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2007 03 21 ALRC Special MeetingLa(�u�nn1q .c yOF L ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPING REVIEW COMMITTEE AGENDA A Special Meeting to be Held at the La Quinta City Hall Council Chambers 78-495 Calle Tampico, La Quinta, California MARCH 21, 2007 10:00 A.M. Beginning Minute Motion 2007-004 CALL TO ORDER A. Pledge of Allegiance B. Roll Call II. PUBLIC COMMENT This is the time set aside for public comment on any matter not scheduled for public hearing. Please complete a "Request to Speak" form and limit your comments to three minutes. III. CONFIRMATION OF AGENDA IV. CONSENT CALENDAR: Approval of the Minutes of March 7, 2007. V. BUSINESS ITEMS: A. Item ........................ VILLAGE USE PERMIT 2005-030 Applicant ................ Borrego Resort Holdings, Inc. Location .................. South side of Calle Tampico, bounded by Avenida Villa and Avenida Navarro Request .................. Condition review of pre -construction landscaping plans and streetscape program for a 20-unit, two and one half story residential condominium building in the Village at La Quinta Action .................... Minute Motion 2007- ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPING REVIEW COMMITTEE VI. CORRESPONDENCE AND WRITTEN MATERIAL VII. COMMITTEE MEMBER ITEMS: 1Il111le 0119111:101 i'Fi14ilkI This meeting of the Architecture and Landscape Review Committee will be adjourned to a Regular Meeting to be held on April 4, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. DECLARATION OF POSTING I, Betty J. Sawyer, Executive Secretary of the City of La Quinta, do hereby declare that the foregoing Agenda for the La Quinta Architectural and Landscaping Review Committee Special Meeting of Wednesday, March 21, 2007, was posted on the outside entry to the Council Chamber, 78-495 Calle Tampico, and the bulletin board at the La Quinta Post Office bulletin board. 78-630 Highway 1 1 1, on Friday, March 16, 2007. DATED: March 16, 2007 *tive Secretary uinta, California G:\ W PDOCS\ALRC\Agenda.doc ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE REVIEW COMMITTEE DATE: MARCH 21, 2007 CASE NO: VILLAGE USE PERMIT 2005-030 / CASA LA QUINTA APPLICANT: BORREGO RESORT HOLDINGS, INC. ARCHITECT: KNITTER AND ASSOCIATES LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: LEYVA & WILDE, INC. REQUEST: CONDITION REVIEW OF PRE -CONSTRUCTION LANDSCAPING PLANS AND STREET SCAPE PROGRAM, FOR A 20-UNIT, TWO AND ONE-HALF STORY RESIDENTIAL CONDOMINIUM BUILDING IN THE VILLAGE AT LA QUINTA LOCATION: SOUTH SIDE OF CALLE TAMPICO, BOUNDED BY AVENIDA VILLA AND AVENIDA NAVARRO (ATTACHMENT #1) BACKGROUND The 1.23-acre project site encompasses almost one full block in the Village at La Quinta. Properties adjacent to the site are developed with a mix of residential and commercial uses, with vacant property to the south, adjacent to Frances Hack Park. The Village Use Permit for the project was approved by City Council on May 2, 2006, under Resolution 2006-50. 17.7G11_GT.7,11 In accordance with the project conditions related to landscape improvements (Attachment 2), the applicant has prepared pre -construction landscape plans for review of the exterior perimeter areas between the building and back of existing sidewalk, along with the interior courtyard/pool area. The City Council did place a condition on the project as part of the Specific Plan approval (Condition 7) requiring the applicant to prepare a streetscape program, to address the inclusion of street trees and the potential modification of the curb line relative to pop -out planters. The streetscape program is required by condition to be reviewed by both the ALRC and Planning Commission; the on -site landscape plans require ALRC review only, for staff approval. The applicant was directed to provide this submittal in two parts; as a streetscape program to show the off -site improvements within the ROW, and the second component being the on -site landscaping for the exterior perimeter and interior courtyard areas. The landscape architect also submitted a streetscape program design ALRCvup0301scape.doc letter, briefly outlining each of the three proposed concepts, and stating their preferred option (Attachment 3). The streetscape program identifies three options for the streets around the building. Calle Tampico is not included, as it is a Primary Arterial and the provision of street trees in this situation is not applicable. The three options are as follows: Option 1 - This illustrates the option of actual parking planter "islands" protruding into the street. This option was discussed with Public Works, in regard to the appropriate requirements for parking space length, and ingress/egress into the actual parking spaces adjacent to the islands. Option 2 - This option shows street trees/tree grates incorporated into the sidewalks at the curb line, with sidewalk access surrounding them. Additionally, planting spaces have been included between the back of sidewalk and low planter walls to discourage skateboarding "on top of" the walls. Option 3 - This option illustrates the same concept as Option #2, with the walls designed to a