the uh April 2nd 2014 development
Commission meeting is now called to
order thank you Mr chair hello everyone
welcome long time no see it's been a
while since I was before you um as you
know as most of you I'm sure know uh the
city went through a big reorganization
about exactly two years ago uh where we
merged the building department the
planning department uh some of
engineering and the city's major
development review team into one
development services department and out
of that reorganization I got a new
position uh as project oversight manager
where I kind of oversee the entire uh
permitting process I manage the permit
Center um and this kind of help
applicants be ushered through the
various steps of Permitting um also in
that reorganization we got Lucy slowman
who is a lead planner uh with the major
development review team who is now uh
the land use manager uh she manages the
current planners and the engineers in
the department um and manages the land
use permits also here in our audience uh
as of yesterday our new director of
development services uh Charlie Bush uh
who came to the city a year and a half
ago two years ago um as the deputy City
administrator and then just was recently
appointed the director of our department
and we're very happy to have
him um one of the first big things that
uh Lucy and I primarily were charged
with after the reorganization was
essentially uh the merging of uh how the
major development review team used to do
things and how uh the valley floor
planning department used to do things
and um you know just just melding it you
know that that'd be too easy you know we
decided we'd come up with a whole new
process and we did that through a couple
of uh what are called Kaizen events or
or or process workshops and I'll tell
you a little bit more about that later
um and unfortunately my new position it
does mean that I won't be presenting too
many projects to you anymore more I know
I know it breaks my heart
too no I love coming to you guys um and
so you know our primary reason for
wanting to meet this evening is the two
two two reasons primarily one is to uh
introduce you to our new process and in
particular the the parts of it that
affect what what you all do um but also
to take this opportunity to uh introduce
you further to the city's Central isqua
plan
um the majority of projects that you'll
be reviewing in the coming years will be
uh under the jurisdiction of the central
isqua plan um starting in a couple of
weeks actually when we present to you uh
the seventh and Gilman project or
Cadence as it's called um and that's
exciting because it's the uh not only is
it like the first big centralistic qu
plan project but it's also the first one
to go through from the start uh through
our new project process so that's been
uh uh exciting and challenging um but we
look forward to presenting that to you
uh in a couple weeks um so uh with that
I will introduce Lucy slowman who uh you
know as we've been sorting through all
this and working all this out she's been
the the yin to my yang she's been
invaluable and I'm sure as you uh
continue to work with her more you'll be
as impressed with her as we are
Christopher can I ask a process question
yes uh do you have a preference as to
questions uh requests for clarification
from from the commission when do you
want us to
wait do it or how just if we have a
question okay all right thank you
Lucy
so there we go so this is uh version of
the agenda you have in front of you just
so you can kind of see where we are um
three key parts tonight the first piece
um relates to the other handout I gave
you which is talking about permit types
and criteria because there's some
changes that are coming out of uh the
central isqua plan um that we just want
to make you familiar with before you get
your first permit the second one is
giving you a kind of General overview of
isqua Central isqua uh standards uh and
approach so that's familiar um Mel will
be giving the detailed call and response
and then the third piece is looking at
process um uh because as Christopher
said we have been working for two years
really trying to meld and streamline um
some of these pieces so we're hoping
that we can give you um some highlights
and make it um com more comfortable and
familiar when you get your permit uh
next week
so the first piece um and so you can
follow along and also have something to
take home is this other sheet although
what's up on the screen and what's on
the sheet are the same
thing um there are two main kinds of
permits that come to uh the development
commission one is a site development
permit and that's when you're looking at
a site plan for mostly for a piece of
property between three and 15 Acres
however the central isqua plan changed
that and so if a building has more than
150,000 Square ft it comes to you so no
matter what size piece of property it's
on it would come to the
commission uh there's also Master site
plans which are for 15 Acres or more uh
we're not really going to talk about
those a lot today because other than the
process um it's staying the same the
kind of things that you would review um
are going to be the same it's just that
the process is going to be the same same
as what we'll discuss tonight on site
development
permits so in the case of a site
development permit you're the decision
maker um with a master site plan you're
recommending uh to the council they're
both quasi judicial I'm not going to go
into what that means tonight on May 6th
Ted Hunter the city's hearing examiner
is going to come and um do a training
for all the Commissioners so um please
feel free to note that on your calendar
but we will be sending out a
reminder
um and then scope of authority um
generally you're looking at things like
development regulations design criteria
where that applies that is not the tool
that's used in central isqua uh the
green sheets as they're sometimes called
um you the central isqua replaces the
green
sheets um and then the approval criteria
that have been identified through the um
city code and we'll get to that in just
a minute so in general your processes
are different and the code is different
within Central isqua it's the same
outside of Central
isqua so what are those criteria the
criteria again outside of central isqua
is the same criteria you've been using
all along I'm not going to spend a lot
of time on this um because it is
embedded in every staff report but I I
think I did want to point out that um as
I mentioned a moment ago that when we're
dealing with um Central
isqua you're looking at the central
isqua plan and standards and any other
applicable codes you know staff will
identify what those are um but the
design criteria sheets that you're used
to working with aren't
used
so that is the end of permit types and
criteria so before I go on to the next
piece are there any any
questions just as far as the logistics
of going through the decision criteria
