A controversial housing development in Belvedere is undergoing another edit in response to community concerns.

Developers of the Mallard Pointe project have submitted an alternative design to the city. The new design is in response to community and city feedback that the proposed apartment building is too big, according to developers Thompson Dorfman Partners.

“We really like this alternative plan, but at the same time we also feel strongly that the original submission that we are basing this plan on with the larger apartment building would also work quite well, so we’re hopeful that the planning commission can recommend one or the other plan at the hearing on Tuesday,” said Bruce Dorfman, a partner with Thompson Dorfman Partners.

The Mallard Pointe project has been under scrutiny since November 2023, when the Planning Commission went against staff advice to approve the project and voted to require an environmental review. In January 2024, the City Council overturned the commission’s decision in an appeal hearing.

The alternative design keeps the planned 40 units throughout the housing site, but the length and mass of the apartment building is reduced by nearly half. Instead, it will be a 15-unit, three-story apartment building with 10 townhomes, four duplexes, six single-family homes and one accessory dwelling unit.

Dorfman said the group has received input from the city and community leaders. The majority of the negative feedback was focused the overall size of the apartment building.

“Having apartments is actually a good product for this location and for this community,” Dorfman said. “We’ve heard repeatedly that you have a number of local residents who live up in the hills and want to live in the flat, that stairs are an issue. So those residents can downsize and move into somewhere where they don’t have to go upstairs, and they can live in an area that is much more pedestrian friendly.”

Peter Mark, mayor of the city, said the Planning Commission was mostly concerned with the height of the buildings, but liked the more open design of the project.

“I think that’s what they come back with,” Mark said. “I think the applicant did make attempts to address what the Planning Commission said and I think generally speaking new developments are hard for communities to embrace fully but I think the Planning Commission and the council are following the laws that are laid out for them.”

Additionally, a 35-foot-wide courtyard has been incorporated between the apartment building and townhouses as well as more organic architecture. According to the developers, the townhomes provide more diversity in the development, and keeping the apartment complex allows them to accommodate less mobile people.

The alternative plan will be presented to the Planning Commission at its March 19 meeting, according to Dorfman.

If the city does not approve the new plan, the existing application will proceed.

“I hope they like the alternative plan,” Dorfman said. “It responds to the issues that were raised and it’s taken a lot of effort and a lot of thought to create it, so we’ll find out.”