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to take that policy out and give this particular neighborhood the same protections that all the other neighborhoods would have. 5. New residential building design and how it is supposed to be compatible with the neighborhood. Mr. Dolan stated that the Task Force spent some time talking about how compatibility is judged and can be a little bit subjective. He indicated that the Task Force tried to come up with some kind of metric because part of the Council's instruction was to make the outcomes more predictable and not have as many individual discretionary decisions that add on to each other and make the process so hard. He added that the Task Force explored different compatibility standards and ultimately came to the conclusion that the Downtown was an eclectic community. He noted that the Historic Context Statement identified the types of architecture that are prominent and historic, and someone from the audience who attended the Task Force meetings quite regularly suggested that the structure would be considered compatible if it included one of those styles. He added that the Task Force liked that, and that is what the recommendation is at this point. Mr. Dolan stated that staff also struggles occasionally with applications and the current policies relative to compatibility of residential additions or even new homes. He indicated that the problem lies in the fact that there are established floor area ratios (FAR) which dictate the amount of square footage each lot can have relative to the size of the lot. He added that there are additional policies layered on top of that that say that it needs to be compatible with the surrounding neighborhood relative to massing and scale and bulk. He noted that these are two conflicting policies or regulations: if it is 40 percent, or if it is really appropriate to require the applicant to go smaller if things in the neighborhood are also smaller. He stated that in the interest of trying to come up with something fairly predictable, a numerical standard was established that basically says that the applicant can go up to 25 percent more than the average of the floor area ratios of the existing homes in the immediate neighborhood, defined as on any lot that is within 150 feet of the subject lot. He explained that while there is nothing magical about 25 percent, staff felt it is reasonable, and the Task Force was supportive of this particular formula. He added that the Task Force also recognized that there are certain circumstances where someone could design something that just spectacularly hides the mass and this numerical calculation is not appropriate. He noted that in this case, there is an exception process, He added that there is also an exception process for cases such as if the property is located in such a way that this neighborhood comparison is not really possible, or if it is in a corner of the Specific Plan Area, or there are uses that are not residential adjoining and the proper sampling cannot be obtained within 150 feet, or if the samples obtained give such odd numbers that they are not usable. 6. Garage policies in the Specific Plan. Mr. Dolan stated that the Specific Plan includes policies, when dealing with proposed homes, about encouraging garages to be detached and not a part of the main structure facing the street and dominating the streetscape, but to have them more similar to how PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, November 13, 2013 Page 19 of 50