in the central is plan as far as when we
get to decision if we don't use the
green sheets that we previously use will
we provided something else that will
guide us through the decision making or
we just follow something that's provided
as part of the staff report it would be
in the staff report there are 17
chapters to um the central isqua plan
and well the standards and uh those
cover things like buildings and site and
landscape and a lot of the
characteristics that you're used to
using from the uh design criteria sheets
so the staff report will cover each of
those chapters and the portions that are
relevant to the land use permit okay
does that make sense yeah thank you Lucy
I'm still not quite clear what what will
be the the uh mechanism by which
commission uh records its decision
though on on each each application if
it's not the Green Sheet I'm I'm just
not quite clear on because that was just
a check go through
discuss so um you'll receive a staff
report right it'll be a little different
we'll talk about that in a minute but
it's basically a staff report you'll
have your discussion um of whatever
items you think are important staff can
also um encourage you to talk about
certain things um if we feel that would
complete the record and then we will
prepare a notice of decision with the
findings conclusions and approval
conditions um that you either decide on
or recommend depending on um which kind
of permit we're reviewing and that
becomes the uh record of uh the
commission's decision so if in the
unlikely event that there is a uh an
application that's come to to the
commission uh everybody involve the
public the staff the applicant go
through their respective uh times of
presentations and if the board or the
commission rather doesn't have any
specific again this is unlikely but but
we just take a vote then and I mean
what's the to say we we approve the
application as presented and if there
are any suggestions or amendments we
have to specifically articulate them
into the
record usually they would just be on the
approval conditions I mean if if you
um well the record will reflect the
minutes so all the discussion you have
right uh it will uh reflect uh any
public testimony any comment letters um
there'll also be a response and we'll go
into that a little bit um where we
collect what staff has heard you know
and and let me just say if if
the uh design criteria sheets are useful
to you as kind of like a Tickler uh to
make sure that there's certain issues
that you're used to bringing up and you
want to make sure get discussed you can
absolutely use that um as a way of
making sure that the kind of topics and
uh areas of concern that have been
consistently important to the commission
get discussed we uh but the minutes and
the findings and conclusions would be
the way we would document that okay I
think what we'll maybe what we'll do is
I won't interrupt you anymore we'll go
through the presentations and then maybe
the commission can just
discuss and agree on what we think is
the uh uh are the steps that we can take
if there are any additional ones that we
we need to do so and basically that your
your motions of uh to approve the
recommended conditions or revised
conditions or add new ones will be the
same as how you've done it
before
okay so the uh next piece we're going to
look at is the central isqua plan this
is um composed we call it the central
isqua plan sometimes it's really two
components the central isqua plan is a
policy document kind of like the comp
plan specifically for the area of
Central isqua and and the um other piece
are the Central isqua Development and
design standards um so Central isqua
just in to remind people if if you look
at issaqua and this kind of red circle
the red boundary gives us the general
outline of the area that has been
rezoned and in which the central isqua
standards apply um there are nine
districts within Central isqua and as
well as the rally Urban Village and uh
other community
facilities any uh as I mentioned before
any building that has 150,000 or more
square feet would come to this
commission for review of the entire site
not just the building but that's the
threshold that triggers your review with
a site development
permit um I just want to clarify
terminology a little bit there's
development standards and Design design
standards uh the difference the
distinction um I'm going to use some
terms that are more familiar to me they
may not be more familiar to you but I'll
um explain them just in case um the
development standards are
standards the design standards are more
like guidelines so the distinction
between that is a development standard
is something that's more prescriptive
it's got to be 5et wide it's got to be 7
feet long it's got to be 10t tall
a design standard is more per it's a
performance standard we're describing
how it has to perform but it's not as
specific so the an example would be a
this pedestrian walkway has to be
direct so then we have to have a
conversation if we think it's direct or
not um and so there's a little more uh
judgment that's called for with the
design standards
tonight I'm going to give you an
overview I'm going to do that with
basically seven slides that um touch on
seven different aspects of central isqua
um the way we thought about this was
kind of a before and an after the before
is really now um it the it's black and
white images of isqua um they are just
examples of where the city is now the
after is after we've achieved this
Vision maybe 30 years down the line Mel
can speak to how long the uh view
potentially is uh uh until we achieve
this and so most of the images not all
of them but most of the color images are
from other places um and so the idea is
to begin to focus on different aspects
so that those kinds of um goals of
central isqua are are more obvious and
and I'll start with just an overview of
central isqua
goals the goal is to move towards a more
urban Community um we're really
beginning to move away from focusing on
cars to focusing on pedestrians you'll
see that in a lot of the slides I'll
I'll identify ways that it can be um
these different elements can be more
pedestrian oriented we're trying to
create a public realm I'll Define what
that is in a minute but really create
places where people want to interact
with them that are appealing encourage
them to be out and be outside and join
in outside
activities we're trying to balance the
mix of uses in the valley um as many of
you know there's not a lot of
residential in the valley and so the
goal is to add quite a bit more
residential but not just residential um
redeveloping certain most of the valley
and then also adding uses that you would
need on an everyday basis that's part of
making it so that people can bike and
walk uh around is putting in the uses
that people need so they don't have to
go long distances to get the things they
need
um and finally that we're really
attracting all kinds of people who want