larger radius, to give a little more space between the building and low walls. The actual street trees are shown to be Tipuana Tipu, with an alternative tree being Australian Willow. Size would be at a 24" box equivalent. Front elevations and sections are provided or each option. The applicant will have renderings available for the meeting. The landscaping plans for the perimeter building/interior courtyard provide a complete plant palette and preliminary landscaping layout. The interior courtyard will provide primarily hardscape, with isolated planters and plant pots located around the pool area, and as accents along building walls. Small planters with ground cover and palm trees will be located around the pool. There are no turf areas shown in any of the landscaped areas. There are shade and decorative tree species proposed for the landscaping along all street perimeter setback areas, located in an attempt to accent the building design. Large-scale color illustrations and material sample/color boards will be provided for display at the meeting. ANALYSIS Streetscape Tree Program — The options provided essentially present two conceptual layouts; one with tree planter islands extending into the street with parking areas in between tree locations, and the second with street trees at the curb line, with a radial sidewalk providing access around the tree well. The third option is simply a variation on the second option with a larger radius for the sidewalk and stem walls. In general, it appears that the curb line tree designs in Options 2 and 3 would allow for more tree stands without reducing available on -street parking. The Option 1 tree planter islands require spacing that will effectively limit the number of trees that could be placed, but ALRCvup0301scape.doc would create the appearance of a somewhat "deeper" streetscape, and provide a measure of traffic calming. However, this will be less effective because there will be a minimal number of trees that can be placed to allow a consistent and well-defined frontage, and in order to gain enough trees to do so, there will be almost no on -street parking opportunity. In the Village area, there is a significant value placed on parking availability, and in this area, a high potential need for on -street parking is anticipated, due to the site proximity with respect to the Frances Hack Park (park use and ongoing events), Benjamin Franklin School (school -related activities), and surrounding commercial and other land uses in the Village (Old Town, offices, restaurants, etc. Additionally, this would be the only project within the Village to have such a streetscape design extending into the roadway. Such a design would be more applicable on a larger scale, possibly Village -wide, resulting in a consistent design for aesthetic and traffic calming benefit. Other difficulties arise in trying to adapt a streetscape design to existing street configurations. Both Navarro and Villa exist as a 36-foot roadway travel width. Public Works requires that the Option 1 street planters extend 8 feet into the travel area for safety purposes and delineation of parking areas, which creates an effective travel width of 24 feet. With similar pop -outs applied to the opposing side, a 20-foot wide roadway for two-way travel is created. This could very well result in a disproportionate amount of vehicle/pedestrian conflict in the area. In addition, the Durango office building to the west has an existing stairwell along its east frontage on Villa, which reduced the existing roadway to 32 feet, where the road bends outward to accommodate the stairwell. Based on discussions with Public Works, a number of other staff concerns relate to maintenance and final engineering issues. Any street tree improvements will be within City ROW, which creates potential City liability/repair/maintenance items, such as pavement/curb upheavals from root formation, tree droppings, landscape maintenance, and the potential for conflicts with existing sewer/water and other utility improvements. Trees need to be properly trimmed and sized to avoid conflicts with passing commercial and emergency vehicles, and their access to the building and surrounding street environment. Public Works staff has indicated they would not be amenable to maintaining the tree planter areas, parking striping, etc. If such a design were to be moved forward, it is felt that the City Council will need to address a policy decision with regard to maintaining these trees and their appurtenant improvements, in addition to development of a cohesive streetscape design theme. Finally, there are no design criteria for streetscapes in the Village or anywhere else in the City, although the pilot project improvements associated with La Fonda and Estado can be drawn from. The museum project is using Tipuana trees as a shade tree at curb line along the south extension of Avenida Mendoza, and staff has directed the applicant to use the same species for these plans. Staff recommends that the proposed 24" box size be consistent with the museum design at a 36" box size equivalent. Any streetscape planning is being done on a case -by -case basis. This