Houses in Hayward Stonebrae neighborhood get initial approval
Hayward's Planning Commission unanimously backed what's known as "Cavallo Highlands" on May 9. The City Council will consider the project on June 4.
HAYWARD — A hilly piece of land once used for grazing horses in the Hayward hills near Stonebrae Elementary School is on track to become the site of 19 houses.
The Planning Commission unanimously backed what is known as the “Cavallo Highlands” project on May 9, including approving a tentative tract map. The City Council is scheduled to consider the development June 4.
The two-story detached houses proposed for 29080 Fairview Ave. will range from 3,891- to 4,204-square-feet and each will have a garage where one to two vehicles can be stored in tandem. Each house would have five bedrooms.
No target date for breaking ground was provided.
The architectural styles will be Prairie, Craftsman, Italian Revival and Spanish Colonial.
The Stonebrae, Bailey Ranch and Prominence residential developments are near the 8.88-acre vacant parcel.
The property was once used as a place to graze horses, according to Damon Golubics, a senior planner with the city.
The proximity of Stonebrae Elementary School, which sits just west of where the main access road into Cavallo Highlands is planned, led some commissioners to question whether traffic will become a problem in the neighborhood, especially since it already can be busy when parents are dropping off or picking up their kids.
“Of course, traffic is always a concern,” said Erik Hayden of the Hayden Land Company, which is developing the houses with property owner Carrie Aitken.
But Hayden told commissioners that a study that the developer commissioned found that the future houses will not affect traffic in the area.
“Your project is not the problem with the school (and) parking,” Commissioner Gary Patton said. “The day parking and queuing during peak hours at schools is a problem in every city, in every neighborhood.”
Commissioners Angela Andrews and Ray Bonilla Jr. said they wished the project included affordable housing.
Instead, the developer is opting to pay an in-lieu fee, which will go toward creating affordable housing elsewhere in the city.
“Where we can integrate affordable housing into projects, I think it’s something we definitely need to look at,” Bonilla said.
The in-lieu fee for residential developments with 10 or more houses or more is $18.18 per square foot of habitable space if paid before a building permit is issued. The fee goes up to $20 per square foot if paid before the certificate of occupancy is approved.
“I think the in-lieu fee is exactly for this kind of project,” Patton said, noting that the Hayward hills neighborhood does not have easy access to shops and the public transit needed for areas where affordable housing is built.
The project calls for removing 78 trees from the property and replacing them with 73 new ones as part of meeting the mitigation requirements under the city’s Tree Preservation Ordinance.
The streets will be private and maintained through a homeowners association, which also will maintain the street lights and the trees and common area landscaping.
Each house will have an electric vehicle charging station, solar panels, native and drought-tolerant landscaping and low-energy LED lighting.