to live work and play in the
area so the first element is the site um
so I mentioned the public realm what is
that the word public doesn't mean
ownership um it means sort of how people
perceive it is it is it a place that
people feel comfortable going into no
matter whether it's owned publicly or
privately and really think thinking of
what are the things that we put in a
public space that make it comfortable
and attractive for people to be there so
it's the whole sort of container of that
space it could be buildings and you can
see in these slides it could be the
buildings the trees the streets the
walks the plaza the roads all those
different pieces how do they come
together and create a space that is
comfortable for people um we're hoping
that's going to improve The Pedestrian
experience um and a big part of this is
to keep nature in this and respond to
the features the vistas the character of
each individual site um so you see in
the upper right hand slide that may be
um taking advantage of a view of a hill
at the end it may mean
um uh responding to a high water table
you can't NE necessarily put underground
parking there as much as we would like
that it's really looking at all the
different aspects a and considering them
and integrating them into the
site second component is green necklace
um the idea of the green necklace is to
um have Parks Trails critical areas
streets Urban spaces with uh a lot of
green in them and have them connected
and and um create this string that laces
through the community uh so that it is
an integral part of our community um you
know lombardis this is the site you'll
see in two weeks um had the the isqua
creek right there that wasn't an
integral part of the site so hopefully
we've worked with the applicant and you
will see how that's been integrated and
improved as part of the site plan um and
when we say this you know we I I
mentioned that whole long list um some
of it will be responding you know as you
see in the upper right directly having
buildings relating facing onto some of
these nice things uh it may be putting
trails in but it may as the lower right
show photo shows just simply adding
green um into the community so that you
have a sense of um
softness I go ahead and switch to this
photo because landscape is such key part
of that uh it threads through every
single element um that we see throughout
the community um and it's a integral
part of the green necklace
um buildings and Paving can cover
significantly more of the site so we
have the lovely Maple Street building on
the left and it has a more significant
setback than you would be able to do in
central isqua
um this completely complies with
standards as the city was a few years
ago and now we're moving towards less of
a setback a different kind of landscape
bringing the Builder closer to the
street and really using the landscape to
help connect the pedestrians and the
buildings which is a different place
than we were a few years
ago circulation I think the first thing
I want to say about circulation is when
we use that it's not not just streets
although of course streets is part of
that because it's not just about moving
cars it's also about moving people so
from the smallest walkway up to the
widest Street all of that is part of the
circulation
system so we're both trying to ensure
that cars can move efficiently and
appropriately through the community but
we're trying to think about streets and
trails and sidewalks that work well and
are Pleasant for pedestrians we want to
recognize that they may actually be able
to meet uh serve a lot of other purposes
people could gather there you may be
able to collect and deal with storm
water through rain Gardens um there may
be Recreation components that be part of
um circulation systems so all of that
again comes back to um being one of the
key elements of the public realm and how
do we design so that um people are
attracted to these places
and one of that will be um part of the
reason that this um photo was included
is we wouldn't be having tall fences and
um buildings with their backs turned to
the street it will be important that
buildings have a strong relationship to
the street
instead is it and I is the AL ultimate
objective to have as as a as a as a
legitimate objective of the CP to have
create an environment in which most or
50% of these new residents or the
residents of these new uh structures
actually work in isqua is that is that a
pie in the sky thing or is it tied to uh
uh
some specific number
study there's definitely an increase in
the number of people who are biking and
walking a significant increase I think
it's up to
177% and so I'm sorry over what I think
um um I'm I'm just trying to remember
the numbers um I believe do you know the
number okay I believe
it's I don't think I'm going to say
because I'm I'm not not confident about
the number I believe it's
um but the the point is
to design our community so that it might
be working there it may be walking and
taking the bus um to where your job is
it may be if you're a little further
away feeling comfortable enough to bike
to where that job is um so
isqua is definitely I mean we've we've
created an economic development
department it's very important to us to
uh provide and create more jobs retain
the jobs we have and create more and
make them um really good jobs you know
that that are living wage and yet um we
aren't
controlling where people live and where
people work so um we want that to be an
opportunity we hope that will happen but
we also Rec ize that that may not be
what happens well it's been pretty well
publicized that in in Seattle uh the
urban influx there a very significant
percentage uh of the people that are
moving into the those areas uh don't own
cars I don't know exactly what the
percentages are either but it's it's
significant compared to a couple of
years ago and I assume and I I assume
I'm not telling you anything you don't
already know but there is a there's a
concern by people who who live here
already that the simple math of adding
uh a couple hundred residential units to
a single site is going to result in that
many more cars on the road and that's
that's what I think is going to what is
going to be a pretty persistent issue
going forward which I assume you already
know but uh that's that's what we you
know I think that we we need to really
understand uh what the long-term
philosophy is with regard to the
residential units and the uh objectives
of trying to get more more employment
opportunities in the town as well with
the objective as I understand it to get
people to not have to use a car to get
from point A to point B is that and I
think that was a really key point that
you ended on uh was the not have to uh
use their car uh is to make it so that
there are more choices
uh in the uh way people can live as
opposed to um feeling like the only way
that they can actually connect to the
places they want to go is by
