by the neighbors, these claims are made with no facts or knowledge of the rental market. As part of the Applicant’s due diligence, we hired a professional consultant to conduct a market analysis and feasibility study to fully comprehend the rental market. They initially conducted a phone survey of the most “comparable properties” in the area and then followed that up with in-person surveys of those properties where they were able to view the physical condition, in-unit features and amenity features of each of those properties and then compare to our property. After completion of their research, we received a report identifying this information, vacancy rates, and estimated rents for the property. Please note that the “most comparable properties” referenced were built in 2002, 2008 and 2010. These “comparable properties” have minimal amenities, are older vintage, and some are mixed-income properties with a portion of the units being affordable. Their research showed that this area had a vacancy rate of less than 1.5%. A market is deemed to be in equilibrium when the vacancy rate equals 5%. At 5%, this means there is enough supply to satisfy the rental demand in the market, and under 1.5% vacancy would make this one of the markets that is most undersupplied in the entire country. This is further evidenced by the support letter provided by Cannon Management that they only have 12 vacant units throughout their portfolio of 2,000 units in the Coachella Valley. This would equal a 0.6% vacancy and is a staggering number that shows the lack of housing in Palm Desert and the Coachella Valley. Walk-up style buildings with exterior stairwells are common throughout the entire southern region of the country from the west to east coast. All comparable non-senior rental communities in Palm Desert currently have exterior stairwells and no elevators. The design intentionally had the stairwells tucked inside the exterior of the building to provide for a higher aesthetic. The development will only include 1,2, 3- bedrooms units at the currently estimated $4,000 per month, and all of those units will be in the elevator building, which was incorrectly noted in the concern. Figure 11 shows a 2-bedroom unit at The Vineyards at Palm Desert that is marketed for rent at $3,935 per month as of September 14th and does not include an elevator. Over 27% of our units will have access to the elevators and underground parking in that building. This development is designed to be a resort-styled community that is highly amenitized. We expect our community to serve lifestyle renters who choose to rent rather than own and others who are upgrading from the current properties available in the market. This lifecycle housing will allow others to upgrade to those vacated units at the older vintage properties and hopefully open more affordable housing down the line. Migration patterns and the effects of COVID both emotionally tied to loneliness and financially have had households combine and separate through the different stages as they see fit for their households. Per the Federal Fair Housing Act, the Applicant and any other landlord are not allowed to deny and or discriminate against any rental applications based on family status. At the same time, the U.S. Department of Housing has a “two heads per bed” rule that does not allow for more than two people to occupy a bedroom limiting the number of people that can live in a unit. We expect our target market to be primarily a mix of empty nesters and young professionals with other residents filling in the gaps. Figure 13. 8. Property Perimeter: As currently designed, the project has only vertical slat fencing to surround the property. This will do nothing to mitigate noise and car headlights. The actual distance between the street and fence line is quite narrow. It has been stated that the developer will install a meandering sidewalk around the property. However, the drawings that we have been shown that installing a sidewalk will be quite tight on space. a. Response: This statement is incorrect and that only applies to the west property line, not along street frontage. Early on in discussions with city staff we were informed that the city would like to start having more visibility into developments to create interesting visuals rather than provide complete privacy from a block wall. The Applicant agrees with this approach to create more visual interest. The design that has been shown since the initial renderings created for the neighborhood meeting has always included a 4-foot tall block wall with a 2-foot picket railing at the top and 6- foot picket fencing at opening throughout the site to create that visual interest. In response to the neighbor concerns, the Applicant has revised all perimeter walls along the street to the 4-foot tall block wall with a 2-foot picket railing. Please see Figures 14 as a reference point. In regards to the meandering sidewalk, this has also always been shown in the plans. The meandering sidewalk will be 8-foot wide and match the width of the sidewalks on the north side of Frank Sinatra Drive and Portola Avenue. Figure 15 includes an image of the site plan (alternate park option) overlayed on an aerial plan. The image shows that the sidewalk design has been designed to mimic these adjacent sidewalks and meet Palm Desert’s standards. Figure 14. Figure 15. 