Pacific Knolls

Design Challenge

First the site is covered in heritage oaks, however 3 collapsed in last years storms. Still much of the site is wooded and steep. In a town that prides itself on being green, removing heritage oaks is challenging. The site is significantly sloped. The General Plan and Zoning regard this as an opportunity site for higher density housing and street facing commercial. Because housing is such a need and there is no market for commercial, the city allowed us to propose 100% residential. Still parking is required and to provide it we have to install a large retaining wall between the two zones to fit a small parking lot behind and to serve the apartments.  Because of the slope is was not possible to engineer a through drive without loosing most of the oaks and having a 12% slope. Therefor access for the apartments comes off Healdsburg Ave and the town homes off Murphy. One challenge is that against the design teams advice the now departed Planning Director insisted on moving our access to the west on Healdsburg and the engineering proceeded that way. After submittal the City required a Traffic Study which required us to move our access to the east as originally planned. This is going to cause delay and re-design and a lot of cost to our client, a significant frustration with the process. All units must have a minimum of 40SF private area. We have provided well over that on both levels of the apartments. The town homes are fee-simple on their own lots with rear yards. They are designed to allow different living arrangements because of two suites upstairs which would allow cost sharing or an extended family. The only mechanism to provide town homes in Sebastopol is to use the Small Lot Subdivision section of zoning. This gave us the flexibility for smaller lots. The homes could be sold or rented. The site can yield both ownership and rental. It is in entitlements, and we will see if the market conditions allow this to move forward into construction.

Physical Context

As mentioned, the site is heavily wooded and sloped. To the south are single family detached homes. To the east is a restaurant and a home. Across the highway is a mix of commercial and residential. To the west is a church. Sebastopol consists mainly of one- and two-story buildings. The zoning only allows 2-story unless 100% deed restricted affordable housing. So in order to save as many trees as possible and design a project that fits the context, town homes were chosen for the residential zone. All storm water is retained on site and no planting is proposed under the oaks. What landscaping is proposed is drought tolerant. The apartment building steps in 3 segments up the gradual slope behind the sidewalk of Healdsburg Ave while still providing an ADA compliant path of travel in the rear. So, while street face has decks elevated and needing stairs the south side is fully ADA compliant. This helps provide privacy to the first floor apartments while also working with the existing slope. The color and materials chosen are specifically to blend with the wooded nature of the site, provide variety and interest to pedestrians and motorists alike. Healdsburg Ave. is a county highway and is very heavily traveled. We anticipate using extra mass in the street facing walls and sound dampening windows to preserve quiet in the units facing the highway. The apartments will have access to the areas under the preserved trees for their use beyond their private patios. A regional park and school are within walking distance to provide more connection to outdoor spaces. An infill parcel in such a great location is a perfect place for much needed housing in town and we believe this will provide a variety of housing that will help meet that need.