PLACENTIA : Developer Wins Higher Density

Despite strong opposition from nearby residents, the City Council has voted to allow developer Paul Kraemer to build up to 10 houses per acre on what are now strawberry fields.

The council unanimously approved a zone change from commercial to medium-density residential for two parcels totaling 22 acres next to City Hall.

Medium density means the developer can build up to 10 units per acre, many of which would be townhomes or condominiums.

Residents in the neighborhoods surrounding the fields told the City Council the density is too high.

“The homes adjacent to this parcel are zoned four houses to the acre,” said Bob Skolberg, who lives near the property. “You are talking about a (significant) increase in density.”

Skolberg and several others pointed to a Planning Commission recommendation that the larger of the parcels, containing 19 acres, be zoned for eight units per acre and that the smaller parcel of nearly three acres be limited to six houses per acre.

But Kraemer’s FKC Partners appealed the commission’s action, saying that the higher density would give them more flexibility in designing the project.

The higher density “will allow us to provide a range of residential products, both attached and detached,” Kraemer said. “We want to reach a wider market than other residential developments (in the city) are attracting.”

Kraemer told the council that three projects south of his proposed development are zoned for densities similar to the one he sought, including Cinnamon Tree condominiums.

But those projects are across Chapman Avenue, while the neighborhoods closest to the project are all low density, containing only single-family houses.

Several residents also asked about the impact on schools. According to an environmental impact report, when the project is built out, it will generate 56 students. Since the closest public school, Tynes Elementary, is already full, the additional students would create a burden on the school system.

But city officials said school boundaries are regularly redrawn to accommodate population increases and other students in the new development could attend other public schools in the district.