1 | Page
City of Anaheim
Mr. Nicholas Taylor
November 14, 2022
The property is comprised of APN no: 127-102-21
The entire property is designated Corridor Residential in the City General Plan. The property is currently zoned “Transitional” T.
The Justifications for incentives and modifications are as follows:
Tier One Incentive
Minimum setback within 150’ of a single-family home zone is 55’. Reduce to 39’1” for lots 17 & 18. All other units comply.
Conditional Use Permit Modifications
Primary to primary building elevation setback reduction between the units from 40’ to 30’ for buildings 3, 4, 5 & 6 and garage to garage for levels 2 & 3 to 28’5” for buildings 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Justification: Buildings / plans windows are offset to protect window privacy between units, in addition to landscaping.
Parking stall setback is less than 10’ from adjacent residential zone. Reduce the landscape setback for parking stalls from 10’ to 5’ for parking stalls 6 & 7.
Justification: This reduction provides for additional guest parking spaces.
Interior structural setback reduced from 15’ to 6’ along the remaining church west property line.
Justification: The reduced setback meets the landscaping requirement of 5’ minimum.
Proposed Residential Townhomes – “Townes at Orange”
The development of Residential uses under the RM-3 zone will include 24 attached for sale 3-Story Multifamily Residential Townhomes that are situated with access, parking, and recreation area within a 56,628 SF / 1.3-acre portion. The site area provides for the allowance of the 24 units based on Low Medium density residential General Plan designation with application of a five percent density bonus as described below.
Proposed Townhomes are comprised of 4 plan types, Plan 1 through Plan 4, that are grouped in 3 different building types. The total count is summarized as follows:
PLAN / Mix SUMMARY (GROSS SF)
• 6 PLAN 1 @ 1,606 SF 2BD
• 6 PLAN 2 @ 1,734 SF 3BD
• 6 PLAN 3 @ 1,797 SF 3BD+DEN (OPT. 4TH BD)
• 6 PLAN 4 @ 1,979 SF 4BD OR 3BD+DEN
2 | Page
Residential parking Summary:
• 6 Plan 1 @ 2.0 STALLS 12 spaces required
• 6 Plan 2 @ 2.0 STALLS 12 spaces required
• 12 Plans 3 and 4 @ 2.5 STALLS 30 spaces required
• 54 STALLS REQUIRED
Residential Off-Street Parking Provided: 48 GARAGE Spaces and 7 Open Stalls • 55 TOTAL STALLS PROVIDED / (2.29 STALLS/UNIT PROVIDED) OPEN SPACE SUMMARY: TOTAL REQUIRED = 24 UNITS X 350 SF = 8,400 S.F. / TOTAL PROVIDED: 8,621 S.F./24 = 359.2 SF/DU IS PROVIDED AND IS AT GRADE (10' MIN. DIM.).
The private unit balconies proposed do not meet the 7’ foot minimum dimension; however, each unit provides a 2nd level private balcony for their use and should be considered as a part of the justification with the reduced recreational leisure area. Balconies provided are appropriate for the development proposed, especially given the at grade open space design and quantity. The at grade open space areas will provide three separate recreation opportunity areas within the project that will incorporate passive and active opportunities. In addition, the landscape paseos between and along the front of the buildings will be landscaped appropriately for enhanced pedestrian access to entries throughout the site and connections to the public right of way.
The row of parking spaces along the northern boundary complies with AMC 18.46.060 for Landscape Parking areas with full size parking spaces (18 feet) along a 5’ wide setback with a planter area and incorporates planter islands between each block of 3 parking stalls.
Setbacks and Building Separation:
Setbacks Within One Hundred Fifty (150) Feet of Single-Family Residential Zones for 3 story structures for Primary Walls with a minimum of 55 feet from the northern PL. The proposed setback is 39’1” Front setback from ultimate ROW of Orange Ave is a weighted average of 20’4” with pop out architectural enhancements down to 18 feet as ENHANCEMENT to the frontage of Orange Ave.
Primary to primary building elevation setback reduction between the units from 40’ to 30’ for buildings 3, 4, 5 & 6 and garage to garage for levels 2 & 3 to 28’5” for buildings 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Parking stall setback is less than 10’ from adjacent residential zone. Reduce the landscape setback for parking stalls from 10’ to 5’ for parking stalls 6 & 7.
Interior structural setback reduced from 15’ to 6’ along the remaining church west property line.
Justification for interior building separations is allowed under the CUP process.
FRONT SETBACK FENCING / ENCLOSURE: We propose a 36” fence / wall along the Orange frontage. The project will utilize the existing perimeter walls along the east and north boundaries and site design is matching existing grade. A new 6’ masonry screen wall is proposed across the east boundary.
