Welcome to this September 17th, 2025,
design review commission meeting.
May we do a roll call, please?
Commissioner Riley, here.
Vice Chair Vasting, here.
Chair Newsom, here.
And commissioner Case is absent,
but we do have a quorum tonight.
Excellent.
Moving right along, consent calendar.
Do we have any items on the consent calendar
or any proposed?
We have none.
OK, thanks.
Third thing is public communications.
This portion of the meeting is reserved for comments on items
not on the agenda.
Under the Brown Act, the commission
cannot act on items raised during public communications,
but may respond briefly to statements made or questions
posed, request clarification, or refer an item to staff.
Do we have any requests for public communications
outside of the public hearing?
We have none.
Okay, so we're moving on.
So before we go to the public hearing,
has anybody had any ex parte communications
regarding this project?
No.
No.
Excellent.
So open the public hearing.
And I understand we have one item tonight
and it's the Mount Abel and mixed use development.
And I understand staff has a presentation.
So go ahead when you're ready.
Okay, good evening commissioners.
Simmer Gill, Senior Planner with the City.
We are here tonight to receive
a Design Review Commission feedback
on the proposed Mount Diabolo
mixed-use 74-unit residential development
that will be located at 2094 Mount Diabolo Boulevard.
The applicant, Ben Johnson, along with his team,
are here tonight to answer any questions
that you may have after the presentation,
as am I available for any questions.
Just to quickly go over the site area,
the parcel is zoned mixed use commercial.
It is located within the west downtown specific plan
and also identified as a opportunity housing site
in the housing element inventory table.
The site is a little over 24,000 square feet in size
and there is an existing commercial building on site.
The surrounding area consists of a mix of commercial and retail uses and there are residential uses to the north of the site
just
if you're looking on this the brown shaded area is the residential portion and
Here are some photographs and I have identified with the star is the existing building that will be demolished for proposed construction
So moving into the project request
The existing building will be demolished to construct the seven-story 74 unit mixed-use development
there is a 3,000 square foot ground floor commercial space and
The project also includes a 861 square foot daycare center
That's located towards the back of the site closer to the north end of the site
And the project consists of a mix of studios one bedroom and two bedroom units sizes range from
to 91 square feet to approximately 1,500 square feet.
New ground floor and rooftop landscaping is proposed,
and we'll go into more detail
as we go into the landscape plans.
Eight surface parking stalls and 80 of those stalls
are provided in a mechanical parking system.
The project is also requesting a drip line encroachment
permit as there will be work near the drip line
of neighboring trees along the west property line.
So this project is also providing eight
very low income units as part of the project.
They're being processed under the state density bonus law,
which does allow waivers and concessions
to a city's development standards
in order to develop this project.
And this project is also being reviewed
under the Housing Accountability Act, also known as SB 330.
So tonight, Design Review Commission
will essentially be providing input,
their feedback on the site layout,
the building design, the landscaping,
and then provide a recommendation
to the planning commission
who would be the considering body
for the design review of the building,
the conditional use permit for the daycare,
the tree drip line encroachment permit,
as well as consider the concessions and waivers
that are being utilized under density bonus.
Again, as mentioned earlier,
This process a project is being processed under housing accountability act which really limits the city's
This the city's review to really if the project is providing multiple housing units as well as consistent with the city's
Objective standards as well as the city's design standards
The project cannot be denied and the density cannot be lowered unless the city staff or the Commission makes
findings that these
This project will result in any health or safety impacts.
And here is some information on the density of the project.
It is owned mixed use commercial.
Has a general plan designation of mixed use commercial which allows 88 dwelling units
per acre resulting in a base density of 49 units.
The applicant providing eight very low income units then allows them to have a 50% increase
and density which results in 25 bonus units with a total of 74 units allowed for this
project.
And the applicant is building 74 unit project with requesting 7 waivers as well as 2 concessions.
And I can go into more detail but an explanation of what the difference is between a concession
and a waiver if needed at the end of my presentation.
