WARM SPRINGS HOMES by Robson, UNFAIR ZONE CHANGES IN PROGRESS!!!

PLEASE BE AWARE OF ZONING CHANGES FOR NEW WARM SPRINGS PROJECT!!!

*THIS IS DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF WARM SPRINGS COMMUNITY CENTER AND PARK!!! PROPOSED PROJECT OF 38 HOMES WILL IMPACT OUR NEIGHBORHOOD PARKING, PARKING FOR EVENTS, SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY! THE BLOCK CURRENTLY DOES NOT HAVE THREE STORY HOMES, THIS WOULD TOWER OVER THE CURRENT HOMES AND WOULD NOT CONFORM TO THE CURRENT NEIGHBORHOOD ZONING.

***PLEASE CONTACT OUR CITY PLANNING DEPARTMENT TO OPPOSE!***

LETTER ABOUT PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT:

Hi Rick and Terry, my responses to your questions are in blue below. Have a nice weekend. – Jake Lavin

To: Robson Homes

June 1, 2011

Dear Jake Lavin and Mark Robson,

I received the letter regarding the meeting on June 8^th at the church from 6 – 8 PM. I understand changes have been made to your original proposal. I have a few questions and comments for clarification of the new development proposal. I may forward this letter and response to my neighbors and the City of Fremont.

The current homes bordering the proposed development site are on 6000 and 8000 square foot lots.

What size lots are in your current proposal? The lots next to the existing homes are approximately 2850 square feet. The interior lots are approximately 1600 square feet.

The current homes bordering the proposed development site are maximum two stories.

What is the number of stories in the current proposal? Homes adjacent to the existing homes will be two stories, the others will be three stories.

What is the ridge roof line height of the tallest unit in the current proposal? Adjacent to the existing homes the ridge height will be 28’, which is less than the 30’ allowed under the current zoning. The other homes will have a maximum ridge line height of 34’.

The original set back requirements for a two story home in this area was 10’ side 6’ side 25’ rear and 20’ front. Actually, under the existing zoning, we are allowed to reduce all setbacks by 20% because we would be building seven or more units. That was an incentive the City introduced to encourage more dense housing. Per this city ordinance, our rear yard setback would be 20’, not 25’.

What are the 2 side, front and rear setbacks for the current proposal? Along existing homes, rear yard setbacks are 20’, average sideyard setback is 6’ (12’ total), and “front” setback is 1.3’. On the interior lots, the sideyard separation between the homes is 6.5’.

Traffic has been a decades old problem in this area. The down economy has currently slowed the flow of traffic, but when the economy rebounds so will the high speed traffic problems. My wife (Terry) and I have worked with the City of Fremont to have two sets of speed humps installed on Fernald. The humps do not slow the traffic like the speed bumps would, but we were told the Fire Department and school busses did not want the speed bumps. The school time drop off and pick up are also a time to avoid the area. The church parking lot has been used by parents for years picking up and dropping off their children at school. Cars from events at the Warm Springs Community Center and the Park line Fernald. No parking signs had to be installed near the corner of Fernald and Quinault (park side) as a safety measure for persons trying to cross the street. Terry and I tried to have the City of Fremont install a stop sign at the Fernald and Quinault location to make it possible to cross the street to the park on a Thursday or Friday afternoon. The City of Fremont did not want to install a stop sign at the location.

Your original proposal did not have street parking in the developed area.

With the new proposal is street parking available inside the developed area? Yes, there are 19 open parking spaces within the developed area. That is in addition to each home having a 2-car garage.

If street parking is not available inside the developed area, where will the extra (over two) cars for each unit park? See above.

Has the City of Fremont been advised of this proposed project? Yes. In terms of personnel, I am not sure who knows about the project and who doesn’t.

Have any Fremont City council members been advised of this proposed project?

Has the Mayor of Fremont been advised of this project?

Please send response to my work email: rick@bbcmachine.com and copy tvalencia@comcast.net

Thank you in advance for your clarification of the new proposals.

Sincerely,

Rick Valencia

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dexter on June 15, 2011 at 8:23am

So where is this? Is it on the land owned by the church across the street from the WS Community Center? How much of the lot -- just a portion (the empty field) or is the church also being removed? Is there a project link (developer, city) with any drawings?

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Permalink Reply by Terry Valencia on June 15, 2011 at 10:38am

Yes- it is the land and the church. Church will be demolished, two and three story units/ they are calling homes. No driveways, just 2 car garages with streets and only19 parking spaces. 1600 & 2800 square foot lots, two and three stories. I think it will tower over the homes and look over crowded from park view or any view. Does not conform to the current 6,00 square foot lots with normal driveways! Parking will be terrible as people don't use two car garages for cars and visitors will have to park all around our neighborhoods. Back to school nights are already parking all over our neighborhood. Drop off and pickup will be difficult for James Leitch. They only invited us, the neighbors for discussion and feedback. It will not affect only us, it will affect all of Warm Springs! They showed us some drawings, they are still in planning. They are working on the zone changes now! We do not want zoning to change. My husband and I believe our property values will be lower if medium density is allowed. We purchased in a specific zone, feel it would be unfair to change. The city of Fremont is aware and you can get information and be put on a mailing list for future meetings. Call Jake Lavin with the City of Fremont!

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Permalink Reply by Jo on June 16, 2011 at 11:25am

Is Jake Lavin with the City or Developer?

http://www.mercurynews.com/fremont/ci_18193659?nclick_check=1

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Permalink Reply by Terry Valencia on June 17, 2011 at 7:15am

Attachments:

INFORMATION_page2.jpg, 91 KB

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Permalink Reply by Terry Valencia on June 17, 2011 at 7:21am

Page 2- THIS IS THE CONTACT INFORMATION FOR THE PROJECT. THIS LETTER WAS IN RESPONSE TO MY HUSBANDS MANY LETTERS ASKING FOR INFORMATION ABOUT WHO IS SUPPORTING ZONING CHANGES AT OUR CITY? WE DID NOT GET ANY ANSWERS? THIS IS IT! ROBSON HOMES MUST HAVE SOMEONE GIVING THE GO AHEAD FOR THE HIGHER DENSITY PROJECT? WE WANT TO KEEP IT 6000 SQUARE FOOT LOTS, AS THAT IS WHY WE BOUGHT A HOME, NOT A CONDO!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Randy R. on June 17, 2011 at 3:19pm

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Permalink Reply by Randy R. on June 18, 2011 at 2:59pm

Perhaps my original comment posted in a white font (i.e. invisible), so I'll try again, this time "top posting." Clicking on the URL brings a message from the Merky News that the article is no longer available. Searching their site for "Jake Lavin" brings no results. What did the article say?

Randy

Jo said:

Is Jake Lavin with the City or Developer?

http://www.mercurynews.com/fremont/ci_18193659?nclick_check=1

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Permalink Reply by Pat Zenzen on June 19, 2011 at 3:57am

Jake Lavin is with Robson Homes. They have an office in San Jose and the phone number is 408-345-1767. We live on Chama Way about a block from the proposed project. We received a notice from Robson about their first meeting on the project--this meeting was then cancelled, but we have not received any notices of subsequent meetings. We even signed up for notices at the rescheduled meeting, but we did not receive notice of the next meeting. Robson has chosen to work with only those homeowners who live on the perimeter of the block they are hoping to develop. This is a small neighborhood of about 75 homes and we would definitely be negatively affected by changes to the zoning which would allow for such dense building on this block. The City has told me that developers are only required to notice property owners who live within 300 feet of a project so Robson has chosen to follow this path rather than attempting to get input from the larger group of homeowners. We would welcome support against this proposed development.