particular program may serve as an opportunity to create an image in a focused area, as an example of the type of treatments that might work best, and developing general standards that can be used more universally throughout the Village. A LRCvu p0301scape. doc Based on these concerns, it is evident that there are fewer concerns with the curb line tree designs (Option 2, 3) than the extended planters (Option 11. It is noted that the applicant's preferred alternative is Option 3; staff would recommend that Options 2 or 3 be forwarded on as the most viable interim condition, at the Committee's pleasure. Perimeter and Interior On -site Landscaping - Overall, the project landscaping is intended to convey a lush, sub -tropical environment. Perimeter landscaping consists of California and Mediterranean Fan Palms, combined with random placements of Jacaranda, Strawberry, Loquat and Australian Willow trees, ranging from 24" to 60" box size. Shrubs consist of a combination of native drought -tolerant varieties with low to moderate water use, and non-native materials such as Heavenly Bamboo, Hibiscus, and Texas Waxleaf Privet. Plantings are grouped in close proximity to add to a lush environment and allow for protection of mulch cover areas. Areas back of the sidewalk will have short stem walls, from which the grade will be sloped up to a bench, allowing plantings along the grade level of the building at a higher elevation to effect screening of lower wall areas. The stem walls will allow for a reduced slope to achieve the proper wall screening. The on -site perimeter landscaping would transition into the sidewalk and stem wall areas, based on the streetscape option that may be ultimately approved. Staff does recommend that some of the plant materials be replaced or relocated based on their shade requirements relative to the building orientation and summer sun pattern. Also, it is recommended that more shade trees be located closer to the Tampico sidewalk, in coordination with the stem wall design. The interior courtyard area plantings are located in confined planter areas and pots. Much of the interior courtyard treatment consists of hardscape areas. The trees selected for the courtyard consist primarily of 24" box size Loquat and Japanese Privet in planter pots, and California Fan Palms at 10 — 14 feet in planter areas around the pool area. Other planter pots along the pool enclosure will contain Trumpet Vine and Rosemary, while the three internal pool planter areas will have Lantana, Texas Ranger, Autumn Sage and Star Jasmine shrubs to accent the fan palms. Staff feels that the plantings used are appropriate given the design of the courtyard area. Paving Materials — There are several hardscape materials being used for the various surface areas. Sandstone pavers will be used primarily in the common courtyard and private ground floor patio areas, with a 4-inch stone pebble tile border at building columns and planter area edges. There is a planter wall with stone cap shown at the north courtyard area; staff recommends that a similar stone cap also be incorporated into the exterior stem walls to be employed. In addition, there should be some extension of the decorative hardscape used in the project into the sidewalk areas, potentially along the limits of the radial sidewalk, as an accent. RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of a minute motion recommending to the Planning Commission approval of preliminary streetscape and landscape plans for Village Use Permit 2005-030, in accordance with the following recommendations: ALRCvup0301scape.doc 1. Option 2 or 3 as a recommended streetscape alternative; and, 2. The Tipuana Tipu street trees shall be specified as a 36" box size equivalent. 3. Replace Star Jasmine in the perimeter landscaping with a more heat -tolerant shrub. 4. Provide additional shade trees along Calle Tampico, at locations to provide optimum shade along the sidewalk. 5. Limit use of Heavenly Bamboo and Indian Hawthorn shrubs to the east side of the building to allow afternoon shade. 6. Extend decorative hardscape into the streetscape/sidewalk areas around the street tree well/grates. Transmitted by: AIIN pis Wallace Nesbit, Principal Planner Attachments: 1. Location Map 2. Related Approval Conditions from SP 2005-076 and VUP 2005-030 3. Streetscape Program Design Options letter ALRCvup0301scape.doc ATTACHMENT 1 ATTACHMENT 2 City Council Resolution 2006-050 Conditions Of Approval - FINAL Village Use Permit 2005-030 - Borrego Resort Holdings, Inc. May 2, 2006 that a monitor has been retained shall be given to City prior to issuance of first earth -moving permit, or before any clearing of the site is begun. 91. Recovered specimens shall be prepared to the point of identification and permanent preservation, including washing of sediments to recover small invertebrates and vertebrates. 92. A report of findings with an appended itemized inventory of specimens shall be submitted to the City prior to the first occupancy of a residence being granted by the City. The report shall include pertinent discussions of the significance of all recovered resources where appropriate. The report and inventory, when submitted will signify completion of the program to mitigate impacts to paleontological resources. 