car community space a very another
really key component of this um often uh
the car was a key piece of uh
accommodating the uh the the site plans
were really driven by making sure we had
enough space for cars we still have to
have enough space for cars there's still
parking standards there are minimums and
maximums to the parking um but moving so
that we're site planning for spaces that
people uh can gather in where they can
enjoy and you can see that um we have a
residential a retail in an office
setting um currently and in an office
office retail and residential setting
we're adding those spaces that are
organizing elements that are key
components of how that site plan was
developed and not only that um we may
very well in some areas of central isqua
be adding uh Community spaces either for
the district or for the neighborhood
Central isqua includes a certain minimum
amount of community space for each of
those land juices um and that's per
project and then there are maps that
have begun to identify uh certain parts
of neighborhoods or districts where they
feel it's important to add uh a park or
a plaza that could serve the whole
neighborhood um and so those will be
potentially on the edge or in a location
that makes them accessible to the
community and the project that's coming
to you again in uh next week will uh
include both some of their own Community
spaces and then a community space for
the
neighborhood parking uh as I said uh
there are still parking standards
because we still need our cars uh the
goal is to provide um you know
reasonable safe adequate storage for
cars um but we want to think very
carefully about where we put those to
minimize the presence of them um and to
move towards a more urban approach that
would be structured parking um in some
cases that's possible we're starting to
see that in several of the proposals
that are coming in now um but we don't
expect that that's coming in in all
circumstances and there is still surface
parking that's part of these
projects so some of the examples you see
are um where we have a parking lot uh we
may need to add elements between the
sidewalk and the parking lot to sort
of provide a street wall an edge
substitute for there not being a
building there um sometimes it's where
we put the parking in the example you
see down here um there's parking on
either side um not in front as you see
in this example um but on either side of
the entry so it's convenient to people
who are coming to these businesses with
a large parking lot um behind but as you
walk along the street um you're
relatively unaware of the parking lot
that's behind the
buildings um where we have parking lots
we want to really design them to be U
more pedestrian friendly uh you know
this parking lot has uh the same is
about the same dimensions as as this one
uh there is a pedestrian path one of the
challenges with painting it is cars tend
to park over it kind of overhang it it
um isn't the most comfortable
environment for a pedestrian
so we're looking at ways to design the
walkways through so they're more
pleasant more comfortable for a
pedestrian and then where we have
garages really look at opportunities
such as this green wall that make for a
Greener softer less automobile oriented
um face to The
Pedestrian question I don't know if you
know the answer to this one or not but
in the valley floor does the water table
or geological condition limit the
ability to do below grade parking we're
going to see more structured parking
integrated in instead of below grade as
a result you know in some parts of the
valley floor the water table is within
six feet of the surface um It's
relatively High uh at the project you're
going to see they've used a technique
that they think will um provide water
protection we'll have a I'm sure Lively
conversation around that um so different
projects are looking at it in different
ways some are putting it underneath some
are putting it in separate structur some
are breaking it into smaller pieces and
putting it between or behind buildings
there's several different techniques
that we expect to see does the plan
encourage a certain um kind of outcome
with regard to structured parking does
it try to push it below
grade um not so much below grade because
of the water table there's a recognition
I mean there's it's very welcome to do
that but there's a recognition that uh
you can't uniformally do that um and
where you can do it you may only be able
to go down one level uh so there are
certain in uh incentives in the central
isqua standards uh that encourage
structured parking but not necessarily
underbuilding parking okay thank
you and a lot of that comes in the form
of uh limiting the amount of surface
parking that's allowed
I should know this but Christopher since
you just mentioned that my understanding
is
70% 70% of isqua uh the area that's in
CIP and and outside Oldtown is asphalt
is that
correct and remind me what the objective
is with this is there is there a net
reduction of uh pervious surface asphalt
parking uh in in this area that we now
think is 70% paved is that well that's
that's a really interesting point um
because uh it is I think 70 to
75% um parking lots and they're at the
same time we're allowing you know I I is
it 40% to 60% pervious that's allowed
now depending on the zoning District
that you're in
yeah it's
been it's been a maximum of 65% in much
of this Central isqua Area so we're
moving up in the urban core of central
isqua it moves up to I think 95% prvious
that's allowed but to really be able uh
as as land values increase as people
desired to be in this area the uh
objective isn't really to get more
surface parking it's really to uh
encourage um more density and a more
efficient use of the land which will
likely move us away from surface
parking um this is the last slide on
Central isqua which is around
buildings
um as I've mentioned they're really key
to framing um the public space and
really making a comfortable pedestrian
environment partly because it creates
this container and it's more comfortable
than being next to something that's
completely open um but it's also about
uh just kind of the de uh level of
detail the interest so the design of the
buildings becomes really important uh
you know wind clear windows so you can
see what's going on uh entrances right
off the sidewalk um sometimes though we
recognize that uh there won't be
buildings there and so so then again
this is another example of a feature
that could be used to substitute for
Street wall um where there isn't a
building because there's a entry Plaza
here um another aspect of central isqua
that's kind of interesting is there's
even an encouragement that buildings
encroach into the ride of way what do I
mean by that for instance um balconies
might
overhang uh awnings might hang into the
rideway you might have um a plaza with
uh an entry Plaza with benches um or
even sidewalk seating so the kinds of
things that make it an interesting