The first concession that's requested is regarding the building material requirement in the city's objective design standards
That does require at least two materials on any building frontage in addition to the glazing and railings
The applicant is requesting the concession to reduce the overall construction costs
What's being proposed is a single stucco facade with a different mix of different color paint colors and
The second concession request is for the furniture improvements along Mount Diablo Boulevard
The US downtown specific plan does designate the sidewalk width from the property line to the face of the curb as 14 feet
The applicant will be retaining the existing for frontage conditions including the 10-foot
sidewalk and the driveway apron and this concession will avoid the need to construct any new improvements as
such as the the sidewalk or replacing the sidewalks or a new landscaping or any associated
stormwater treatment facilities in the frontage as
The applicant has stated that this would result in significant cost savings for their project. So they're leaving the
existing frontage as is and
Here is a list of the density bonus waivers that are being requested as part of this project
Again, I I believe I've explained this in the staff report but happy to elaborate if needed after my presentation on any of
If you have questions on any of these waiver requests
And here is the existing site layout
The existing building on site will be demolished
and
Here is the proposed layout
Vehicle access to a site is taken directly from Mount Diablo Boulevard through the existing
20-foot wide drive aisle that extends north into the site and accommodates a two-way circulation
pedestrian access is provided by accessible pathways along both the Mount Diablo frontage as well as the rear of the building and
This does ensure connections to the residential lobby the commercial space as well as the child care center
The child care center again towards the north end of the site does include a separate entrance from the drive aisle and also a secure outdoor
door play yard for the children that is separated from vehicle circulation.
As we move into the slides, I'll go more into detail, but at the roof level, residents are
provided with a amenity deck, and it's accessible by stairs that are located at both ends, stairs
and elevators that are located at both ends of the building.
And again, just another look at the proposed project in relation to the surrounding uses.
And here is the ground floor plan.
So this basically just shows a closer look at the surface parking stalls as well as the
loading space.
And then again, here it's just showing the parking and the trash, solid waste, the utilities,
child care facility all on the ground floor and right above that will be the
residential storage that is required as part of this project. They're providing
that on the second level. And here is the street facing elevation. The project's
architectural character is contemporary and it does reflect the vision of the
west downtown specific plan which envisions a vibrant walkable and transit
oriented development. The building features smooth cement plaster finish
with a mix of colors that are identified on this slide, as well as glass guard
rails on the outdoor decks, black metal louvers and screens, and black metal
canopies, as well as exterior outdoor lighting like wall sconces or light
pictures building mounted and here is the north elevation that's facing the
back of the site and facing the residential properties the existing
residential properties that are accessed from Oakland Boulevard and here is the
east elevation that's facing inwards again the same mix of the variations in
that paint scheme to kind of break up that facade and here's the West
elevation this is facing the existing gas station and this is the ground floor
landscaping plan there's not a it's a very tight site there's not a lot of
space so the proposed landscaping is what you see here essentially
shrubberies and some bioretention plantings. Here is the rooftop landscape plan. There
is an outdoor, there's a roof deck with seating areas as well as several new trees landscaping
as well as the location for the mechanical equipment is also on the roof. And as part
Part of this project, the applicant was requesting a total of four Bradford Pare trees to be
removed.
These are circled in green and they're towards the north end of the site.
The city arborist did administratively approve these as it didn't warrant preservation and
they were in, I think, poor to fair health so there was, the city arborist could support
the removal without having the commission to weigh in and the
remaining six off-site trees will be preserved and they are identified on
this encircled trees tree numbers 145 through 150 on the west property lane so
this project does need to meet the city requirements and it did qualify for a
a class 32 infill CEQA exemption.
What that essentially means is that there are,
it's a less than five acre parcel,
there's existing utilities on the site.
The project will not result in significant
effects to noise, air quality, or traffic,
and there are existing utilities on site.
And this project did check off all those boxes
in order to qualify for this exemption.
And the project has also been designed to meet the city's objective design standards.
The SB 330 pre-application was submitted prior to adoption of the new design review standards
and guidelines which were adopted in 2024.
So those do not apply to this project.
However, I believe the applicant did design the project to essentially meet most
of the standards and the DRSGs as well.
and this is something I wanted to highlight
because there's been an updated or revised staff report
as it was an oversight on staff's part.
This project is within a half mile of BART,
which means that no parking needs to be provided
for this project.
The applicant is voluntarily providing 88 parking stalls.
Of those 88 are surface stalls.
Again, they don't need to provide it,
So they are providing as part of the project,
but it's not a requirement under city codes.
And with that, staff does recommend
that the Design Review Commission comment
on the site design, the building plans, the landscape plan,
and provide a recommendation to the Planning Commission
on the design and landscape plan of this project.
