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The project was reviewed against and meets the City's Housing Site Development Standards and <br /> Design Guidelines for multi-family housing, with three exceptions. The applicant is requesting an <br /> exception to the rear yard minimum setback of 20 feet for the three-story building nearest the creek <br /> because of the lot's acute angle. The applicant is also requesting an exception to the minimum side <br /> yard setback of 8 feet for the building located nearest Valley Care Health System. Ms. Stern noted that <br /> the applicant has actually planned an adjustment of the parcel line in order to meet that requirement but <br /> does require an exception for tonight's purposes. Finally, the applicant has requested an exception to <br /> the required 10 foot step back for buildings exceeding 35 feet in height, which is intended to soften the <br /> appearance and impact of larger buildings on surrounding neighbors. Staff feels that the four-story <br /> building to which this is applies is located at the rear of the site and therefore by its location meets the <br /> objective of the guideline. <br /> The applicant has proposed to incorporate green building measures totaling 143 points (50 required) <br /> into the project. The proposed conditions of approval also contain several other measures to assist the <br /> City in meeting the objectives of its Climate Action Plan (CAP). These include providing bicycle racks <br /> for the public and visitors, bike storage facilities for residents, water efficient landscaping, water <br /> conservation devices and energy star appliances within each unit, infrastructure for electric vehicle <br /> charging and onsite electrical generation for the community leasing building. The proposed measures <br /> will achieve 25% better efficiency than that required by Title 24. Staff feels the project is a positive step <br /> in helping the City meet the CAP and green building objectives. <br /> Vice-Mayor Cook-Kallio noted that it is becoming more and more common for applicants to exceed the <br /> City's requirements and asked if the threshold should be reevaluated. <br /> Ms. Stern said the location of a development has a considerable impact on the type of measures that <br /> can be accomplished. She also thought the objectives might be easier to achieve as efficient products <br /> become more accessible in terms of cost and use. <br /> Ms. Stern stated that the Planning Commission reviewed the project applical.ion and voted 4-0-1 <br /> (Narum recused herself) to recommend approval to the Council. The Commission did however ask that <br /> staff craft a condition of approval related to electric car charging stations. She explained that the <br /> applicant originally asked not to be required to install charging stations but has subsequently asked to <br /> be allowed to either install charging stations or a dedicated circuit in the private garages for charging <br /> stations. Staff feels this meets the Commission's intent and recommends that the Council include this <br /> as part of the project approval. <br /> Councilmember Pentin asked staff to quantify the number of charging stations versus the number of <br /> dedicated circuits. <br /> Vice-Mayor Cook-Kallio asked who would be responsible for retrofitting the garages to actually enable <br /> charging. <br /> Director of Community Development Dolan noted that the applicant may now be reconsidering its offer <br /> in favor of the original requirement. He clarified that the Climate Action Plan does not specify a number <br /> of charging stations but rather asks for a reasonable number, which staff feels would be 3. <br /> Assistant City Manager Bocian continued the staff presentation and discussed the two documents <br /> related to affordable housing. He explained that most projects of this nature typically contain an <br /> Affordable Housing Agreement but that the applicant is also requesting an Inclusionary Unit Credit <br /> Agreement. The Affordable Housing Agreement, which memorializes the affordable housing <br /> requirements for the project, proposes to make 21% of the total units affordable to households at 50% <br /> of the AMI. The proposed mix offers 51% of the affordable units in two bedrooms and 11% in three <br /> bedrooms, which does exceed the respective standards of 35% and 10%. The agreement stipulates <br /> that units are to be rented in accordance with the City's preference system but in the event that the <br /> City Council Minutes Page 5 of 14 May 21, 2013 <br />