Community Development Department

Agenda Item No. Agenda Date: June 18, 2001

This is an informational item to introduce a significant development application located on the former McDonald-Dorsa quarry property. The application is incomplete since the environmental impact report has not been completed and this item was not scheduled or noticed as a Public Hearing. Consequently, no action or decision can be made at this time. This item was originally scheduled for a City Council Study Session, but recent study session agendas have been full. For that reason, staff scheduled this item as a New Business item for a City Council meeting.

This item provides an opportunity for the City Council and residents who have become aware of the application to provide early input or comments to the applicant. Several e-mail comments have been received from residents and are attached for the Council’s information.

Staff recommends that the City Council receive the project introduction from the applicant, discuss the project issues and provide appropriate direction to the applicant regarding the application. Since this is not an advertised public hearing on the application no action or decision can be made at this time.

Property Owner: Canyon Heights Academy, LLC

The applicant proposes to construct a 240,000 sq. ft. private school on a 124-acre hillside property. The subject site is zoned RHS (Residential Hillside) and is in the Foothill 5-20 Acre Very Low Density land use designation. The site is located in the Urban Service Area of the City. The General Plan intended for this site to be developed with 12-14 residential units.

Canyon Heights Academy, a private school, intends on occupying the proposed site. The school is temporarily located at Whisman School in Mountain View. The school opened in September 2000. The applicant hopes to transfer the school operation to the subject site for the 2003-2004 school year starting in September 2003. In order to meet that deadline, the applicant wishes to phase development on the site. The architectural drawings in the attached plan set reflect part of first phase of the project.

General Plan Policy 2-80 allows public and quasi-public activities to be located within any land use designation upon zoning review approval to ensure compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood and to ensure that the street and utility system has the capacity for the development.

An Environmental Impact Report is being prepared that will include analysis of project impacts including analysis of the compatibility of this project with the surrounding single-family residences in the Foothill 5-20 Acre Very Low Density designation as well as the capacity of the street and utility system to support this project.

David Powers and Associates was selected to prepare the Environmental Impact Report. The Administrative Draft of the EIR will be complete in late September 2001, with the Final EIR following in February 2002. The first Planning Commission is projected to be March 2002, with the City Council hearing to follow in April 2002. Attached is a tentative schedule that was part of the request for proposal for the EIR.

Staff has identified the following as potentially significant environmental impacts to be analyzed in the EIR:

• Damage to scenic resources including native oak trees and the riparian corridor flora and fauna along Stevens Creek.
• Degradation of existing visual character.
• Degradation to the air quality in the area due to increased auto traffic.
• Exposure of significant structures to adverse geologic effects.
• Interference with groundwater recharge in the area.
• Exposure of people and structures to significant risks involving flooding or dam failure
• Conflict with land use policies in the General Plan.
• Exposure of neighboring residents to excessive noise levels, including an increase in the ambient noise levels in the project vicinity.
• Degradation of public services including fire and police, resulting in inadequate emergency access.
• Substantial increase in traffic in relation to the existing traffic load and street capacity.
• Increase storm water runoff requiring the construction of new drainage facilities that could cause significant impacts.

The rezoning (04-Z-01) will specify the boundaries of the BQ (Quasi-Public), OS (Open Space) and RHS (Residential Hillside) zones. Following the enactment of the rezoning, the applicant intends to file a lot line adjustment to shift existing property lines to match the rezoning exhibit.

The initial Use Permit (03-U-01) will include the site plan for the entire project, with architectural details for the buildings proposed in Phase One. General mass and bulk diagrams for the buildings in Phase Two will be provided, with the architectural style to match the Phase One buildings.

The contents of the Development Agreement (01-DA-01) have not been determined.

Once the applicant finalizes the details for Phase Two, the applicant will go through a new Use Permit review for the new buildings, based on the Phase One conceptual drawings and the Development Agreement.

The applicant intends to reserve a portion of the 124-acre site for a private residence that will take access off of Linda Vista Road. The residence will be in the RHS (Residential Hillside) zoning district, and will be developed in accordance with the hillside regulations in the Municipal Code.

The applicant has been working with the Public Works Department to address the possible road alignments of Stevens Canyon Road at the entrance to the subject property.

The applicant has been working with the Parks and Recreation Department to determine the appropriate path through the subject site for a public trail connecting Stevens Creek Park to McClellan Road.

Staff asked the applicant to explore a potential traffic mitigation measure that create of a "haul road" connecting Stevens Creek Quarry (Voss) to Stevens Creek Boulevard near the Hanson Permanente Quarry. The purpose of this haul road would be to remove truck traffic from Stevens Canyon Road, thereby reducing the net increase in traffic generated by the school project. The haul road itself would raise a number of environmental issues and concerns, which would require further evaluation. The applicant chose not to further pursue the haul road at this time, and it is not being evaluated in the EIR.

Tentative Project Schedule
Written Communications from Public
Plan Set

Prepared by: Peter Gilli, Associate Planner

      Submitted by:                                                           Approved by:

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       Steve Piasecki                                                           Dave Knapp
Director of Community Development                            City Manager