varied usable uh space for pedestrians
we're encouraging those to be in the
right of way as opposed to pushing
buildings back further from the right of
way just to accommodate those
okay as we set out to establish our new
uh land use permit process uh as I
mentioned we we we held uh our
department held a couple of different
Kaizen events last year um and as I
mentioned Kaizen events are are uh uh
process workshops where you evaluate
existing process and uh find ways to
improve them uh the the first Kaizen
event that we had was in uh in June of
last year and that was uh for our land
use permit process we subsequently had a
second one in September where we
evaluated our construction permit
process as well but what we're focusing
on tonight of course is the Landy permit
process that we came up with and um so
the workshop included basically uh
taking it was 12 to 15 people putting
them in a room for a week and uh you
know was representatives from the
different departments and planners and
engineers and you know people uh from
the various
disciplines and basically uh mapping out
our existing process or in our case uh
two processes the existing valley floor
process for site development permits and
then the major development review team
process for site development permits so
we mapped those out um kind of took the
pieces from both that worked well uh we
also then eliminated the steps that
didn't work so well or were more kind of
bureaucratic or didn't add any value to
the process and then we came up with
several new ideas as well that we
incorporated into the the new process
and so um this slide here shows what the
what the major steps are and as you can
imagine there's a lot behind each of
those but I'll just I'll just touch on
them um we've we we figured out that it
was really important to us uh to get an
early collaboration with the potential
applicants you know the the goal the
goal of of of our our new process in
these Kaizen events was to come come two
things mostly to come out with a better
product or a better development in the
end um and then also be more efficient
in our process those were the two main
goals and as I mentioned uh it was
important to start collaborating early
with the potential applicants with
initial introductions um our Economic
Development offices involved early on in
that aspect of it and then a series of
collaboration meetings we we we don't
want them to get too far in designing
their project until we've had a chance
to sit down with them um and share our
vision uh the city's vision of that
particular site uh and also here what
their vision is for their project what
they hope to achieve and then um
essentially synchronize our vision so
that it is meeting uh the overall uh
vision for the city and so um again that
we're finding that that that early
collaboration piece is really helpful
especially as we move into uh the first
real submitt uh is for a pre-application
meeting and that's when you know we've
had several meetings so far and uh but
they've started started to draw up some
real preliminary plans and that's the
first time where we provide them with
some real kind of substantive comments
on uh their their early plans and there
will likely usually be uh more than one
pre-application meeting we'll give them
our initial comments they'll go back to
the drawing board uh incorporate them
and come back and we'll do another uh
pre-application meeting and the goal is
that um by the time they get to the the
big submitt the site development per
application that we all you know we've
worked out the big issues that were you
know on the same path and and certainly
the goal is by the time it gets to you
guys for your decision that you know the
project is in good shape um one of the
differences that you'll see here um from
what you have seen before is you don't
see a Community Conference uh typically
that would have happened between the
preapp and the site development permit
submittal um
and Lucy will talk a little bit more of
how we're handling that uh it's still
it's still uh you know in the central
isqua plan it's listed as optional so
it's still you still may see some
Community conferences if either the
applicant wants to get your input and
public input early on before they get
too much further or there may be times
when we require it if there's some big
issue that we need input on uh before it
gets too far but more often than not uh
the application will be going straight
from the from the prea meetings to the
site development permit it's also
important to note that what we're
talking about really is centralistic
while plan in this process the uh in the
rest of the city the codes haven't
changed so you'll continue to see uh
Community conferences for example in the
rest of the
city so what we'd like to do is focus on
three pieces that we think are
particularly um relevant to you and
describe how for Central isqua um
permits um how those might look a little
different than what you've seen before
so um the three that we're focusing on
on are the three in this box and we're
starting with the site um development
permit sub midle um
so in terms of how that submitt may look
a little different um there's some Lev
of detail differences you won't really
notice that with site plans parking
layout and detail roads and trails that
will probably all come in at about the
same level that you're used to
seeing the places where it will begin to
look different are um the first one is
landscape it will be less of a planting
plan and more a conceptual plan about
the kind the character the sort of feel
of the U landscape and not every single
specific plant so to give you an
example you look at this symbol down
here um and if you look at it up up on
the legend you can see that that in this
case it's a buffer Conifer and there are
three different types of trees that have
been given example and we would have an
opportunity as staff and you as the
commission and the public to say we
think those are great trees on the site
for the kind of character we think those
are the wrong trees they're going to be
too big too small and and we'll have
that kind of discussion um but you won't
see um this symbol is only a rododendron
and this symbol is only a maple tree um
that's a a level of detail um that we
think is better to work out once we've
all agreed on the general framework of
the permit and then really get down into
the nitty-gritty um because then they
will have heard the kind of comments
from both staff public and the
commission they also gives them some
flexibility when they go out into the
market and start looking for the plants
I mean they know the kind of character
of plant but that doesn't mean it's
always available in the quantities they
need it when it's time to go
plant the second um place where um it'll
be a little more conceptual is in the
details of public space and community
space um you'll see a community public
space you'll have a sense of generally