The project is not proposed to be a vehicular gated community. The ingress / egress located at the south portion of the frontage is designed with spacious landscape and deep ingress / egress lanes into the site.
The Emergency Vehicle Access (EVA) is located at the western portion of the property.
3 | Page
Site Coverage: The Residential component of the site plan complies with the RM-3 AMC 18.06.080 SITE COVERAGE maximum of 45% with a proposed Site Coverage of approximately 33.2%.
Solid Waste: R esidential Fire and Solid Waste (Trash) access is provided per the City Std 476 – with a specific request for residential individual home solid waste and recycling bins for each home. Space is provided in the garages and identified as “TR” – Trash and “R” – Recycling on the plan type floor plans.
A Solid Waste Plan has been approved by Public Works-Streets and Sanitation Section. Green waste is not required, as all open space is common and will be maintained by a HOA.
Access: Th e proposed 28-feet-wide driveway for serving access and circulation for the residential portion is not intended as a private street due project design and orientation. Rather, it is a private drive aisle that provides protruding elements of landscape pockets for traffic calming while proving direct access to garages and on-site parking. All parking is either in attached two car garages and head parking stalls, and there is not any parking within the drive aisle. In addition, pedestrian access throughout the site is not intended to be street adjacent but based on the paseo landscape unit entries and recreation area connections designed within the concept and provides pedestrian circulation from those paseos and landscape areas to connection points to on-site parking areas, as well as to the public sidewalk at Magnolia.
Striped turn around stalls are identified at the end of the drive aisles. Additionally, the drive aisle meets trash trucks STD 476 Turn-Around.
Affordable Housing proposal: 10% (3) units are offered to assist the City in meeting much needed middle-income housing availability in the for-sale marketplace. The designated units, 3 (plan 3 three plus den), 6 (two bedroom) and 2 (three bedroom). There is a request for increased density within the project and consideration for project reducing parking over the amount required under current AMC off- street parking current standards, and the one incentive to allow a reduction in the minimum setback to the adjacent single-family zone described in Setbacks and Building Separations above.
Elevations Architecture:
The Architectural design of the 24 Residential units is a contemporary Spanish architecture, utilizing cornice cornered arches with a very simple and clean stucco exterior, heavy headers and ledger trims at windows, window shutters and iron accent treatments in 3 different building type plans and 3 different color schemes. See Color Boards proposed. Special consideration has been designed for the Orange frontage elevations and north toward the adjacent single-family homes.
Landscape and Recreation: Project provides over 8,621 S F of common OS on the ground level. Not including areas that each unit has 2nd floor balconies (not counited in OS summary). All OS is ground level and common and exceeds the minimum per unit 350 SF requirement. Recreation amenities include separate locations and include a lounge area, tot lot and open play area with trellis and tables for gatherings, and small turf area for simple open play activity and are dispersed into different areas.
Summary
The application is for a General Plan Amendment from Residential Corridor to Low Medium Density, a Zone reclassification to RM-3, TTM 19192 for map to accommodate the residential parcel for condominium purposes and Conditional Use Permit, a Parcel Map for right of way abandonment, voluntary offer of 10% of the units as affordable units for middle-income buyers with the one incentive as building separation deviation.
4 | Page
Please provide all correspondence to Jeff Weber, I will coordinate information requests and meetings with the appropriate representatives for Melia Homes.
Sincerely,
Jeff Weber
8951 Research Drive
Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 254-0135
Justification for General Plan Amendment and Reclassification:
This Melia Homes project proposes to redevelop the existing vacated Faith Lutheran private school site located at 2219 W. Orange Ave., Anaheim. The proposed entitlements are comprised of a requested General Plan Amendment of the Land Use Element from Corridor Residential to Low-Medium Density Residential (0-18 du/ac). The project also requests a zone reclassification from “T” Transitional to RM-3.
The site is proposed to be designated Residential-Low Medium (R-LM) in the City General Plan. The Low- Medium Density Residential designation provides for a wide range of residential uses, including detached, small-lot single-family homes, attached single-family homes, patio homes, zero lot line homes, duplexes, townhouses, and mobile home parks. This category is implemented by the RS-4, RM-1, RM-2, and RM-3 zones. The permitted density range is from zero up to 18 dwelling units per gross acre.
The property is currently zoned "T" Transition Zone. The "T" Zone is to provide for a zone to include land that is in a transitory or interim use, restricted to limited uses because of special conditions, or not zoned to one of the zoning districts for whatever reason. The project proposal will request reclassification to Zone RM-3 consistent with implementation of the proposed General Plan Land use designation.
