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The San Ramon City Council is set to hold a special hearing on Monday to discuss the Iron Horse Village project that was approved by the Planning Commission in October and is now the subject of a request for council review by the outgoing vice mayor.
Applications for the 117-unit development with eight live-work units to replace the Sunset Business Park at 3401 Crow Canyon Road were approved following a commission hearing on Oct. 17. The upcoming council debate comes as the result of a call for council review from Vice Mayor Mark Armstrong that was received within the 10-day appeal period following that decision.
“The City Council must be the last ‘last line of defense’· for future residents who will occupy the residences, and at this point, have no voice,” Armstrong wrote in the call for review dated Oct. 27.
Armstrong said that the approval process hadn’t included sufficient consideration of a number of potential public safety issues future residents of the development might face, specifically those associated with the proposed project’s location near the busy intersection of Crow Canyon Road and Alcosta Boulevard.
Among the hazards he pointed to were the potential for noise pollution, traffic and collisions impacting residents in homes facing Crow Canyon Road and a risky U-turn that would be necessary for drivers leaving the development to get onto the road’s eastbound lanes.
Armstrong also pointed to the hazards posed to any evacuation efforts that might be necessary at the development, with only the only entrance and exit yielding to Crow Canyon Road.
The risks would be more significant for residents of the low-income housing units in the proposed development, according to Armstrong, who wrote that as it stands the application shows “disregard for the safety and well-being, and total disrespect for the potentially low-income residents who will occupy the only affordable units of the project in the multi-family residential units that are only planned to face an 8-lane route of regional significance along Crow Canyon Road.”
Armstrong asked city staff to prepare for a discussion on objective standards within the city’s municipal codes that might contend with the issues he raised in his call-for-review letter.
However, the project is consistent with local regulations, according to a staff report prepared for the upcoming meeting.
“The call for review includes no new information that would demonstrate the Planning Commission erred in reviewing and approving the proposed project given the limitations of the HAA, nor was the decision inconsistent with city standards or unsupported by the record,” city associate planner Ryan Driscoll wrote.
Staff are recommending that the council hold a public hearing on the item and adopt a resolution that would affirm the original Planning Commission decision.
The San Ramon City Council is set to meet at 6 p.m. on Monday (Dec. 11). The agenda is available here.
Resident should google the site plan for this to see how jammed packed this proposal by the developer is. Three stories tall w/ 117 unit but ALSO note that 50% of units ALSO include a junior adu adding up to a total of 165 units. No yards and limited green space included for residents. Design is just maximum boxed in housing.
With only one entrance onto crow canyon road for all the residents. Increased $$$ for developers but san ramon is left with impacted schools, traffic congestion and another “pack em in” development design that is more urban than suburban.
City should step in to improve these site plans and lower the number of units to make it more livable place. Also lower the large number of adu’s that in effect will just end up on the rental market.