how it lays out um different pieces will
be identified such as chairs and
handrails and benches um but it wouldn't
be called out as this is going to be a
weather vean 75 bench in forest green um
we would be more likely to have uh
photos or other things that again give a
sense of that character that would be an
opportunity for us to say we don't
that a bench doesn't seem appropriate it
seems more uh appropriate to have uh
movable seating um or there should be
picnic tables there um we think that's a
more appropriate use of that
space and the third place um where
you're going to get a somewhat more
conceptual plan is around the building
this is um when what uh Christopher was
referring to a few moments ago
uh about Community Conference the level
of detail that you're going to see and
we're going to be talking about related
to buildings is more akin to what you
saw at um a Community Conference we're
going to see elevations we'll see um
layouts of the building maybe just for
the ground floor because that tells us
what kinds of activities and uses are
going to be visible from the streets and
trails and sidewalks um we're going to
have a sense of how tall the building is
sense of you know is this Windows is
this blank wall is this um what kind of
texture is this wall will have some
sense of color but we won't be down to
the final detail of um this building is
ready to submit for building permit um
the goal is to have a really thorough
conversation about um this project and
then really go away with the applicant
once we have that information and have
them design in the uh to the
construction level of
detail I think I'm on um so I'm trying
to be clear about the process then and
how it finishes out once you get into
building from it so previously we had
the Community Conference provided early
input they went back the applicant
typically would go back and still will
out outside the central isqua area but
um and do a higher level of detail
responding to the comments and uh
Direction provided by the commission
they would come back in at the approval
point and we would have material boards
and materials have been selcted the
elevations are essentially locked in um
so we we've got a pretty good idea of
what this this building has been defined
at that point so in this particular
approach the we'll have the
conceptual work completed by the design
team and staff and we will comment on
kind of on the concepts but the detail
work would then happen between the
applicant and staff as you approach the
building permit so we wouldn't re-engage
at any point along so we're engaging
early but not at the level of detail
that we have previously engaged at we
still expect that there may very well be
material boards um so I think the
difference is that we're going to hear
from you um that seems like the wrong
material this is what we think about the
colors we think there need to be more
larger Windows along the street to
really you know there's this uh
community room inside there and we think
that there should be a stronger
connection between that space and the
adjacent sidewalk and then we'll go away
and make that happen with the applicant
okay and yeah and I appreciate that
because I think um and I guess we'll
have to have a little experience with
this first but that kind of some sense
that we've got enough
information that we can provide that
meaningful
input um but you know obviously not too
much because obviously you're trying to
make this a little more fluid and a
little bit more um kind of staff to
design team kind of detail dealing with
the details and I I that that's fine
with me I guess let me jump let me jump
down and say one thing um a different
part of the process that I think will
help um address a piece because you're
bringing up a great Point Mike um when
we get to the development commission let
me talk about because that's changing
it's going to be a little different um
we're going to have the staff report uh
it comes out one about one week before
the commission meeting that's um what
you've come to expect we're actually
going to have two meetings with
you so at the first meeting uh you will
have had the staff report um it will
have been on the website the public will
have had a chance to look at it staff
and applicant will come and make a
presentation to you on the
project public can comment you can
comment you can say I don't think those
windows are big enough um I don't think
that's the right material I think there
needs to be trees there I think there
doesn't need to be trees there we go
away for say two to four weeks and put
together responses to the issues
concerns and comments that we've gotten
and come back to you it's not a full new
set of drawings it's what we call a
briefing response memo in which we have
summarized all the issues and concerns
we've heard and show you how we plan to
address that whether there needs to be
edits to conditions whether there needs
to be new
conditions uh it gives us a chance also
to take all that information that we're
hearing and talk to the applicant one of
the challenges that we've found is that
if we have one meeting we're having to
write conditions while we're standing up
here we aren't able to talk to the
applicant they're over there saying no
and not that we wouldn't put a condition
on there that we felt that we had a
basis for if they were unhappy with it
but we would rather collaboratively work
together and really get a response that
everyone feels is going to be sound and
reasonable and bring that back to you to
answer the questions and concerns that
we've heard so you don't necessarily the
hear the see the project in its full
form again but you do hear not just that
we said yeah yeah yeah we're going to go
talk about this but yes we went away and
talked about it and this is the way we'd
like to resolve that
so mik you just quick follow so I
actually appreciate that uh because I I
what I was envisioning is it comes to us
initially one meeting public comment
write conditions make decision move on
and that puts staff and the applicant in
a tough spot because if we decide to go
way off in the left field on something
that may not make sense or there's a
different way to accomplish it you
haven't had a chance to really work that
out so I actually appreciate that I
think that's a good I like that solution
super I I do too Lucy I had exactly the
same concern but so just you've got
we've got two public we got a public
meeting and a public hearing
what is we're not going to call it a
Community Conference what I mean is I
don't want to be tied up with seatics
here but is it essentially the process
is the similar one to when we had a
Community Conference and then we had the
the final the final meeting I'm gonna
let Christopher answer that because I
did not do community conferences in the
urban Villages and I think he has a
better sense I I I think he'll be able
to answer your question because I I I
