The San Ramon City Council is set to solicit feedback from the public as they consider a proposed townhouse development on Deerwood Drive that would require approving an amendment to the city's General Plan.

A public hearing on Trumark Townhomes, a 61-unit townhome project proposed for a 4.4-acre property on 2481 Deerwood Drive, near Crow Canyon and Bollinger Canyon roads, is scheduled for the council's upcoming regular meeting on Tuesday (Jan. 24), with public discussions set to continue on Feb. 14.

The proposal comes to the council following approval by the city's Planning Commission on Dec. 8, which was preceded by three additional public hearings. The public hearings are required due to the applicant seeking an amendment to the city's General Plan in order to redesignate the property, which is currently zoned for office use.

"The Applicant is proposing to change the existing Office designation to Multiple Family-High Density Residential (MFH) and Open Space (OS) and rezoning the site from Administrative Office (OA) to High Density Residential and Open Space 2 (OS-2) to facilitate the proposed project," division manager Lauren Barr said in a staff report.

Barr added that the application for a General Plan amendment is meant to speed up the process for the project, with the property already set to be redesignated for residential use under the city's pending Housing Element update, which is due by Jan. 31.

"Rather than wait for the City process to be completed before filing development applications, the Applicant opted to pursue the General Plan Amendment, Rezone and development applications independent of the City process for more certain timing of the proposed changes," Barr said. "Once the approvals are complete, the site will be consistent with the proposed Housing Element once adopted."

In addition to redesignating the property for residential use, the applicants are seeking to redesignate undevelopable portions of the property as open space with the proposed General Plan amendment.

The upcoming public hearing is set to revolve around discussion only, with no vote planned for that night. Conversations are set to resume, along with the introduction of the ordinance that would rezone the property, on Feb. 14.

The San Ramon City Council is set to meet on Tuesday (Jan. 24) at 7 p.m. The agenda is available here.

In other business

* The council will hear a presentation from Sunset Development officials on plans for redevelopment of Chevron Park.

* The Senior Citizens Advisory Committee will provide their annual report.