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approval or denial, and the applicants can revise their application and make it even <br />better like that other project. <br />Chair Allen stated that she is not yet proposing a continuance and would like to poll <br />each of the Commissioners. She indicated that she is feeling wanting a continuance <br />because she would rather have things worked out in advance and be done thoughtfully, <br />and she thinks that is the way to get the best outcome and the best project if it comes <br />back to the Commission. She added that if everyone knows that the project is going to <br />come back to the Commission, it will need to meet that acid test. <br />Commissioner O'Connor stated that he would like to ask the applicant, should the <br />Commission have a continuance, how long it would take for them to revise the project <br />based on what the Commission wants to see, and come back to the Commission. <br />Ms. Hardy replied that she would like to hear Commissioner O'Connor summarize the <br />issues so they have a full understanding of the Commission's direction. She added, <br />however, that should they agree to a continuance rather than ask the Planning <br />Commission to make a decision tonight, they would want to have that continuance to an <br />absolute date certain, and ideally it would be at the next Planning Commission meeting. <br />She indicated that she realizes that does not leave staff with a whole lot of time, but <br />they are under a timeframe and, in addition to the Commission, they need to go to the <br />City Council. <br />Commissioner O'Connor asked Chair Allen to go through what she summarized of the <br />concerns mentioned and the few she added, and then see who among the <br />Commissioners were in agreement. <br />Chair Allen summarized the concerns as follows: <br />1. Density, including reducing the FAR from 69 percent to 56 percent. <br />Chair Allen asked what that means in terms of reduction of units. <br />Mr. Schroeder replied that going to a 5,500- square -foot lot as previously suggested <br />would reduce the project to 18 units, and that would make the project infeasible. He <br />explained that when this project came to Ponderosa, the Church was in a dire situation <br />and they had to make a change. He stated that the Church representatives could have <br />gone out to the market to anybody, and a lot of people would have paid a lot more <br />money for this site than Ponderosa could, but they came to Ponderosa because they <br />knew what Ponderosa could probably do here. <br />Mr. Schroeder stated that this site, which is next to a three -story apartment project, a <br />four -lane divided road, an industrial site, and the Operations Services Center, really <br />wants to be denser than this 27 -lot project, but Ponderosa thought that would not work <br />and was not really practical. He noted that they did the Ivy Lane project on Stanley <br />Boulevard, and that worked. He indicated that they laid out the site and thought they <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, August 12, 2015 Page 20 of 34 <br />