That is all I have, but I'm happy to answer any questions.
any questions? As the roof seems to be the only outdoor space that's accessible
and usable for the tenants, what sort of shade will be provided on the roof so
that during the summer it can actually be a usable space? I believe there's
canopies, there's shade structures, and I'll let the applicant
elaborate when they come up for their presentation, but I believe they do have
Shade structures as well as cannabis. Yeah, wonderful. Thank you. I
Just wanted to confirm. This is an apartment project for rental. Is that correct? It's a yeah rental project
Has the fire district seen the plancia the fire district has reviewed the project and it's currently still being worked out
But yes, they have looked at it and before we take this project to the Planning Commission
We'll make sure we get the approval or the thumbs up from the fire district
Excellent that's it. Thanks. Thank you. And the applicant also has a presentation. So let's go ahead with that
When you come up, please introduce yourself
Make sure you move the microphone down to
And I'll just say while they're getting ready if anybody's here with public comment
That's coming up next so fill out your comment card now
They're in the back of the room
Okay, my name is Ben Johansson with LCA Architects representing
the owner for the property and
the rest of the project team
quickly to the question regarding
shade
There there are there is a framed
shade structure that would have a shade sale
you know we may
That's currently what we feel like
The building department would approve up there
We may have further try and have further discussions for something a little more structured
But due to the height of the building need to be
Yeah, there's building code issues that come into play. We also the
All but the studio units have private balconies that would be covered
So there is a little more this private outdoor space, but that's included as well
Okay
Thank you so much for for your presentation
We appreciate the opportunity to present this project tonight
As as was mentioned this is 74 units of residential
Including eight very low income units to qualify for density bonus and to
you know as a benefit to the city and
Also, preserving the kind of community commercial nature of the dry cleaner.
And then also, it's been a key feature for the owner to include the daycare as an amenity
to the tenants as well.
I'll move on.
So, this will be quick.
Hopefully it'll add something to what has already been presented.
We just feel that this is a good site for this type of project, identified as a housing
element site, kind of unique in its placement with access to Oakland Boulevard and a straight
shot up for pedestrians to BART, easy access onto Highway 24 and 680, as well as just walking
downtown.
It's a long deep narrow site with developed properties.
The housing element imagines situations where this site would be combined with neighboring
sites.
The ones there now are, they're all developed, they're all are, we did, we have had conversations
with all the neighbors.
There wasn't sort of an interest in partnering at this point.
There's also a PG and easement that runs up and from north to south along the west side
that kind of prevents partnering with the projects, the parcels to the west.
We do share a driveway access, we need to keep that open, it will be used by, for deliveries
to the other commercial pieces.
We have the cleaners at the front, residential parking in the middle, and then we are also
encouraged by staff to include an on-site loading zone and have work to
to accommodate that on-site, particularly as the west downtown specific plan kind
of imagines eliminating street parking along Mount Diablo we want to have that
option on-site moving forward. We also have the goal of providing on-site
parking for all the residents. You know there is the state law that would allow
for no parking but we feel like this site in particular with like highway
access there'd be an appeal to people that would need a car to get to and from
work or other places in the area. So we got the ground level we got the it's
mostly as a small commercial space the parking we do provide bicycle parking as
as required for one per unit.
There's two lobbies kind of front and back
that just give,
the one at the front is more the public entrance.
We envision the one at the back,
more residents might use more
to come up and down to their cars,
also can take oversized trash to the trash room
or to take their kids to the daycare.
Up above, we've tried on this long narrow site
to position the units in such a way
that we want to prioritize the views out toward downtown
and towards Mount Diablo,
at least how the city is currently developed.
There's going to be some amazing views from these units.
We also want to give them each,
as many units as we could, the private outdoor space.
And so within particularly building code requirements
for opening separation and stuff,
we've worked the perimeter of the building
to allow for that in as many units as we can.
And then there's the roof deck that was talked about before.
The landscape architect is here tonight
if they have more questions about what's provided up there.
They're available for questions.
For the elevations, we did want to, as mentioned,
there's a concession to do the one material.
But at the same time, we did try and break up
the mass with color, with the balconies,
to give it a more refined, articulated appearance,
particularly at the front elevation at Mount Diablo.
See, up above at the top level, the building
does step back at the front and back,
north and south elevations.
There's a terrace there for those units up at the top.
We have large glass storefronts at the commercial
and residential lobbies for pedestrian traffic
at the ground floor.
And then here's our mechanical parking.
If, you know, through going through this process,
I've learned a lot about how these systems work.
We feel like it's a good solution.
We've been told that they anticipate cars being able to be delivered to someone requesting
it in less than a minute, and we feel like it's a workable solution.
So again, the landscape architect is here if you have questions on that, and thank you
for this opportunity to discuss the project, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.
If you have any questions, we're here to answer.
Thank you.
That's it, huh?
