Planning Commission OKs 3rd and K project
The Chula Vista Planning Commission last week approved a five-story condominium project with the condition that the developer work with city staff members to find ways to further protect the privacy of neighbors, whose windows and backyards would be visible from the project’s towering floors.
The hearing June 22 was held to address concerns from the public about the Vista del Mar mixed-use project and also make it comply with requirements for the city’s Urban Core Specific Plan.
The plan was adopted in 2007, two years after city officials designated Chula Vista’s northwest area as the “urban core” and specifically Third Avenue as an area of more intensive redevelopment.
The seven-member Planning Commission voted 5-1-1 with Mark Liuag, vice chair of planning commission, voting against and Commissioner Mario Fragomeno absent.
Liuag called it a good project at the wrong place.
“...I wouldn’t support it based on the ratios of the square footage relative to the size of the lot,” he said. “There’s not a lot of square footage and acreage in that area to work with.”
Commissioner Pedro Anaya said he voted in favor of the project because the west side of the city specifically needs new housing options. “In our effort to push economic housing in our area we need to be able to have people live near the areas they work and play.”
Vista del Mar is proposed for the northeast corner of Third Avenue and K Street in downtown Chula Vista. It’s adjacent to a single-family neighborhood on Church Avenue and K Street.
The 1-acre project at 795 Third Ave. was designed by Studio E architect John Sheehan for developer Hamid Mani.
The site is currently occupied by buildings from the 1950s and ’60s, including a martial arts gym, insurance office, botanical store and chiropractor’s office. The project consolidates two parcels into one lot with 71 one- and two-bedroom residential units and one commercial unit in a building ranging from three-to-five stories with 616 square feet of commercial space.
It’s surrounded by a variety of commercial, retail, restaurant and offices along Third Avenue and single family homes to the north and east.
Residents living on Church Avenue and K Street want protection from views of the project’s east-facing balconies, which overlook their neighborhood.
The June 22 hearing was the result of two well-attended public meetings held jointly by city staff and the developer last year. The developer has revised plans to meet community concerns.
About 100 people attended the meeting, including city staff members and applicant representatives. Roughly 55 citizens submitted speaker slips, but only 27 spoke during public comment with the majority of them opposed to the project.
Among their complaints were that the project was too tall and bulky for the adjacent single-family residential neighborhood whose tenants would lose privacy and street parking and see an increase in traffic.
Commissioner Anaya said residents had valid concerns. “I know change is not always easy to accept....But I also think the applicant has done a great job in mitigating those concerns, creating a balanced project that helps the city meet its goals to activate the local area and bring additional development projects,” he said. “When you look at our urban core this is the future of Chula Vista.”
Attendees in support of the project highlighted community benefits such as new housing in part of the city where existing housing is dilapidated, as well as a much needed face-lift to the neighborhood, making it more modern.
In response to concerns, the developer made several changes to the design, including decreasing the number of residential units from 80 to 71, reducing the mass and bulk of the building, including cutting back wings extending along K Street, removing some balconies and recessing and increasing landscaping and parking spaces.
In addition, a traffic assessment found the project will not negatively affect traffic in the project area.
During the public hearing several citizens asked planning commissioners to deny a request by the developer for an increase in the project’s floor plan area, or the mass and bulk of the building.
The city’s Urban Core Specific Plan allows a developer to increase the size of a building if it can provide incentives called “urban amenities” that increase the quality of life of the neighborhood.
The commission allowed the developer to increase the 69,000-square-foot building by about 23,000 square feet to total 91,000 square feet.
This was due to the developer’s plans to increase the amount of parking spaces for the project from the required 128 to 142, creating a 1,700 square foot public plaza, which includes furniture, art and landscaping and building the project to gold rating Leader in Energy and Environmental Design standards, a green building certification that measures the sustainability of a building or community.
