Item 18 - Appeal Application Nos. 2023-02 and 2023-03 for Cabrillo Town Center project

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adjacent high -intensity Active Urban District and Village Center to the south. Designated for the lowest scale and the lowest intensity of uses in the Overlay Zone, development in this district is limited to residential, live/work, or office uses, generally between two and three stories in height. New development in this area would be designed to provide an appropriate interface with high levels of landscaping and design features that minimize impacts to adjacent single family residential areas. In addition to new buildings, implementation of the Overlay Zone could also include the extension of some roads that would provide more views of the area, which are not currently available. Specifically, the Overlay Zone would extend Circle Center Drive to the north, which would intersect with the new extension of Park Court Place (from Cabrillo Park Drive to Parkcenter Drive). In addition, Parkcenter Drive would extend south of Fourth Street to the intersection of First Street, and a new roadway between First and Fourth Streets would extend from Cabrillo Park Drive to Parkcenter Drive. With the incorporation of these street extensions, new views could be afforded of the Overlay Zone for motorists and pedestrians because the bridging of these streets would minimize the existing visual and physical barriers between the proposed districts. Although future development would incorporate a range of architectural styles, building heights, and massing, the Overlay Zone would provide a visual entryway of the City from multiple locations, including along First and Fourth Streets, as well as from the 1-5 and SR-55 freeways. Specifically, a new skyline of varying building forms and heights would be created along these major thoroughfares by the new development and would not degrade views from adjacent roadways or uses. Under the Overlay Zone, the new design guidelines are intended to create a unified identity within the area, with buildings that are compatible in scale, design, character, quality, and style. While some portions of the Overlay Zone area are more visually prominent than others due to location of streets and existing view corridors, development standards of the Overlay Zone would ensure that each future development project includes appropriate site planning, unique architecture, high -quality building materials, extensive indoor and outdoor amenities and first-rate public improvements. Essentially, the Overlay Zone would ensure that form, height, and treatment of buildings would reinforce the prominence and role of major urban spaces and streets. Thus, although future development would include high-rise buildings, the height, bulk, architecture, and/or signage would not degrade the visual unity of the area. The addition of open space, and landscape and streetscape improvements throughout the Overlay Zone would also improve the aesthetics of the overall area and create a pedestrian - friendly environment that could include widened sidewalks, bike paths, street trees, and street furniture. Thus, the Overlay Zone would provide the area with a set of improvement and development standards that enhance the current level of aesthetics associated with the area. Upon its adoption, future development in the Overlay Zone area would be guided by and be in conformance with the development standards of the Overlay Zone, which would result in new buildings with common architectural design and that would be compatible in scale, mass, and density. Cabrillo Town Center City of Santa Ana Technical Memorandum August 2023 City Council 18 — 490 10/3/2023