Planning Commission Minutes 2016 07 14

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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes July 14, 2016 Page 11 of 33 again, more towards the center of the site in the overall scheme. Two diagrams were included in the application. One diagram speaks to roof height over 45' and areas in darker gray are above 45', recognizing that the sloping roofs will incrementally go down. The only part of the building that hits the 52' limit that we are asking for is the little chunk which is generally on the northwest portion of the building. In the area where there are third story of the residences, that ridgeline is at 49'6" and slopes down to 45'. Our roof monitor over the west side is at 44'8". The balance of this going down to the 35' which comes at the eave line of the third floor portion of the building, these areas of the west wing that get to 40' and a piece of the southeastern corner that achieves 40'. I want everybody to understand that this is not a 52' high building, ground to roof, in all places. A very limited piece gets to that place. oppr VICINTY MAP HEIGHT WAIVERS All of the Balfour campus has received height waivers before; the Lodge, the Residences, the BRC, and this project. The condos that North End has under construction will request a height waiver coming before you soon on an amendment to build the balance closer to South Boulder Road. BUILDING HEIGHTS AND LANDSCAPING Staff asked us very early on to look at some perspective views of our proposed project from various locations. The first was from the north side of Hecla Lake. You can see the line of the mountains, the edge of the lake, and the existing vegetation. You can see how the building nests into the site on that location from this vantage point. The Lodge is over here and very difficult to see in this image. The North End residents in the northern portion are here. In our first round of comments, Staff asked us to look at a couple other locations. This view is at the intersection of the trail on the south side of Hecla Lake at the eastern end looking west. The view shows an inserted 35' high building mass with a flat roof. The next view is our building as currently designed. Even in our tallest building, there are still tree tops that poke above that. At Staff's suggestion, by stepping down this east end, it actually has less impact from this particular vantage point than a 35' building would be at this location. We are using this based on the footprint and location of the building that we have currently proposed, which is well inside the minimum setbacks allowed in this particular location. Here is the view from the fence line of one of the residences immediately adjacent to the site looking directly to the west from the east. This is the photo we took and you can see through the fairly dense collection of cottonwoods. The middle photo shows the building at a 35' height. The third photo shows it as currently designed. By my eye, what we have currently proposed has less impact than a 35' tall building in that location. Since then, we have been in dialogue with Staff about an idea of mature