Any questions? I'll just ask a couple here. So the fire lane. Yeah. So how much, how wide is the fire
lane? The fire lane we have it's I think it meets the 26 feet. So it comes in it kind of we we're
keeping the existing driveway apron which does come down to about 21 feet for the first at the
entry and then as soon as it hits the where the parking is we allow we have
25 feet to the so there's a 10-foot easement on either side of the east
property line we provide so that's 20 feet that we know is going to be there
in perpetuity we provide another five so that there's car back up we meet the
standard. So there's a minimum of 25 provided all the way back and then it
actually is functionally more because of how the existing driveway is on the
property that is not ours. How the truck it's over 150 so how does the truck
turn around? So they we've talked to the fire department they've given a dimension
that they're willing to go in and then back out and that of 250 feet that the
fire marshal has approved and then we've done we we have an approved
alternative methods and materials application that puts standpipes in the
stairs okay and you're you're over through you need two accesses so I guess
the other axis is Mount Dabble Boulevard.
What do you mean by to well I mean the building is is six stories high so it
needs to we have we have a pedestrian path for exiting on the east side of the
building and on the west side no for trucks for trucks I mean it's it's right
out of the fire code I mean you just have to get by the foot no no I know I
mean this is why we did have yeah the alternative methods and means just
because access is, it's fraught on such a long narrow site, yes, we cannot provide
two access points. Okay. And let alone with the separation that's required by
the fire coat. Yeah, and then are there any stormwater features on this building?
There is a stormwater detention basin in the rear of the site. We have, the roof
has quite a bit of planting to limit the pervious I mean you gotta meet that
that's all and as long you have them I just didn't see it yes it's in the rear
of the site okay all right um that's it okay thanks thank you so any more no
more questions huh I'd say with the storm water it's it's a little challenging
because the site kind of slopes from Mount Diablo back it's toward the creek
at the back so getting watered back towards Mount Diablo wasn't really an
option. I mean that's part of why we didn't why the it would be such a cost
to do the frontage improvements is because we would have to put stormwater
treatment in the frontage improvements and then in order to drain that out we
would have to run a line all the way up to the intersection with Oakland. It's
It's a complicated site.
Okay.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Um, I guess now we're going to open it up for public comments.
Are there any public comments?
Uh, do you have, do you have a speaker card?
Come on up.
We can fill it out.
Right.
You come up.
Can you hear me?
Yeah.
You have two minutes.
Okay.
Okay.
Thank you, Council.
Okay.
I own the building directly across the driveway.
a small brick building. And I just found out about this development, I didn't know about
it before I was notified of this meeting, so I decided to just come to the meeting,
look at the drawings in the presentations, and just kind of get a bird's eye view. I
haven't had a chance to look at the details yet. But based on what I'm seeing, it does
look like the development itself is a beautiful building. You know, it's just
it's very large and with the size of it and the number of people in traffic
there are going to be a lot of challenges to make it work at this
particular site in consideration with other properties and just all the
traffic including foot traffic. So I wanted to just raise some of my concerns.
The first is I'm going to focus on just my safety concerns with policing.
It's going to be a long building going all the way to the back of the property.
There isn't going to be much visibility unless someone would look directly down the driveway
or a police car would probably have to drive through and actually view it that way.
That would be the best way, but there's going to have to be a lot of lighting and a lot
surveillance at this site because otherwise it will be very difficult to
to police. Just the other consideration I had was traffic. The driveway itself
there are two mutual easements on it and with the increase in traffic there's
gonna be an awful lot of use of the easement and I'm a little bit concerned
about is at the end of the two minutes. That's two minutes. Okay I have I have
other concerns that I wasn't able to raise but in okay okay okay so I'm
concerned about the traffic on the easement as far as safety goes for for
the pedestrians that then there are a lot of pedestrians along there including
myself too. And then as far as drainage and surface surface water, subsurface
water there in the past after the first development around the year 2000 we did
have an issue with over drainage toward my property and I had to make some
improvements in order to accommodate that increase in water so that said I
would like to take a closer look at the drainage plan to make sure it
accommodates for both surface, subsurface, and that it drains water toward either
a storm drain or the water can make it all the way to the street. I
don't want it pooling on my property and causing flooding or issues such as that.
