During a June 8 community meeting—the third in a series of meetings to discuss the design of Tamien Place's two 11-story condominium towers and 12 townhomes at the corner of Lick and West Alma avenues—residents came prepared with questions for the architect and San Jose Department of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement .

Many of those questions were answered when Tamien Place architect Jonathan Ennis from Berger Detmer Ennis presented possible designs for the tower and townhomes, incorporating the ideas presented by residents at prior meetings.

The tower design most favored by residents included a pitched roof, vertical differentiation, arched windows and balconies to "break down the box look."

"We've tried to tune this to San Jose and this neighborhood," Ennis said. "We've tried to take the best ideas from the neighborhood and put them into the project."

As for the 12 townhomes, an informal vote showed that most wanted to incorporate Craftsman, Mission and Victorian styles of architecture into the townhouses to reflect the look of the neighborhood's various home designs. Each home would reflect only one of these architectural styles.

North Willow Glen resident Ken Eklund liked the tower design and told Ennis if it had been designed poorly, it would have done the whole city a disservice. After the meeting, however, Eklund expressed his displeasure in a letter he addressed to San Jose City Councilwoman Cindy Chavez. He was concerned about certain aspects of the design.

"The two towers face only each other and turn their backs on the community," he wrote in the letter.

Another issue was accessibility to the new VTA station. The public was concerned about having easy pedestrian access to the station.

Ennis addressed these concerns, saying that an arcade had been designed through the development, which would enable the public easy access to the station.

By the end of the presentation, many were generally pleased that their input had resulted in changes to the development, especially to the Lick Avenue development's main entrance. After initial feedback from prior meetings, designers scaled back the townhomes from 14 to 12 so the main entrance to the development could be widened to create a more inviting sense of neighborhood.

Greater Gardner Coalition Chairman Kevin Christman told Ennis he would like to see the textures and colors of the project differentiated from one story to the next.

"I like what you are trying to do with the articulation," Christman said.

Christman, Eklund and other North Willow Glen residents will have one more chance to voice their opinion about the final Tamien Place design at the July 15 community meeting. Joseph Horwedel, the plan implementation division deputy in the San Jose Department of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement, said that during that meeting everyone would be presented with a "cleaned-up version" of the tower and townhome design. Citizens would also see completed plans for the Lick Avenue streetscape and more information about traffic calming. And there would be more information about the materials that will be used on the project and full elevation views of the towers and townhomes.

The next step in the process is a planned development permit. The permit pertains to Tamien Place's architecture, landscape and site design and is scheduled to go before a director's hearing—an opportunity for the applicant and interested community members to participate in the process—on July 28.

If the San Jose director of planning approves the permit during the hearing, it will move on to the San Jose Planning Commission.

Horwedel said once the planned development permit is approved by the planning commission, building permits would follow later in the year.

For more information about Tamien Place, call the Department of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement at 408.277.4576.