The existing General Plan Designation of Corridor Residential is placed on existing public and larger, established private schools, including elementary, junior, and high schools. The property owner has decided to close the private school that had operated on the property and found zero interest in the private education market for a buyer or replacement operator. Therefore, an amendment is requested to facilitate a land use consistent with surrounding environment and land uses, and to facilitate the city providing a variety of residential land uses that offer diverse housing opportunities for Anaheim’s equally diverse population.
Inspection around the adjacent designations and zoning classifications of the project site demonstrates the diversity of housing; to the south is Medium Density Res (0-36.0 Du/Ac) and zoned RM-4 as 2 story apartment homes, to the north and west, located in the County of Orange is Residential-Low Medium (0-
18.0 Du/Ac) zoned R1, to the east is General Commercial. This project will revitalize a potential nuisance
5 | Page
site, with for sale housing at market levels that will invite opportunities for existing families to remain and move up or down within the City of Anaheim.
The following section describes Land Use Goals and Policies that, in conjunction with the proposal support this change requested. Land Use Plan and accompanying density and intensity standards, guide future land development of the city. Land Use Element Policy Goals this project helps achieve:
Goal 1.1:
2) Ensure that new development is designed in a manner that preserves the quality of life in existing neighborhoods.
3) Encourage future development to provide functional public spaces that foster social interaction.
Goal 2.1:
1) Facilitate new residential development on vacant or underutilized infill parcels.
Goal 7.1:
4) Continue to pursue infill residential development opportunities at mid-block locations along the City’s arterial streets as an alternative to underutilized commercial land uses.
Goal 9.1:
5) Maintain and enforce development standards and Community Design Element policies and guidelines that promote high quality development.
7) Preserve single-family neighborhoods and encourage residential development that promotes home ownership.
The property size is adequate in size and shape to accommodate the proposed development and should be found compatible with surrounding residential land uses of various types and densities. Proposed project design complies with all perimeter setbacks, including special setbacks from the RS zone single family residential zones, interior property lines, and front setbacks abutting an arterial highway designated street.
Perimeter and internal landscaping will provide further buffering and attractive street frontage designs.
Conditional Use Permit- RM-3 Zone
Per Anaheim Municipal Code 18..06, all development in the RM-3 Zone shall be subject to the approval of an application for a conditional use permit approved by the Planning Commission. Therefore, we respectfully request consideration of this 24-unit multifamily residential subdivision proposal to include a request for Planning Commission review and approval of our site plan through a conditional use permit per Section 18.66 of the Anaheim Municipal Code.
In support of this request, the proposed project does not comply with development specified in Section
18.06 related to maximum density of 19 du/ac. The proposed project exceeds the maximum density of 19 du/ac. The proposed projects will provide an affordable component which will qualify for a Density Bonus. The density bonus will allow the project to achieve a net density of 18.47 du/ac, which is in compliance with the RM-3 zone.
The proposed project will not adversely affect adjoining land uses, as the use is consistent with the adjacent uses and allowable density for the site. The proposed project provides a compatible multifamily residential design and is compatible and consistent with the adjoining single family and multifamily units to the north, west and south of the site. The adjacent multi-family apartments to the west and the offices to the east are not adversely affected by our proposal.
6 | Page
The proposed site is large enough and able to accommodate the proposed project design without negatively affecting the residential area and surrounding areas.
The Site Plan presented provides site design and related information for redevelopment of the preschool site, and the introduction of proposed residential multifamily development. The plan provided for comprehensive review of the existing site and will be processed for entitlement purposes.
The overall plan layout provides ample separation between buildings internally that allows for multiple and varying recreational opportunities in the design and wide common open space front entry paseos that allow for ample privacy and enjoyment within a RM-3 density.
The traffic generated from the proposed development is consistent with General Plan designated use that would allow up to 27 du/ac on the site. Thus, the project is a net reduction in traffic and that the adjoining streets are capable of accepting traffic generated from this infill development.
Finally, approval of this conditional use permit with conditions of approval will not harm the health and safety of the citizens of Anaheim by the very nature that this is a proposal for a residential project in a residential area that is consistent with surrounding development and infrastructure.
Existing Conditional Use Permit Amendments.
Conditional Use Permit 3468A. The existing site consists of a large sanctuary building, 7 school classrooms and school ancillary areas, and an approx. 100 SF admin office building. The existing buildings and ancillary areas will be demolished. This CUP will be eliminated Conditional Use Permit 3468. Child Day care will be removed. The parking plan is revised to forty-six (46) spaces and three (3) handicap spaces is adequate for the church use.