Planning Commission Minutes 2016 07 14

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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes July 14, 2016 Page 14 of 33 more volume and height, there is a sense of much more comfort and living space. The roof issue is an esthetic one. Balfour has a certain brand and expectation. We think it has benefited not only the company but Louisville itself in having some outstanding architecture on our campus. The issue of the heights of the apartments themselves is essential in terms of providing that kind of living experience. I suppose the PC has to decide whether the subjective experience of the residents in our senior living communities is of equal or greater importance than of the handful of folks who are concerned about whatever the impact is on your views. That is a balancing of the equities. Rice asks how many units are on the third floor? Williams says seventeen. Rice asks Williams to put the slide up with the perspective of the mature landscaping as it currently exists, leafed out. The top pane is the trees there now. How tall are those trees? Williams says he doesn't know but with the building behind it being more than 35' at that peak, admittedly back from where those trees are, they must be north of 20' and maybe taller. Rice says when I look at that, it looks like it would completely cover the building. The building is 52'. Is it because we are looking up? These look like pretty good-sized trees. Williams says when you have a screen that is closer to you, the things further back will be obscured. Knowing this was a significant topic, this is why we are trying to preserve as many of those as we possibly can at that corner. Schonbrun says I just walked around today, getting ready for tonight. I wish I had taken a laser measurement. The trees are quite tall, well in excess of 30'-40'. 1 was right underneath. Tengler asks about a slide that intrigued me. I think it is the issue of perspective. In the bottom slide, it looks as though the height of the building is significantly low, but I think that would be on the back side of the property from that view. Williams says that is the eastern corner where, in our earliest submittal, there were actually units on the third floor at that corner. In working with Staff, we have pulled some back so it is basically a two-story portion of the building at that end of the wing, and then you see the gable and roof. Tengler says it appears to cut down on the up front massing. Hsu says we received a number of comments that there has been limited community outreach. Can you speak of what outreach you have had with the neighboring community? Schonbrun chose not to have an all -community hands meeting. There have been discussions with our development vice president, Hunter McLeod, on an ad hoc basis. Our belief is that our public hearing is before the Louisville Planning Commission. We have had enough experience in other projects to know that folks really prefer status quo. To begin to move to the least common denominator of the project that nobody would find offensive and that they could all live with was, frankly, not anything we desired. We thought by working with the Staff and by having the occasional conversation were sufficient. I stand by that. To get quality buildings, it's like the discussion about the design of the camel by a committee. We think we need to work with quality architects who understand our functions best, the issue of the length of hallways, the height of the building, all of those issues, and the constraint that the site had with the mine openings. We spent a lot of time studying where all the pathways would be. We have probably underestimated or understated the constraints this site has had. For years, it has been a bit of an eyesore, even during the period we have owned it. It would seem to us that this was such a huge improvement both for the neighborhood and for the city at large that working with the Staff and coming before the PC and soon City Council would be sufficient. I own that one. Hsu says with regard to the mature landscaping and the trees, you mention there will be a more "flushed out" proposal to present at City Council. Do you think there will be a height requirement for those trees? How will you define mature trees? Williams says that is a great question. As Lauren mentioned, our landscape architect has been in direct dialogue with the City's landscape architect and we can get the City forester involved as well. There is a point where relocating or finding trees that are above a certain height will be challenging and then to assure their survivability. Once trees get established, it is very difficult to