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Vice -Mayor Cook- Kallio said there are still many unanswered questions, that she would like to see photos of existing double loaded communities, and that the Mayor would want to be involved in this discussion before the Council makes any recommendation. Councilmember McGovern said she visits this area frequently and has a close attachment to both sites. She said she has always liked the cottage style housing and felt it was important to offer seniors a variety of housing styles. She said she speaks with the residents of Kottinger Place frequently and that they love their space for the gardening and outdoor opportunities it provides. She said she fully supports an increase in affordable senior housing and that she would like to see it in more than just this location. She strongly recommended a discussion about how to best use the low- income housing fund to meet the needs that have been identified as well as those of future. She said found the 150 -unit option difficult to comprehend and that she would really prefer to see the parking undergrounded if possible. Councilmember McGovern said she always believed that Pleasanton Gardens would remain a senior housing site, not to be torn down or sold for market rate housing development. She noted she had visited double loaded senior complexes and considers them to be a very different type of living from what is offered here. She asked and confirmed that residents are allowed to have pets and said she would like that policy to remain. She shared concerns with the MOU, stating that she found it adversarial, inflexible, and not something she would like to be a part of. Ms. Dennis explained that Pleasanton Gardens is a non profit organization with an asset in the form of land, buildings, and Section 8 entitlements. She said that asset has increased in value over the years and the non profit organization is charged with continuing to use the asset responsibly to provide very low- income senior housing. The Board did not necessarily feel that it would be responsible to invest that entire asset for anything less than 150 total units. She assured the Council that Pleasanton Gardens is not going out of business but said that buildings are too old to allow the asset to be used responsibly and cannot be rebuilt for the amount of money provided by very -low income housing projects. The Board would most likely seek another partner in a project such as that and would prefer for that to be the City. Ms. Dennis continued, stating the Board understands that a development of more than 150 units would not be possible without encroaching on park space and so that number is both a minimum and maximum in the eyes of the Board. She supported the idea of underground parking and said the task force did not consider it because of the additional expense. She encouraged the Council to pursue that option if it felt comfortable devoting additional funds in that direction. She explained that the recommendations of the task force are based on a conservative model so as not to saddle the Council with issues such as encroaching on park space and undue cost. Councilmember McGovern said she reviewed the Sienna Report today, noted that it recommended zero City funding for the project, and asked if that is still a possibility. The greatest unknown of this project is associated with financing and she would prefer for the City to work on Kottinger Place and Pleasanton Gardens to find an outside partner which could ultimately offer more than 150 units, and said she despised the idea of market rate housing at that site. Mr. Fialho asked Ms. Dennis what the Board's reaction would be to leveraging the land with less density on Kottinger Place and perhaps another model on the Pleasanton Gardens site that involves independent, assisted, or skilled nursing living to achieve the board's objectives. City Council Minutes Page 14 of 16 December 1, 2009