75A - PH - EIR THE HERITAGE 2001 E DYER

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EIR No. 2015 -01, AA No. 2014 -04, GPA No. 2015 -03, DA No. 2015 -03 & VTTM No. 2015 -03 October 12, 2015 Page 8 opportunities and supportive services. Further, the project would be consistent with Policy HE -2.2 to create District Centers with high intensity, mixed -use urban villages and pedestrian oriented experiences and Policy HE -2.4 to facilitate diverse types, prices and sizes of housing. Amendment Application The subject site was zoned Light Industrial (M -1) when it was annexed by the City in the early 1960's. In the mid 1960'x, the property was rezoned to Limited Manufacturing (LM), a designation that allowed a combination of professional office and industrial related uses. In 1998, the City Council adopted Amendment Application No. 1998 -02, changing the zoning of the site back to Light Industrial (M -1). At that time, the Council was concerned with the number of industrial zoning designations in the Code, the range of uses permitted in the industrial zones, and had a desire to simplify the industrial regulations. Given the current zoning is M -1, a zone change to a specific development designation is proposed (Exhibit 13). Staff has identified concerns with the zoning inconsistency of the proposed project. The subject site has a zoning designation of Light Industrial (M -1). Light Industrial zoned areas of the City are characterized by uses that manufacture, process, assemble, package and /or warehouse products. Residential uses such as those proposed at the site are inconsistent with this zoning designation and are not a permitted use at this location. One of the primary foundations of zoning is to ensure compatibility with industrial uses and minimize their impacts to residential areas in order to protect residents from the effects of industrial uses. Approval of a residential project in an area of the City that is 100 percent office/ industrial will very likely lead to complaints associated with incompatibility of land uses, including noise and truck traffic. Further, recent land use decisions by Irvine for the Irvine Business Complex, for Tustin and Santa Ana have reaffirmed each jurisdiction's commitment to minimize the intrusion of new residential development sites into existing industrial clusters. Nonetheless, as mentioned earlier, the Planning Division is contemplating a new zoning designation for the area that is much more consistent with the proposed project. If the zone change is approved, a series of site- specific objectives, policies and development standards will be used to guide the development of the proposed project. Specifically, the SD -88 document will include a menu of development standards such as setbacks, parking, height and signage and allow the exclusive entitlement of the mixed -use project. The SD document has been framed to be consistent with the proposed project and prohibits future modifications to enlarge or reduce the size of the project (Exhibit 14). Approval of the proposal would allow for the construction of a mixed -use development in an "urban village" setting that would provide a variety of neighborhood services and amenities to the residents. If approved, the zone change would need to be approved in conjunction with the proposed General Plan amendment. This would result in a project that is consistent with the goals and objectives of City's General Plan land use designation of District Center. The project will promote an urban 75A -12