City Council Agenda and Packet 1998 11 17

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Staff believes that actions taken by City Council to affect ordinance amendments of development standards within the downtown commercial district may impact the standards under which staff reviews the final PUD development plan. Proposed site development standards such as FAR and building height which exceed those imposed by ordinance amendment will either have to be modified to comply with the adopted code or justification will need to be submitted requesting relief from such a standard through the PUD process. Floor Area Ratio (FAR): Building FAR is proposed as 1.6 with the inclusion of the finished basement and based upon current gross lot area prior to dedication. Based upon the net lot area (less dedication area) of approximately 12,000 sf, the FAR would be 2.2. lfthe right-of-way dedication is not supported, it is assumed that the building square footage and current setback from the existing property line would not remain as proposed on the PUD. Building Height: Building height is 37.5' to the top of the roof feature. This exceeds the 35' allowed under the Commercial Development Design Guidelines which apply to PUDs in the downtown commercial district. Additional justification for the building height will be required. Three-Story Construction: While architectural elements have been incorporated to reduce the bulk of three-story de~elopment, the building is constructed primarily as three stories. Based upon proposed square footage constructed above 28' (measure:d to a point just below the dormer windows), there is approximately 4,600 sf dedicated to three-story office occupancy, or 64% of the total building coverage. Construction dedicated strictJly to two-story construction is limited to 16%. Therefore, two-story construction is subordinate to three-story. Under the current building height maximum of 35', staff does not support the extent of square footage that is dedicated to three-story construction. The third-story element should be reduced to appear as a subordinate addition to a two-story building. Building Transition: Staff does not support the proposed north elevation of the building which is located at a one-foot setback from the north property line. The building elevation reflects approximately 58' of continuous, uninte:rrupted wall mass, 24' in height. This is an inappropriate building form due to direct visual impacts, shading, and transition of scale issues to neighbors to the north. Building Materials: 10