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were willing to take more density and the response was yes. CarrAmerica could not commit that day and this was the day staff needed to start the EIR analysis. Later, they had said they are even more interested, but the EIR was already started and this is why it is reduced. It is not impossible to consider it, but staff would have to do some additional traffic analysis. Commissioner Blank said when it comes back to the Commission, the Council and the public that instead of having the sites in yellow, they could be color coded according to their density as they are on the sheets throughout the City. He also said he divided the City into quadrants and then in eighths to see what it would render. He noticed that in the southern portion of the City, there are only 2 sites, whereas in the northern half of the City, there are 8 sites and one of the speakers commented about distribution. Therefore, it appears there may be additional opportunities to distribute the sites more evenly around the City and he asked staff to look at this between now and when the Commission meets. Lastly, it seems to him that more than just the required minimum should be done. Doing what is required by the settlement and having those numbers is absolutely required, but he also feels like the City should be stretching a bit to accommodate as much as possible within reason. Chair Narum referred to Commission Blank's comment on how it does not seem to be as spread out, but one map not shown is the housing element map where existing high density is in some areas. Therefore, this might be helpful to the Commission as it would show more evenness than the map the Commission was currently looking at. Commissioner Pentin referred to Commissioner Blank's comments, he feels there are some choices and the first one is whether they are going to meet the requirement for the settlement and Housing Element, but he is concerned whether we are really identifying in this plan the opportunity to actually provide housing. When looking at some of the possibilities with the properties, he questioned whether they are really viable. Then, one would look at what is left on the map and it is not geographically distributed. So, he was concerned with coming in at 73 acres and not properties being viable, and this is something he will be looking at. Commissioner Olson said during the Commission sessions, he pointed out that the other part of this is having developers ready to go on the given sites. This goes a long way to getting housing built. It seems to him that in the cases of Sites 11 and 14 (Kiewit and Legacy), the City has eliminated them where there are developers ready to go. Commissioner Pearce said she was on the Housing Element Task Force and said she is comfortable with the list as it currently stands. Prior conversations were held about just rezoning the minimum and she recognized there is a difference of opinion on the Planning Commission regarding this. She expressed appreciation for eliminating the downtown site, which was something she and Chair Narum had opposed, and thinks it is appropriate to have that site eliminated. Chair Narum said she too served on the task force. She tends to be more supportive of rezoning the minimum because they will do this again. There is enough uncertainty and fear in the community to get this done and get through it. They are rezoning at 30 units to the acre and she asked if there wasn't any reason that a property owner couldn't come in with a project at 35 units to the acre which would also count towards the numbers. Mr. Dolan said yes, they can because it is above the minimum and HCD has suggested having a minimum density and this has been staff's intention. At this point, a maximum has not been established, but they can and they've only provided environmental clearance for their window on top of that though of a little bit. So, it's a fairly narrow window they are forcing people into. Most is in a 30-40 unit range. Chair Narum questioned whether CarrAmerica could come in with 35 units to the acre, and Mr. Dolan said he would have to verify this in the EIR. Chair Narum said she thinks the issue of balance is important and she tends to think it is good to have the distribution away from the east side on this round because most of the land is going to be on the east side during the next RHNA round and the City should use as much of the land in other parts of the City Council Minutes Page 10 of 18 December 6, 2011