9. Property Value Loss: The installation of a high density housing project across the street from The Retreat at Desert Willow and neighboring homes bordering Frank Sinatra will have a detrimental effect on area home values. The City of Palm Desert should be applying transitional land use management practices. Permitting the installation of a 395 unit, high density apartment complex next to low density neighborhoods will have a negative impact on our property values. a. The Planned Residential zoning district is intended to provide for a mix of housing types and densities. This development brings a high-quality luxury resort-styled community to the area and provides for a housing type that is not currently available in the area. The development will be a $150M+ investment in the community that will encourage additional investment in the area for both public and private development. An example of public investment that can help be spurred by this development is the Portola Interchange project at Interstate 10 that would provide additional ease of access throughout this area. Research has shown that apartments generally do not decrease values even if the apartments are set aside for low-income residents and all apartment types can actually increase property values. This is a development that is investing a significant amount of money in the area and is a luxury product that will signal that property values are justified to remain strong and continue to increase throughout the area. 10. The project is too close to the street. a. The project was originally designed at the 20-foot minimum setback from the property line, but the buildings were shifted back approximately 3 to 6 feet on the perpendicular buildings on Portola (except Building 5) and 12 and 26 feet on the parallel buildings (Buildings 4 And 6). The Applicant looked to push these buildings in as far as possible while ensuring adequate room for the roads and utility infrastructure needed. Originally, the layout was designed to follow the guidance of the Town Center Neighborhood designation in the General Plan, where they encourage buildings along the street with small to moderate yards. The increased setbacks of the building were pushed back as far as reasonably possible at the request of the neighbors. 11. Such a large complex would create a transient community of perhaps 600 plus people surround by an otherwise stable population. a. As noted in the letter from our property management company, Cannon Management, turnover throughout the region has hit historic lows and most people stay in their apartments for multiple years. This notion that the development will be transient is an unbased claim. Typically we see retention of 70-80% of our residents due to the quality of project we build, which is in-line with how the building will be operated by our property management partner. This building will be unmatched in terms of quality for general market-rate apartments in the area and the lifestyle renters that it attracts will choose to remain here due to the high quality and lack of comparable properties. Most of the residents who move out of our properties are doing so for a life change that could be related to a job, family need or choosing to purchase a home. We create and foster communities that our residents feel at home, which keeps them in place similar to an owned-home. 12. Moving the powerlines underground along Portola would go a long way in making the street look like a modern city. a. The powerlines to the west of the development are not on the development’s property. The Developer did reach out to the power company to see the cost of moving those sections of powerlines underground and was told the number would be a minimum of $5-6M to do so, which is unfeasible for the adjacent property owner to complete. The Applicant also supports the efforts of the city to underground the power lines and consider making Portola Avenue a primary area for doing so with the City’s undergrounding utilities fund. 13. Potential safety concerns for the area with a portion of the residents potentially being short term rentals. a. This was mentioned in the neighborhood meetings, but none of the units will be short- term rentals. All residents will be required to sign long-term leases to maintain residence at the development. In addition, all of the residents prior to moving in will be required to complete an application and background check for all members of the household 18 and over, and all of those members will be required to be on the lease. 14. Noted that the neighbors had not seen traffic, parking and noise studies for the development and wanted to understand the impact of public utilities and infrastructure. a. The entitlement package and subsequent traffic studies, hydrology reports and CEQA documents were all sent to The Retreat leadership on June 24th. The studies found there to be no adverse impacts from the development. In addition, the street infrastructure and utilities are already sized to handle this development as they were planned out for in the General Plan that this area could see up to 40 units per acre. 15. Concerns over exterior stairwells. a. The stairwells on the walk-up buildings have been designed to be internal open-air breezeways and not be outside the footprint of the building. The open-air sections have been designed to look like window openings to match the sizes of the actual window openings. These also are not enclosed to be more environmentally friendly by not cooling these areas for limited amounts of units. 16. Concerns about items being stored on the balconies such as bikes and surf boards with DSRT Surf coming to the area. a. As part of the lease for every unit, the residents will be required to comply with the property handbook. This handbook will explicitly not allow for the storage of bikes, surf boards, or other items and will also require the residents to keep their balconies generally tidy. Patio furniture and small plants will be allowed on the balconies.