really uh I think that's a I personally
think a a key point for us because the
opportunity for us to hear public
concerns hear the staff report hear the
discussion by the
applicant excuse me and at that stage
and then to make our comments and
recommendations and reservations or
approve whatever and then you get a
chance to work on it and then we come
back to the public hearing at the at the
with the the uh approval process so I
when I saw just the one thing down there
I had exactly the same reaction that
probably most of my fellow Commissioners
had too but that yeah I think I I think
you're right that the format of that
first meeting will be similar to a
community conference in in the staff
presentation applicant presentation
public comment and then much discussion
uh between us and amongst yourselves the
biggest difference would be though um is
the the level of detail on the staff
report and the fact that staff would
have drafted our recommended set of
specific conditions for the
project well it seems to me that most of
the
substantive
recommendations that are made by the
commission the individual Commissioners
have to do with the appearance the
materials and the elevations and so on
so when is there
frequently when we did have these
meetings regularly we started getting
more and more computer generated this is
what the building's going to look like
uh and I believe that most of us thought
that was a really good idea because it
was pretty pretty close but than the
traditional architectural drawings is
that going to be required is or are we
going to get some some will do that and
some won't uh it see it just seems to me
that that's it gives us a much better
idea of what they're
proposing at what used to be called
Community Conference so we can look at
that as opposed to not too much de and I
I understand what you're doing but but
we we need to know pretty close what
what the structure is going to look like
in addition to all the other things to
be able to say yeah go for it or really
and and when you say that I just want to
make sure that we're talking about the
same thing I'm gathering that your um
uh you're talking about like
perspectives right and I I think we
would I I'm not sure right now what our
submittal I don't remember exactly our
submittal requirements we're certainly
going to council if we're not requiring
them we're certainly going to counsel
the applicant that that's the level of
information that the commission needs to
be able to make a thoughtful uh and
confident decision and um I think what
the other thing that's advantageous is
when you're talking about a 150,000 SQ
foot building The Architects that are
going to be doing that level of building
and work and uh providing you know
guidance to their clients are going to
have I mean that that's the way they
work I I I can't imagine that you would
just get say an elevation in a plan well
I don't presume to speak for the whole
commission but I just as a general thing
it seems to me that when we got those
there was uh greater appreciation of
what the intent was without uh as
compared to the previous uh the other
means of presentation well and frankly I
just I want you to know that part of the
reason we're doing this is not only to
give you a sense of how things have
changed and make this process more
comfortable we're also interested in
hearing what you think you're going to
need to make the process work for you so
I think that's great to hear how
important those have been and I think we
we're going to need to um um uh you know
if that's not a requirement think pretty
seriously about that and we're also
meeting with the applicant who's coming
in tomorrow and they're going to begin
talking through what their presentation
contains and we would certainly convey
that to them although I think based on
the materials we've seen we've already
been seeing that and I would expect that
that's the way they would want to
present the project to you yeah knowing
the history of projects that you've seen
and the level of details that you've
seen at all these various stages I think
that significant point that Lucy made
was the fact that what we'll be coming
to now will be huge projects I mean they
will be big ones and and I think where
we've struggled before was with smaller
projects um so that was about the level
of detail uh I just wanted to point out
a couple of um four sort of noteworthy
changes about uh the staff report
uh one thing we're doing is uh and maybe
it's only noteworthy to us but the
recommendation will be after you get
through sort of the project stats you
know who's the property owner who's the
architect uh how many acres is it uh
what's the permit number we will have
the recommendation up front we we want
you to go into reading the staff report
knowing what staff are recommending we
think that'll be helpful to you just
making sense of everything that comes
afterwards second we know that with the
um doyo Taco Time project that came to
you we we really appreciated the
feedback that some of the uh
Commissioners gave us on that staff
report we are using the land use code um
that we're reviewing against so whether
it's the city's land use code or the
central isqua as the structure for the
main body of the staff report review so
if it has this section on the site and
then this section on parking and then
this section on circulation it'll stay
in that order but where there are those
paired pieces like there's development
standards for parking and design
standards for parking and then
development standards for circulation
and then those were not paired up in the
in the code so you went through one
section and then you went through a
bunch of other sections and then you got
to the other one on circulation we're
pairing those into one section in the
staff report so we'll go through the
standards and then we'll go go through
um the design stand go through the
development standards and then the
design standards all in one chapter
related to circulation are all in one
chapter related to parking so that
you're not having to sort of jump around
to get a sense of how that topic is
being handled with this
project
um I think one another thing that's
important um is uh and this is a a a
change that we're making
neither the planning department nor the
major development review team did this
before we've tried it on an Urban
Village project we think it worked
pretty well we're going to bring it to
you and I know you'll give us feedback
on how you think it worked in the STA at
the end of the staff report are the land
use conditions so these are the
conditions that are generated by
planning kinds of things is there an
issue with setbacks is there uh an issue
with a land use is there an issue with
the density with the height the kinds of
things that are land use things but
there are a lot of construction details
and implications that we see in those
plans that used to end up in the staff
report we're we may mention those in the
