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footage and suggests something more reasonable and closer to what a traditional garage's square footage would be, and they would count the rest of it. None of this comes into play with straight zoning. Councilmember Sullivan said since the house is so large and on such a small lot, he asked if it should come into play. Mr. Dolan stated that said if there is logic to this it is not what the rules say now. Councilmember Sullivan suggested the need for a new historic downtown guidelines/ordinance to address those things. Mr. Dolan explained that staff shared with the Planning Commission what the FAR's were in the surrounding properties which range from 15% to 40% FAR. The property together is within the range, and if only counting the lower pad it would be above what is in the area. Councilmember Sullivan added that if the garage were counted, it would be approximately 60% FAR. Mr. Dolan said ultimately, in staff's view, when getting past the historic preservation issue as to whether the cottage needs to be saved and in talking about the size of the home and the proposal at hand, assuming it can be entertained, staff thinks the decision before the Council comes down to Policy 17 from the DSP and design review criteria which the City applies throughout the Municipal Code for all design review projects in the City. Both staff and the Planning Commission came to the conclusion that the project was consistent with these two policies, but there is certainly room for interpretation. He said should the Council disagree with staff and the Commission's conclusions and does not believe the home should go forward, staff would recommend the Council make findings based on not being able to meet Policy 17 and Design Review criteria #2 which reads, "Protect the established size and spacing of buildings in residential neighborhoods by avoiding excessive lot coverage and maintain appropriate separation between buildings; and, appropriate relationship of the proposed building to its site, including transition with streetscape, public views of the building, and scale of buildings within its sight and adjoining buildings." Mr. Dolan concluded and pointed to the resolution distributed to the Council which he said includes the square footages on the plan. If the plan moves forward, staff will present a revised resolution with replaced square footage showing staff's measurements, so the correct square footages would be in place when performing plan check, as measured by City staff. Councilmember McGovern asked for an explanation of the discrepancy and the square footage of the house. Mr. Bourg came within 2 square feet of staff's measurement and agrees with this measurement. Therefore, staff is confident the measurement is correct. Councilmember McGovern referred to specific issues in the Design Guidelines when the garage is in the rear of the house. Mr. Dolan indicated that the Design Guidelines and the DSP suggest that garages should be in the rear in downtown neighborhoods. This project does not accomplish that in its entirety but does the next best thing, which is that it sets back the garage entrance from the front elevation. It is beyond the porch and somewhat diminished. Councilmember McGovern asked if there was room to include a parking spot in the rear or not. Mr. Dolan said staff discussed this at length with the applicants and found that there was no room to access the rear with a driveway down the side without dramatically reducing the size of the current proposed home. He said the home would be about half the size of the proposal or about 1,200 square feet if a driveway were placed along the side of the house. Mayor Hosterman opened the public hearing. Brian Bourg, Appellant, said he and Christine have lived in town for 40 years and over the last 38 years in their Heritage home in the middle of the historic First, Second and Third Street neighborhood. It was difficult to get accurate square footage figure throughout the process and he disagreed with staff's measurement, noting that he got 1,710 square feet without the garage which was presented at the November 30th meeting. He reasoned that the project would be brought down to 1,495 square feet and City Council Minutes Page 9 of 25 February 7,2012