93. Collected resources and related reports, etc. shall be given to the City for curation. Packaging of resources, reports, etc. shall comply with standards commonly used in the paleontological industry. LANDSCAPING 94. The applicant shall submit all landscape plans, to include landscape lighting, for approval through plan checking by the Public Works Department. Community Development Department review will take place during this plan check process. When plan checking has been completed by the both Departments, the applicant shall obtain the signatures of CVWD and the Riverside County Agricultural Commissioner, prior to submittal for signature by the City Engineer. Prior to CVWD review, the applicant shall provide calculations that meet the requirements of Chapter 8.13 of the Municipal Code - Water Efficient Landscaping. NOTE: Plans are not approved for construction until signed by the City Engineer. All landscape and irrigation plans shall be signed and stamped by a licensed landscape architect. 95. On -site landscape, landscape lighting and irrigation plans shall be submitted for review by the ALRC and approval by the Community Development Director. Plans shall be in substantial conformance with the conceptual landscaping as approved for the project by Planning Commission, which shall conform to the provisions of Specific Plan 2005-076 (Section 4.22, Landscaping, and Appendix C, Landscape Palette). City Council Resolution 2006-050 Conditions Of Approval - FINAL Village Use Permit 2005-030 - Borrego Resort Holdings, Inc. May 2, 2006 96. An area -specific design and landscape plan shall be submitted for the common interior courtyard and pool area, subject to review by the ALRC and final approval of the Community Development Director. The plan shall address definition of private/public, passive/active, and other spatial relationships, through the use of landscaping, low walls, water features and other focal elements, shading, etc. This plan shall be approved prior to issuing a building permit for the residential units. 97. The Phoenix Dactylifera species (Date Palms) to be used shall be purchased from within the Coachella Valley, per the requirement of the Riverside County Agricultural Commissioner. 98. Additional plant materials, such as shrubs, vines, and similar, shall be employed at the building base and planted so as to accent the blank wall areas at the lower elevations between the grade and below the first floor window lines. Use of berms shall also be considered. A retaining/planter wall plan will be required with the overall landscaping plan layout, if such walls will be provided or required. 99. All planting pots, and/or other similar containers, shall be placed at appropriate intervals and automatic irrigation shall be provided to all such containers. Second -story planter areas and/or containers shall incorporate or tie into the building down drain system, to avoid discoloration damage to the building finishes. changes ffiEjy occur in mee mg- is an -o r - moPe gpeeff is construction standards, to include building height. H. Page 20, Section 4.21 - CC&R's shall include perpetual maintenance of perimeter landscaping and sidewalks, as well as on -site common areas. Page 20, Section 4.22.1 - An exhibit shall be provided in the specific plan to more clearly delineate the areas described as "Buffer/Transition Zones". These areas shall be subject to review along with landscape plans submitted for plan check. The landscape palette in Appendix C shall act as a master plant material listing for the project, and all subsequent landscape plans shall be reviewed for consistency against this palette. J. The Phoenix Robeleni (Pygmy Date Palm) is under quarantine and may be used only if supplied from a local nursery. Include an approval of the master plant list from CVWD and the Riverside County Agricultural Commissioner's office, as part of the Appendix C plant listing, in the final specific plan document. K. Page 23, Section 5.3 - Revise fourth sentence to read, "Avenida Villa on the west and Avenida Navarro on the east are both designated as Local Streets." L. Page 30, Flooding and Hydrology - A letter of map revision (LOMA) was issued by FEMA in January, 2006. This revision affects the site and has changed the flood zone designation from AO to X. This information shall be incorporated in the final specific plan document. M. Page 32, Site Design and Activity Space - Paragraph 2 shows unit size range as ±1,500 to ±3,100, change this to match Page 16, Section 4.9.1; second paragraph which shows ±1,500 to ±3,300. 1 7• 1 The applicant shall submit a streetscape program for review by the ALRC LL-�-�� and Planning Commission. The program shall include provisions for street trees, paving materials and address the potential for redesign of existing City Council Resolution 2006-048 Conditions of Approval - FINAL Specific Plan 2005-076 - Borrego Resort Holdings, Inc May 2, 2006 street curb lines, to incorporate planter pockets for street trees with on - street parking. This program shall be submitted with the final landscape plans for all exterior project areas, and is herby incorporated by reference into the conditions of approval for Tentative Tract 34038 and Village Use Permit 2005-030. ATTACHMENT 3 Leyva Wilde I INC. