PC 111313 - Laserfiche WebLink

Chair Pearce stated that she has been gratified in the way that this process has worked. She indicated that years ago, when the old Stanley Boulevard house came before the Commission, she was dismayed with what looked like a very chaotic process which cost a lot of people a lot of time, cost people a lot of money, and in the end made no one happy. She continued that it was compounded with situations like this, like the Cunningham house, which she thinks this FAR situation would have addressed. She stated that it seemed like the City had a process that really did not work for anyone. Chair Pearce stated that she was gratified when the Planning Commission accepted her suggestion to make this the Commission's only priority going forward to the City Council. She continued that she was gratified when the City Council put it on its list of priorities and the Task Force was created. She indicated that she has been very proud of the work this Task Force did as it was not always easy; nor should it be. She further indicated that the Task Force really kind of started this process in an effort to find out what was important to the City as a community, not what was important to the Fed's, not what was important to the State, but what was important to the City. She noted that she believes the Task Force had a great cross section in its seven members; they had some good discussions and had very robust conversations that included the public, as it should. She expressed appreciation for everybody's comments, and the Task Force had a consistent number of people come to all the meetings and provided the Task Force with their commentary, many of whom are present tonight, which she indicated she appreciated. She stated that this really reflects a lot of hard work on the Task Force level and that obviously, she is in support of all of it. Chair Pearce stated that she will address the FAR situation in particular because she knows there have been some conversations about it tonight. She noted that she believes the FAR proposal that staff has put forward would have eliminated that significant issue that the Commission had on the Cunningham house. She addressed Commissioner Olson and recalled how the entire Commission was involved trying to figure out the mass and the scale of the house by sort of just looking at it. She noted that the FAR proposal quantifies that situation that becomes mired in what people can actually figure out by eyeballing it. She added that frequently, the Commission has had people come back asking the Commission for help as they do not know what to do. She noted that in the staff report, the Commission would end up having a smattering of FAR's as a result of extensive time being spent trying to eyeball a situation. She indicated that her opinion is that this deals with that issue up front. She emphasized that the Commission wants to take the human element out; the Commission does not want to have anyone have to go through what the Cunninghams went through again, and she thinks this really rectifies that situation. Chair Pearce then stated that as Co -Chair of the Task Force, she is going to make a motion. Commissioner Posson asked to have more discussion. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, November 13, 2013 Page 36 of 50