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complimented. He added that they can maybe get some more points, but he does not want to engineer that and say that they have to go all the way with the solar. Commissioner Olson stated that one of the problems he has relative to affordable housing is that he spent his career in finance, and he does not know how this gets financed. He added that he thinks expecting the developer to do it is not right, keeping in mind that the judge had indicated that these projects have to be economically viable, which means that the developer has to make a profit. He noted that if the City wants more affordable housing, it needs to address how it should be financed and not just telling developers that they have to do it. He stated that he thinks the Housing Commission should be spending a lot of time on how to get financing for these projects. He added that he senses there is a pull of one option versus another, such that the more units are thrown in there, the more impact there would be on the economic viability of the project. He noted that this community is a high -cost housing community and has been that way for a while. He indicated that he supports this project and recommends that it be forwarded to the City Council. Chair Blank indicated that he would re -open the public hearing to ask the developer or their representative to come forward and address Commissioner Posson's question regarding what their incentive would be to install solar panels on residential rental units five years down the road if they are not required to do so at this point. THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS RE- OPENED. Mr. Regonini explained that because a multi - family community has a limited amount of roof space relative to the number of homes within a building, the photovoltaics that are typically put on a roof serve the community common areas and the electrical lighting around the site rather than the individual homes themselves. He stated that it would be very difficult to have an inverter and the whole system built in for each and every individual home. He noted that at a certain point when it does become economical or viable and there is a reasonable payback and some cost - saving benefits to the overall property, particularly since, as Commissioner Olson mentioned, the prices are dropping and will continue to drop, it definitely does make sense for the developer to go ahead and install that. He added that it can be combined with some tax credits and some other incentives that are available through the utilities, and an appropriate business decision can be made then to put that in. THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS CLOSED. Chair Blank stated that he likes the project, and, like Commissioner Olson, he does not like mustard - yellow, but he does not feel strongly enough that he would vote against the project just on the basis of that color. He indicated that he thinks it is a great project and appreciated that the applicant really took into account some of the things discussed at the Work Session. He added that he appreciated the efforts on the Plaza, which was an impossible task, but the applicant came up with some interesting ideas. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, March 27, 2013 Page 44 of 48