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE CITY OF LA QUINTA STREETSCAPE PROGRAM DESIGN STUDY Street Tree Planting Plan - Option 1 (Sheet TP-4.1) This street tree option illustrates the incorporation of street trees actually placed into the street itself. The tree would be placed into a raised planter, with low shrubs. The tree planter would be placed approximately 1.5 feet from the curb face, to allow for an un- impeded water flow adjacent to curb. The overall dimension of this raised planter would be 6 feet wide by 8.5 feet long. The design of the planter is curved at the outer side to accommodate ease of ingress and egress from the parallel stalls. The spacing of the street tree planters was dictated from criteria provide by Public Works Dept. with respect to appropriate parking stall length (24 foot standard). In determining parking space and street tree planter locations, appropriate consideration was given to providing reasonable clearance from street corners, parking garage entrance, and additional vehicular access locations into project from the street. Low curvilinear decorative planter walls have been incorporated into the landscaped area between the sidewalk and building to add architectural interest and absorb some of the grade between the sidewalk and the building. While this option does accommodate a linear sidewalk design, without street tree interruption, it does seem to limit the actual number of street trees that could be incorporated. With this Option, we could only foresee a total of six (6) street trees surrounding the property; due to the criteria dictated by the Public Work Dept. as well as access into the site itself (parking garage, trash enclosure, etc.). An additional concern with this option seems to be the limiting of the amount of parallel parking spaces along the streets due to the interruption of these street trees planters placed into the street. 1540 South Coal[ Hwy., Suite 208 Laguna Beach, CA 92651 • 949.376.4530 phone • 949.376.4560 f • info@leyvavilde.com leyvawilde.com a-.1 Richard A. Leyva RLA #CA 3162 • Richard J. Wilde RLA #CA 2789 PAGE City of La Quinta Streetscape Program Design Study March 14, 2007 Street Tree Planting Plan - Option 2 (Sheet TP-4.2) This street tree option illustrates the incorporation of street trees into the sidewalk area. The tree would be placed into an in -grade planter, with a tree grate (5 feet square, per city Tree Well standard detail), to protect the surface. The sidewalk area would be enlarged in a circular form around the tree grate to allow for pedestrian circulation around the tree grate. The sidewalk is 6 feet wide, and the minimum dimension from any part of the tree grate would be 6 feet as well, to accommodate ease of pedestrian flow. The approximate spacing of the street trees is 40 feet on -center along Avenida Navarro and Avenida Villa (west side), with the spacing becoming wider along the south side of Avenida Villa to accommodate the building undulation. Low curvilinear decorative planter walls have been integrated into the sidewalk design. These low planter walls add architectural interest and absorb some of the grade between the sidewalk and the building. A minimum of a two foot planting space occurs between the back of sidewalk and the planter walls to discourage skateboard traffic. While this option does interrupt a linear sidewalk design, it contains the street trees within the curb/sidewalk area, and does not superimpose them into the actual street itself. With this Option, we can foresee a total of twelve (12) street trees surrounding the property; doubling the number from Option 1. While the linear quality of the sidewalk is interrupted somewhat, the pedestrian flow is not; as circulation can be accommodated quite easily around the street trees. Additionally, because the low planter walls occur at the sidewalk/street tree locations, they appear quite integrated into the overall sidewalk design. Sheet Tree Planting Plan - Option 3 (Sheet TP-4.3) This street tree option represents only a slight variation on Option 2. The same design explanation applies to this option as well. The only design change with this option comes in the form of a slightly modified sidewalk and planter wall design at the street tree location junctures. The sidewalk area would be enlarged in more of an oval form around the tree grate to allow for a somewhat easier pedestrian circulation flow around the tree grate. Additionally, this option provides more space between the building and the planter wall. This Option appears to be the most favorable in that it incorporates all the benefits of Option 2 while facilitating easier pedestrian flow along sidewalk and allowing more planting space between building and planter wall. 1540 South Coast Hwy., Suite 208 Laguna Beach, CA 92651 • 949.376.4530 prone e 949.376.4560 f= • LeyvaWilde@aol.com a -,nee Richard A. Leyva RLA #CA 3162 • Richard l Wilde RLA #CA 2789