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Commissioner O'Connor: It's also another argument for why we should maybe on some <br />of these, if we can, make comments early enough, unfortunately after all the time that's <br />been put into this project, these things have already been designed. It would be really <br />burdensome to go back to a developer and say, go redesign 11 of your homes so that <br />they meet 40 %. 1 mean, that wasn't contemplated from the beginning. But unless staff is <br />going to take a real hard look on these and limit everyone to what's normal and not give <br />them any variance, it's really late for us to come back and want to change things. <br />Beaudin: I guess I'm not as concerned about the timing and the process. The <br />percentage changes that we're talking about are not that great. They certainly affect the <br />overall floor plan and Ponderosa would have to have a look at Plan 1 and Plan 2 and <br />maybe break out a different plan model, but if you set the maximum, then that's what <br />the zoning is. Compatible and consistent are pretty subjective words and what the <br />developer has suggested this evening is that some of the neighboring properties are <br />exceeding that 40% as well. I don't have those numbers to verify the statement, but <br />visually, the difference between a 40% FAR and a 45% FAR, if you were just walking <br />down the sidewalk, you're likely not to notice the difference unless somebody put a real <br />funky addition on the front. As long as the architecture is good the massing and bulk <br />control that FAR provides, if you've got a good architect involved, you're just not going <br />to see that level of difference. So if there are concerns about the architecture tonight or <br />there's an interest in having a hard cap on the size of the units, it's not too late to do <br />that; to make those kinds of changes. So I guess that's what I would suggest at this <br />point in the game. <br />Commissioner Allen: Could I ask you all a question then because I had a discussion <br />earlier with Mr. Weinstein about this and I didn't bring it up today because I was more <br />concerned about a standard. But I did feel like the bonus room designs —I mean my <br />comments to Mr. Weinstein were that it felt too massive to me. And I appreciate your <br />comments because you know, you hate to change something this late in the process. I <br />mean, I really do because I think everything else is really well done. But, I do feel it's a <br />little massive and now that we get into this FAR discussion, it makes me think you <br />know, if we brought the FAR to what the standard is, it might force one to look at things <br />like the bonus room and perhaps scale back a little bit. <br />With all that said, I appreciate Mr. Beaudin's comments because you're absolutely right. <br />5% is 5 %. 5% well designed you might not notice, but the bottom line is, we have a <br />standard and if now 45% becomes the example and standard for the future, then why <br />not 50% because it's just 5% more than 45 %. You know... so that's what I think about <br />and worry about as a Planning Commissioner when we have flexibility. <br />Chair Ritter: And I would say that if you wanted to change that ratio, make it be 40 <br />homes or something. Then you go to a trade -off and that's what we have to do as <br />Planning Commissioners is adjust for that. So that's why I'm not opposed to 5 %. We're <br />close, and then we're going to say pick a maximum of 11. What was it you <br />recommended? Maybe 11? Or 9? 1 think we're getting close to making a motion of <br />some sort. <br />Commissioner Allen: So could I change my motion? <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, March 23, 2016 Page 21 of 46 <br />