Name: Developer adjust plans to appease Chandler opponents
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Developer adjust plans to appease Chandler opponents

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                                The Viviendo single-family home proposal for South Chandler is an example of how developers will adapt their project based on neighborhood feedback.When the backers of the project first met with nearby residents on Aug. 29, about two dozen people showed up and almost all of them did not like what they saw.It was too dense, they were certain it would bring additional traffic into their neighborhoods, and they universally did not like an exit onto Alamosa Drive, which they claim is too small to handle more vehicles.
        Fast forward eight months to the May 1 Planning &amp; Zoning Commission’s meeting on Viviendo, and much of that opposition had subsided. Only three neighbors spoke against the project.The developer, K. Hovnanian Homes, made significant changes to their original proposal in an effort to win over neighbors.Planning &amp; Zoning Commission members voted unanimously to recommend the project to City Council, which is scheduled to consider it on May 23. It is now 76 single-family homes to be built on 15.4 acres at the southeast corner of Ocotillo and McQueen.When it was proposed in August, it was 92 single-family homes. The developer lowered that number a little three times, before settling on 76. It will be a gated community, and because neighbors were so concerned about the Alamosa Drive exit, it will be for residents only.&nbsp;Visitors will not be able to use it, because it will require a remote opener.Neighbors were also concerned about having two-story homes so close to the back of their homes. The developer is proposing building one-story homes that are adjacent to one-story homes in the Geneva Estates subdivision.It also proposed hybrid homes that are two-stories in the front and one-story in the back, which would be the closest part to those Geneva Estates homes.“It was refreshing to see a home builder offer a product where a majority of the two stores portion is up along the front and has almost 40-plus feet of single story,” said Lauren Schumann, the planning senior program manager. “It’s been a long while since planning staff has seen a home builder offer this.”Most of the development will be two stories, and if the Geneva Estates home is two stories, then the Viviendo home behind it will likely be two stories as well.
        Schumann said the property was left vacant when Geneva Estates was built in the early 2000s in the hopes that a retail center would fill up the top half of the L-shape space. For the tiny lower half, they wanted a medical office building.&nbsp;However, in two decades no developer was willing to build that as online retail thrived and brick-and-mortar businesses struggled.One of the chief remaining concerns by residents is that these new families will travel through their neighborhoods to get to local schools (Santan Elementary and Santan Junior High).“The kind of cut through traffic that could be coming from this subdivision to get down to the schools, it’s a real concern,” said Kevin Mayo, the city’s planning administrator. “Citizens and parents, they do what they do. I live near a school and I deal with it every day.”However, he dismissed concerns about increased traffic on Alamosa Drive.&nbsp;Mayo said every traffic study he has seen has shown there is far less traffic coming from a residential development than from any retail or medical office space. He said there was always a plan for whatever developed on the site to exit onto Alamosa.At 76 single-family homes, the project is still more dense than surrounding neighborhoods. The lot size is a minimum of 4,922 square feet and homes will range from about 2,100 to 3,400 square feet. No price has yet been set.One of the neighbors who did speak asked what happened to the 20-foot buffer space the developer had agreed to in a previous meeting. It was planned to run along the east.Schumann said they decided it wasn’t a good idea. Putting a walkway back there with few lights and no constant eyes on it would essentially be an invitation for homeless people to set up their shelters there, she said.They agreed it would be safer for everyone to give that 20 feet to the new homebuyers so that they can maintain it and monitor it.“We urge your support of this case,” said Ralph Pew, the land-use attorney that represented the developer. “This is a typical discussion, unfortunately, that arises in infill projects. We believe this has been a really well-designed project.”&nbsp;
        
                                
                                



                                
                                
                                
                                The Viviendo single-family home proposal for South Chandler is an example of how developers will adapt their project based on neighborhood feedback.When the backers of the project first met with nearby residents on Aug. 29, about two dozen people showed up and almost all of them did not like what they saw.It was too dense, they were certain it would bring additional traffic into their neighborhoods, and they universally did not like an exit onto Alamosa Drive,...

Developer adjust plans to appease Chandler opponents

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