54-unit apartment plan is put on hold by the council

Developer says he may abandon plan altogether

By Jeff Kearns

Developer Bill Errico admits he's a little depressed. After three Planning Commission meetings, two Development Review Committee meetings, two Conceptual Development Advisory Committee meetings and two neighborhood meetings over the last two years, the Town Council said the plans for a 54-unit apartment complex he wants to build at 615 Blossom Hill Road still aren't up to par.

Last week, councilmembers voted unanimously to send Errico and architect Rodger Griffin back to the Planning Department, telling them to fix some of the problems that have been nagging the proposal all along and possibly lowering the density of the project.

Now, the developer says he and his partners are thinking about dropping the application altogether because it doesn't make sense economically.

"As much as we really need apartments, this project just might be dead now," Errico says. "The numbers look terrible."

The proposed site is wedged between Highway 17 and Blossom Hill Road below two existing apartment complexes. Given the unusual site, plans called for a 16-foot-tall sound wall stretching 1,000 feet along the freeway and a long driveway connecting the apartments to Blossom Hill Road through an existing apartment complex.

"I think this project has enormous problems," said Councilman Randy Attaway, who objected to the tall sound wall, among other things.

"We can't have a 16- by 1,000-foot wall. I've seen things like that along I-880 in Milpitas, and it looks terrible," he said. "I don't want to deny this project, but there are still plenty of things we need to work on."

Attaway also said the project might need fewer units and more parking spaces. Other councilmembers voiced similar concerns.

"My goal would be if you're driving on Highway 17, that this would be hardly noticeable," Councilman Joe Pirzynski said.

Councilman Steve Blanton, however, said he didn't mind the density. "I think the density is right," he said. "If we have high-density anywhere in the town, it seems this would be the place where it should go."

At 54 units (including nine below-market-price units) on a five-acre site, the project is at the top end of the zoned density for most of the site, which allows five to 12 units per acre. Part of the site needs to be rezoned.

If Errico and his partners decide to proceed with the tricky project, he says, the first thing he'll do is hold more meetings with neighbors. Several neighbors who showed up to discuss the application said they didn't receive a notice in the mail, or if they did get a notice, they didn't understand what site was being talked about.

Other neighbors say they're opposed to the project because it would bring more traffic through the existing apartment complex and dump more cars into the sometimes-clogged intersection of Blossom Hill and Roberts roads.

"I would like to emphasize what an adventure it is to exit from our property onto Blossom Hill Road in the morning," said Bill Lawnsdale, who lives on the same block as the proposed apartments.

Any new plans will have to be approved by the Planning Department, and then the application will be agendized for the Planning Commission to take a fourth crack at it.

In sending the application back to the commission, Mayor Jan Hutchins said he was wary of having the Town Council act as the appeal board for the Planning Commission. "I got the feeling that the Planning Commission didn't try to work this one out as much as they could have," he said.

The Planning Commission saw the application first in March and continued it to a meeting in May after requesting several changes. In May, commissioners continued the application to their June 23 meeting, when they voted to deny it. After that, Errico and Griffin filed their appeal to the council.

Errico says he'll probably know what his final decision on the fate of the project will be by the end of the month.

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