The dilapidated Hacienda Gardens Shopping Center, located on the corners of Foxworthy and Meridian avenues, has undergone a yearlong study by city staff and a city council­appointed committee of neighborhood citizens. The results of those studies and meetings came to a head Oct. 23, when the commission voted to allow the 238,000 square feet of retail area on 20.6 acres to be rezoned from "commercial pedestrian" to "planned development."

The rezoning will allow developer Mark Tersini of Hacienda Gardens, LLC to use 179,000 square feet for retail outlets, with 299 housing units for multiple families.

Now that the planning commission has voted to accept the rezoning proposal, the project goes before the city council on Nov. 19 for approval.

Before the voting, Tersini addressed the commission to thank city staff, particularly city senior planner Mike Enderby, and say that he found the neighborhood advisory committee "agreeable." Tersini declined to comment after the hearing.

The commission wasn't ready to take the city staff's report on the project at face value. Commissioners Jay James and Bob Dhillon took staff to task about the major impact the project would have on traffic.

Earlier, during the public hearing, one Yucca Avenue resident spoke on behalf of other avenue residents to say that the project's plans to lessen noise from the redeveloped shopping center were poorly thought out. Apparently the soundwalls in the plans are to keep noise from reaching residents' backyards.

"Our front yards are on Yucca," he said. "Does the commission expect us to turn our houses around 180 degrees?"

Among the topics discussed between commissioners, city staff and neighborhood advisory committee representatives were the shopping center's hours of operation and whether the Bank of America's closed drive-through should be reopened when a restaurant moves in.

Thomas Rossmeissl of the neighborhood advisory committee (NAC) addressed the council to say that after several meetings with city staff and with Tersini, "the shopping center is going to be much nicer." He added, "But I'm concerned that an additional drive-through restaurant was not brought up in committee meetings."

Later Rossmeissl said that the plan during the yearlong meetings with city staff was for the McDonald's restaurant to move to the southern part of the shopping center, where it would have a drive-through.

"That kind of makes sense, but out of the blue [Tersini] would like more than one drive-through and add it without designating where it would be, how it would be designed, how it would interface with the traffic," Rossmeissl said. "It caught [the neighborhood advisory committee] by surprise, and we think the commission appropriately rejected that portion of the plans."

Some traffic issues weren't resolved before the project made it to the commission's public hearings. Representatives from the city's transportation department attending the meeting said that though they tried to anticipate how traffic would impact the neighborhood, it can't be known for sure until after the redevelopment is completed. Once it is, the transportation department will conduct evaluations to see whether "traffic-calming" measures, such as traffic lights and restrictive turn signs, will be needed.