When it comes to development, when is enough really enough?
That was the question posed by the City Planning Commission Thursday, March 15, during a discussion on the University City Monte Verde project, a request that commissioners decided had too many negative impacts to outweigh a positive economic flow for developers.
“In the environmental document, height is acknowledged here as a significant impact to the community character,” Barry Schultz, Planning Commission chairman, said to project developer Garden Communities. “So I’m balancing the community character with your chance to make money?”
The commission voted 4-1 to recommend a reduced height alternative to City Council when the project proposal is heard in the near future. The University Community Planning Group (UCPG) voted Feb. 13 to deny recommendation of the project to City Council.
Monte Verde, as presented by project architect Martin Poirier, would consist of two 32-story and two 35-story residential towers. The environmental impact report (EIR) for the project states the height of the towers does not fit with the community character and is an impact that cannot be mitigated.
Impacts to traffic and circulation, as well as solid waste disposal and sewer mains, were also cited as negative effects of the project that could not be mitigated.
One alternative to the proposed plan ” reducing the height of the towers to 18-story and 21-story buildings ” was labeled in the report as unfeasible by the developer because it would not generate the same amount of housing, Schultz said, with agreement from the developer’s attorney.
Situated on a 4.77-acre parcel at the corner of La Jolla Village Drive and Genesee Avenue, Monte Verde ” as proposed by the developer ” would provide 800 housing units with 10 percent of those designated as affordable housing.
The alternative project would provide 408 units, according to the city staff report.
The parcel for the proposed project is part of a larger 57-acre site owned by Garden Communities that houses the restaurant Trophy’s and the Costa Verde residential buildings.
Because developer Garden Communities had originally designated the site for a 400-room hotel, both the North University City community plan and the site’s specific plan would have to be amended to allow for the current project.
The site would be rezoned from visitor/commercial to residential and the number of units allowed on the entire 57-acre site would need to be amended from 2,600 to 2,900 total dwelling units.
The change would also alter the number of average daily trips, or ADTs, allotted to the Monte Verde project, according to staff reports.
Representatives for Garden Communities argued that the residential units would provide fewer ADTs than a hotel, but several commissioners pointed to the EIR’s traffic study that indicates major intersections near the project, as well as the I-5 and I-805 ramps, are already functioning at service level F and would most likely remain that way if the project was implemented.
The city and its communities rely on funds from development to correct problems such as traffic congestion, but cannot agree to approve such projects because of already existing development impacts, Commissioner Eric Naslund pointed out.
“Traffic is at service level F but everything we build there is going to contribute to that,” Naslund said. “How are we supposed to move forward on any type of development and, on the flip side, if we do nothing, it’s not going to get any better. We are sort of boxed in here.”
University City is unique because it is still a village but has been invested in and continues to prosper even though it is near its build-out capacity, said Schultz and Dan Monroe, project manager for the City’s Development Services.
“We keep approving projects because of the conundrum you talk of today, but this community is different because if we stopped building there, 10 years from now it will still be OK,” Schultz said. “This is not a community that needs redevelopment.”
But a crowd of at least 60 people in lime-green “Monte Verde, YES” T-shirts disagreed.
More than 100 speaker slips in favor of the project were submitted to the commission by the group and close to 20 public testimonies were given.
Scott Barnett, a University City resident, told the commission that he had long-term ties with the community, noting that his entire family had grown up in the same neighborhood.
“I have an emotional stake in this community,” Barnett said. “I see the difference between the bedroom community in the south side and the vibrancy of the newer developments in the northwest. I’m not speaking as a NIMBY but as a ‘Yes in My Backyard,’ and I feel I have a responsibility to advocate for Monte Verde as the right project, in the right place, at the right time.”
Many of the people who spoke said they lived in one of Garden Communities’ developments, such as Costa Verde and Crossroads Apartments.
Stuart Posnack, representative for Garden Communities, told the Planning Commission he believed Monte Verde offered a number of community benefits, such as public open space, a shuttle bus and a cable pedestrian bridge over La Jolla Village Drive, and said the project “epitomized smart growth.
“Seven hundred people agree and the majority of them live, work and play in the urban node,” Posnack said. “We ask with utmost respect, ‘If not here, where?'”
Six residents at the meeting in opposition to the project, several of whom wore red T-shirts announcing “Stop the Mega Towers,” echoed concerns similar to those of the commission, including increased density, environmental and construction impacts and protecting the community character.
A sample of 270 e-mails from University City residents opposing the project was presented to the planning commission and was also given to District 1 City Councilman and Council President Scott Peters. The e-mails were bound with a letter from a coalition of residents from various organizations, including UCPG chairwoman Linda Colley, who support the project’s reduced-height alternative.
“I got involved in this five years ago because I’m tired of what the city is doing to our community,” Colley said. “What about the resident? We are trying to save our community. Stuart asked if not here, then where? Well, I’m going to tell you: downtown.”
Posnack and Nicole Clay, a partner representing the project from the Carpi and Clay marketing firm, did not immediately return phone calls concerning the hearing’s outcome.
Pat Wilson, a University City resident present at the hearing, said she and other community members were pleased with the decision.
“I think the planning commission really listened to UCPG and the community,” she said.
Monte Verde has not yet been scheduled to be heard by the City Council, Peters’ office said.