City Council Minutes 2021 05 18 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes May 18, 2021 Page 7 of 9 from the foundation. Staff will rely on the natural grade and not allow someone to build up the grade artificially. He stated new development would need to provide a survey with one -foot contours and existing and proposed grading. The Code purposely doesn't require surveys to be a specified elevation datum to provide flexibility in implementation. Building additions and other minor permits with height calculation requirements could potentially be verified with spot elevations or 2' contours from GIS. The Planning Commission recommended approval as does staff. Public Comments — None Mayor Stolzmann asked if the additional 12 inches of fill is needed for drainage; she would prefer to remove that. She feels drainage can be accommodated without including that. Mayor Pro Tem Maloney stated many people complain about the impact new buildings have on neighbors with new setback and heights. He asked if this would address that. Director Zuccaro stated this ordinance doesn't address that, but building height, roof pitch, and mass would be addressed in the Old Town Overlay project that is coming later this year. Councilmember Lipton supports the ordinance to help protect the character in residential districts. He asked how this would affect commercial buildings. Director Zuccaro stated almost all commercial PUDs have over -lot grading plans and this is measured from that not from a natural grade. He noted the provisions in the ordinance allow for some discretion in the over -lot grading through the waiver process in the PUD review. Councilmember Leh stated he was concerned the additional 12 inches of ground would be used by builders to game the system and get significant additional building height. Public Comments — None. Mayor Stolzmann would like to remove the language from section 17.16,090A related to additional fill not to exceed twelve inches. She feels this would make the rules more predictable. Councilmember Leh asked if this change would be problematic for staff. Director Zuccaro stated this does take away some design flexibility for new homes but he doesn't feel it inhibits anyone from building. Councilmember Leh stated he supports the proposal.