So I'm a little concerned about sort of the devil being in the detail so to
speak but that said the building itself the project itself is not something that
I am fundamentally against. I just wanted to come here to raise my concerns about
it and be sure that things were done in such a way that joining property owners
such as myself work were considered accordingly. Thank you. Thank you. Any
any other public comment? Do you have a speaker card? Okay I'd like to say that
you require no introduction but I'm afraid you can I'm just waiting for my
two minutes to be put up on the board. They've got me done already. Okay Charles
Creline former Design Review Commission current transportation
commissioner from a location standpoint I think this is a good location for a
high density housing project and I also think it's a pretty well designed nice
looking building given the spot so I'm not really opposed to this project I
think it helps us meet our housing goals and it's in the right place my main
concern would be traffic and parking just because I think there's going to be
more cars than they're providing for and I know with the rules that they don't
have to provide any parking but and it's nice that they're providing the 84 or 88
spots but that if I was a guessing man there probably be 120 to 150 cars at
this development so from the Transportation Commission side I worry
about the traffic and where those other cars will get parked because there's not
a lot of very good parking out there and then just one question I'm not
familiar with exactly how it's measured between BART or mass transit and the
location is it as the crow flies because then it's probably half a mile if it's
the shortest walking or driving route it's about point six miles to the
closest corner of the BART station so thank you very much thank you Charles
I'll go fill my card out now any other public comments okay good so now we're
going to open it up for Commissioner comments we have any so I have a few
comments before you go to the Planning Commission I would suggest that you
share your drainage plan with your neighbor so you don't have this same
discussion and I also am concerned about public safety in the long dead-end
driveway. So I think you should highlight your plans for that, the lighting and door
surveillance or anything else that would make it more safe for someone like me or any of
you to walk down that driveway at night. As everyone said, there are pedestrians there.
There is access along Oakland to BART and to all of those developments back there, so
Take that into consideration, please.
So you can highlight that for the Planning Commission.
Let's see here.
I think that's it.
I second Commissioner Bass's suggestion
that the drainage plan gets shared, of course.
Also, I just wanna say that I appreciate
the addition of the parking spaces,
and I appreciate the storage, the residential storage,
the daycare center I think that this is a well-designed building for the
residents and it would be a nice place to live and I think that that's a real
asset. So I just wanted to thank you for putting that in. That's it? You guys are
you guys are easy. I'm gonna be easy. I you know I'd say I kind of second
everything they say. I mean I think there are a few things. I think this is
going to be a great project, and I think the density is needed. I think that, that,
that, sorry, that said, from from a health and safety standpoint, I just think it's
going to be really important that the fire apparatus be worked out with the
fire district and be safe. This building is going to be there a long time. It's a
tall building you need to have the wide you're required to have the wider access
road to have two trucks pass the apparatus has to be able to turn and I
think you need to look it in the lens of what the fire code says making sure the
truck checks I mean it seems I am very surprised I do buildings for a living
commercial buildings and such I mean I've never seen a fire district give up
on 150 without a turnaround. That's something that's going to need to be codified. It's
if you're using the adjacent property, you're going to need to have an easement, a wider
easement in the back than you have probably in my mind. Think about the issue of traffic
which several people have brought up. It's really important. I go to that hardware store
a lot. I attended that church across the street. I know there's children crossing. There's
crossing there. There's lights, demarcations, everything else. I think it's gonna be very
important that, and I'm not sure that it's there or not, but making sure that there's
an adequate site triangle for vehicles entering Mount Evelet Boulevard to be able to see when
they come on and off, see kids on the streets, see cars. The cars are coming down that street
they're accelerating to the freeway, probably going 40 miles an hour or more,
so it's gonna be really important that you do that and that's it. I mean you're
gonna have to do those things anyway to get a building permit and I expect
there's probably gonna be a few changes but I think in general I like the idea
of it. I mean I don't I think that the waiver requests are kind of odd in my
mind I think that I mean why not introduce another material on the front
I think it just make the building better I don't really think it would cost any
more money but here nothing we can't really make you do that so that's
that's that's about it so we're not really gonna make a motion here right
maybe you want to just repeat what you heard so just to summarize the concerns
We're really looking at sharing the drainage plan with the neighbor and to consider the lighting and surveillance for safety for pedestrians and for motorists and
also to
Think about and look at work with the fire fire department regarding the fire turnaround the need for the easements
For the trucks to pass and then lastly again
To look at the adequate site triangle for pedestrian crossing at Mount Diablo
So anything else they can beat all the comments so so okay, thanks. I think you got it all
Okay, so that's that's it. That's the end of the public hearing so
We're gonna move on to
Other items. Thank you very much guys
Next up is Commission Commission considerations. So
Are there any Commission considerations by any of you?
No, no
Secretary
There are none great
Any staff reports?
Yes. Oh, yes on September 25th. There will be a special joint meeting with the Planning Commission and
DRC the city attorney's office will be providing a presentation on the CEQA primer, which is pretty much the basics of CEQA
That's all I will not be here. So I will watch the video when I can
Thanks. Okay, that's it
adjourned