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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Statement 1981/09/08 Item 5, 5a COUNCIL AGENDA STATEMENT Item 5 , 5a Meeting Date 9/8/81 Public hearing - Consideration of request to revise General Deve opmen an ITEM TITLE: for Point Robinhood at 1675 Brandywine Avenue Resolution / 0 (o/,S"- Approving revision to the General Development Plan for Point Robinhood SUBMITTED BY: Director of Planning ~~ (4/5ths Vote: Yes No X ) A. BACKGROUND 1. This item involves a request to revise the approved General Development Plan for the Brandywine (Point Robinhood) Planned Community located on the east side of Brandy- wine Avenue and on the north and south sides of Sequoia Street in the P-C zone. The applicant proposes to develop the southerly 0.8 acres of a designated 1.7 acre convenience commercial site located at the southeasterly corner of Brandywine Avenue and Sequoia Street with 14 two bedroom townhouse units, a density of 17.5 dwelling units per acre. 2. The design for the 14 units was approved by the Design Review Committee on July 16, 1981. 3. On August 12, 1981 the Planning Commission adopted the Negative Declaration on IS-81-48, which is forwarded for Council adoption. B. RECOMMENDATION: Concur with the Planning Commission recommendation. C. PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION On August 12, 1981 the Planning Commission unanimously recommended that Council approve the revision to the General Development Plan for the Brandywine Planned Community in accordance with Resolution PCM-82-1 and as shown on Exhibit "A". D. DISCUSSION 1. Brandywine Planned Community The General Development Plan and P-C zone for the Brandywine Planned Community was approved by the City Council in 1971. The plan covers approximately 119 acres located on the east side of Brandywine Avenue and on both sides of Sequoia Street. The designated land uses were tabulated as follows: a. Elementary school site - 11± acres b. Neighborhood commercial center - 3± acres c. Single family attached residential - 61± acres, 495 units d. Multiple family apartments - 44± acres, 400 units 2. Point Robinhood Development In 1973, the City Council approved the tentative subdivision map for the Robinhood Point development. At the time of approval, the land use concept was changed from single family attached housing and apartments, totalling 895 dwelling units, to 291 clustered single family detached dwelling units, a reduction of more than 600 units. The neighbor- hood commercial center was reduced to a net area of 1.7 acres and its configuration altered due to a north/south fault located east of and parallel to Brandywine Avenue. An open space lot developed with tennis courts was created between the commercial center and the rm A-113 (Rev. 11/79) ~ _ ~C ~ /~ continued Page 2, Item 5, 5a Meeting Date 9/8/81 residential area. An RV storage area lies directly to the south of the commercial lot. Access to the RV storage is provided across the south end of the commercial property. 3. Existing site characteristics a. The neighborhood commercial center is a 1.7 acre lot with approximately 180 feet of frontage along the south side of Sequoia Street and approximately 410 feet along the east side of Brandywine Avenue. Topographically, the site is split into two different levels with the northerly half of the lot being approximately 9 feet higher than the southerly half with a 2:1 slope bank in between. The northerly portion of the lot is also below the street level of Sequoia Street. b. In November, 1978 the Planning Department approved a Planned Development proposal for a commercial center to be constructed in two phases. The first phase has been constructed and consists of a single story structure with 6400 sq. ft. of retail floor space, 47 parking spaces and related landscaping. Access is provided from Brandy- wine Avenue via a two way driveway. The building is presently occupied by a convenience market (7-Eleven) and a church which was approved for a period of three years by the Planning Commission in January 1981. c. The second phase was planned as a one and two story split level structure with 13,200 sq. ft. of retail and office space in the vicinity of the existing slope bank. An additional 34 parking spaces were proposed with access from the existing drive- way serving the RV storage and an onsite driveway between the two levels in front of the proposed building. 4. Proposed development In lieu of the second phase commercial development, the applicant proposes to construct a 14 unit two-bedroom townhouse project in two buildings. A two-story fourplex is proposed along the northerly boundary line and a 10 unit combination two and three story structure, with a 16 stall parking garage underneath, is proposed to be located along the easterly boundary line. An additional 17 parking spaces will be provided in front of the buildings in a central parking area. Access is provided by the existing driveway located in the center of the project which currently serves and will continue to serve the RV storage area to the south. There will be no interior driveway between the commercial and residential uses. The buildings will have a combination pitched and shed type shake shingle roof with the shed portions on the ends of the building. The exterior elevations will be stucco with rounded shingle and wood trim and the exterior elevation at the garage level, as well as the retaining walls, will be split faced block. The project, which is compatible with the existing commercial development, was approved by the Design Review Committee on July 16, 1981 subject to certain conditions. D. ANALYSIS 1. The Brandywine area is located at the extreme southeast corner of the urbanized area of the City of Chula Vista and is somewhat isolated because of the present lack of a north-south collector street leading through the area. Brandywine Avenue will eventually connect Telegraph Canyon Road with Otay Valley Road. However, this connection is antici- pated to be a number of years away. The area is also served commercially by existing neighborhood centers at Orange and Melrose and at Otay Valley Road and Melrose. Future land use expansion to the east and the south is likely to be industrial in nature so it cannot be expected to contribute to the demand for neighborhood commercial development. ~- ~o ~;~ .~ Page 3, Item 5; 5a ~~eeting Date 9/8/81 This observation is supported by the fact that even the existing commercial building is not being fully utilized for retail uses. Therefore, there is not a demonstrated need to retain the remaining commercial area. 2. The Point Robinhood development was reduced by more than 600 units from the original plan which logically has reduced the need for the additional service commercial. It is therefore appropriate to redesignate the vacant commercial property for some other use. Based on its location, residential development is the most logical choice. And because it is located on a future residential collector street and isolated from the remainder of the Point Robinhood development, it is my opinion that the subject property lends itself more toward multiple family residential than to single family development. 3. The proposed density of 17.5 dwelling units per acre is in keeping with den- sities allowed in other neighborhood commercial centers by conditional use permit. The increase of 14 units within the Brandywine development is still considerably less than originally proposed. The 291 units developed in addition to the 14 units proposed will result in a total of 305 units, or an overall density of 3.2 dwelling units per acre, well below the density range of the General Plan for this area of 4 to 12 dwelling units per acre. by the ~~~.,~ C~.. . ~! of ~.rlU~3 4~~J~LC~, r~"t;i::~illi~ Dated -- ~y~~~~ ...,._