Carlsbad Planning Commission Approves 329-Unit Apartment Community

Yesterday the Carlsbad Planning Commission approved a proposal to develop a 329-unit apartment community located at 1205 Aviara Parkway, roughly a mile southeast of The Carlsbad Flower Fields and Legoland.

The 9.2-acre lot is currently occupied by an active flower and produce packaging and wholesale operation, and a 38,000 square-foot (SF) warehouse, all of which would be demolished to make way for the development. 

Project applicant, SummerHill Apartment Communities and BRIDGE Housing, proposes to subdivide the lot into five different lots, three of which would be open space lots. A 477,000 SF residential structure with 259 dwelling units and a parking structure would be constructed on the West Parcel. The structure would be four stories and 60 feet in height above grade. 12 of the dwelling units would be affordable for households with incomes that do not exceed 90% of the Area Median Income (AMI), and the remaining 247 would be market-rate. The residential unit mix would consist of 184 one-bedroom units and 75 two-bedroom units, ranging in size from 711 to 1,135 SF. Access to the West Parcel would be provided by a driveway at the intersection of Aviara Parkway and Laurel Tree Lane.

The East Parcel is currently undeveloped vacant land with native and nonnative vegetation. An 83,123 SF residential structure with a parking structure would be constructed on the East Parcel. The building would contain 69 affordable rental units and one manager’s unit. Seven of the units would be Very Low-Income units designated for households with incomes that do not exceed 30% of AMI, and the remaining units, except for the manager’s unit, would be designed Low-Income units for households with incomes that do not exceed 60% of AMI.

The residential unit mix on the East Parcel structure would consist of 14 studios, 23 one-bedroom units, 26 two-bedroom units, and seven three-bedroom units, ranging in size from 450 SF to 1,048 SF. Access to the East Parcel would be provided by a driveway from Laurel Tree Lane.

The project would include 37,570 SF of residential amenities. On the West Parcel, there would be a multi-purpose/club room, a fitness facility, a wifi cafe, an outdoor recreation area, pool courtyard, an outdoor lounge area, and two passive courtyards. The East Parcel would have a multi-purpose/club room, an outdoor recreation area, arrival yard, and entry plaza.

KTGY Architecture is designing the proposed project. The West Parcel development would be designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival architectural style that is prominent in Carlsbad and other coastal California cities. Architectural features include hip roofs with concrete ‘S’ tiles, tower elements, exposed rafter tails along the projecting eave overhangs, stucco walls with deep recesses, arches adorned with hand-painted ceramic tiles, trellis structures shading top floor balconies, wrought iron railings, and decorative corbels.

The East Parcel would be designed in a contemporary Spanish-style inspired by California’s early heritage with adobe structures. Features include sloped roofs with tight rakes and flat roofs with parapets, stucco walls accented with siding, a chiseled limestone veneer at the base, metal railings, decorative corbels, and a color palette of neutral shades of tan and brown. 

The project proposes to provide 533 parking spaces, and the developer is requesting a modified development standard to reduce the amount of required parking spaces from the current level of 631.