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8 of 11 • For rental inclusionary units, minimum sizes are specified based on number of bedrooms, (1) a studio shall be at least 450 square feet; (2) a one -bedroom unit shall be at least 600 square feet; (3) a two-bedroom unit shall be at least 750 square feet; (4) a three-bedroom unit shall be at least 1,100 square feet; and (5) for units with more than three bedrooms an additional 200 square feet for each additional bedroom. While the City Council supported the concept of specifying minimum unit sizes, it did not provide specific feedback on the actual sizes proposed. Staff recommends using the above-noted numbers—they were developed with input from a professional consultant (Van Meter William Pollack) with experience developing affordable and market -rate projects and based on typical standards that would still allow an adequately sized and livab le unit while helping to support the financial feasibility of the inclusionary units and overall project. 4. Bedroom Mix (17.44.050.G.) The IZO has been amended to include new requirements for the bedroom mix (i.e., the number of units that are studios, one-, two-, or three-bedrooms) of the affordable units. • For-sale projects inclusionary units must reflect a similar average number of bedrooms as the market-rate units • In rental projects, a mix that includes at least 10 percent three-bedroom units is required, with a limitation set on studio units (no more than 10 percent studio units are allowed), and the remainder one- and two-bedroom units. The City Council supported the idea of specifying a bedroom mix, but did not weigh in on the particular mix. However, it is noted that the rental bedroom mix is the same as that included and approved in the ODS; the idea of matching average bedroom counts in for-sale projects is a commonly used metric in other inclusionary ordinances reviewed by staff, to retain some equivalence between the market-rate and affordable units. To account for projects with 10 or fewer inclusionary units, the proposed amendments indicate that the Director of Community Development may approve deviations from the specified bedroom mix for projects, except that at least 50 percent of units shall have at least two bedrooms if the market rate project also provides units of that size. Alternative Means of Compliance (17.44.040.080) The existing IZO provides several methods by which a project can make alternative proposals to meet the requirements of the ordinance, including off-site construction, dedication of land, transfer of credits if a project produces more units than required by the IZO, and payment of in-lieu fees. Notably, however, the IZO is inconsistent in that not all alternative compliance is subject to City Council approval – in particular, the language of the IZO is permissive with respect to payment of in-lieu fees. Recommended amendments to the alternative compliance section (17.44.080) include: • Providing more detailed findings for approval of alternative compliance proposals , and clearly placing the burden of proof to support the basis of requests on the applicant. • Establishing the City Council as the approving body for all alternative compliance requests.