staff report to make sure that the
applicant is aware of them but the
conditions related to those will be in
an a separate attached document part of
the value of that is they can take that
document and use that to trans
transition from the land use permit that
they are hoping they're going to get
approval for to developing all the
construction documents that they have to
prepare so you know we we'll get little
tiny details sometimes from some
departments those are important to
capture and convey to the applicant but
they're really not part of a landie
permit you don't need to read about them
they'll be in the construction document
uh construction condition document if
you're the kind of person that likes to
read those we're not trying to hide them
from anyone but if you're not really
interested in that you won't have to
Wade through all of that while you're
going through the landice
permit and the fourth change is around
um public comment um we are uh going to
provide a summary of all the comments
that we've received and responses to all
the comments that we've received that
may be in the staff report or it may be
a separate attached document we're still
talking about that sum um we're not
thinking that we're going to give you
all every single letter that we've
received it's public information we're
not trying to hide it but we're thinking
that most people are going to be more
interested in what are people talking
about and what are their concerns and
how does staff respond to these concerns
how have they been responded to in the
staff
report so how if uh will there be a
percentage given we receive 15 letters
10% of them had to do with traffic uh or
design standards or how will we know
what criteria City staff is using
to uh reflect public concern and or
comment so um first of all thank you for
asking that question we would we will
provide a list of everyone who has um
commented because we want you to have a
sense that we got got 12 letters and
they're from these people they're
parties of record it's good to put them
in the document so that that is part of
that official
document um I hadn't really thought
about uh and that's why we're talking
about it with you tonight um I hadn't
really thought about it in terms of a
percentage usually what we find is the
really hot button
topics if it's around traffic let's
say a summary of the concerns is going
to be rather long because people come at
that from a lot of different ways we're
not going to just say traffic was a big
concern we're going to say there were
questions about whether there needed to
be a signal and whether there's going to
be so much traffic on this road that
that people won't be able to get out and
that there needs to be an additional
entrance it's going to be that kind of
summary not everybody's talking about
traffic does that
help yeah no it's a it's a good point
though the uh you know if we say we've
got 12 letters and here's what was said
and here's our responses it would be
important for you to know whether all 12
people said the same thing or whether
this particular comment just one person
said there's got to be some way to
convey that I I I'm sorry it's a
personal thing but but
transparency uh is is so fundamental to
me for public trust in the process that
I just want to make sure that it's going
to be that that somebody that has a
concern is going to be able that doesn't
come to the meeting or watch it on
television is going to be able to find
out pretty
easily what the
public response comment was without
going through a huge bureaucratic
process to you know file a Freedom of
Information Act sure something like that
so sure no it's a it's a great question
and I think Christopher and I'll go back
and talk about how we could um give a
sense of that sort of weight that we've
seen through the letters help us to yeah
well I I mean absolutely the point is to
help you but I mean you're providing us
with a great pointer that we just need
to go spend some time I I think you need
to be real careful sometimes because the
fact is if you get 12 letters and
everybody mentions the same thing it's
not a vote necessarily in that dialogue
or that M that effort to make an
assessment of what the public interest
is but sometimes people will rally other
people and say I can't stand XYZ and so
you'll get 50 letters everybody mentions
it but they all mention the same thing
so I think it's clearly more important
to really capture the essence of the
comment as opposed to necessarily the
number that that has value but uh not
nearly as much as the end essence of the
comment I I agree Richard I wasn't
really talking about a specific 12
letters on traffic I just wanted to to
make sure that that that it's not
difficult for us or a member of the
public to understand that of the 12
letters that came in or you know we got
15 comments and to get some some
granularity of of what the comments were
if they were all the same thing I mean
we we deal with that kind of thing in
the past so yeah just it's just well and
and I think you know here's the thing
that's part of why we're having this
discussion tonight you're we're going to
go back and tweak what we're doing
you're going to get a staff report and
you're going to say this worked this
didn't work when we get the The Briefing
response memo we want to see a copy of
every letter and if that's what we need
to do we'll provide a copy of every
letter it's we're going to be twe I know
uh we're going to be tweaking this
process we're not trying to say uh this
is done and we're done so um I think the
important thing is that we're looking
for your feedback and letting us know if
um it's working or not working we also
recognize the different people read and
get information out of things
differently so we're we're just really
need to hear that from you um Mr chair
yes just jump in uh because I over the
years I've always found the comments and
letters that I see in staff reports is
very useful but I can understand them
big projects there might be a lot of
them a couple things is uh one is I
think that
people um need to have that feeling that
if I send a letter in and I can't make
it to a meeting but I send a letter in
that my letter is going to go to the
people that are making the decision at
some point and not somebody just SU
summarizing what my letter meant and
maybe misconstruing it um but I can
understand not wanting to have a staff
report that's got 100 pages of of
letters if it's really long but at the
same time it seems I presume you store
all these
electronically and could it just be
provided as a sep separate electronic
file to all the commission members
saying here's the staff report here's
all the letters about that that was one
of the options that we were considering
so if you want to read through them go
ahead here's our summary you're just a
like a link to where the letters are a
link or just send it as a file right
that that you might have the staff
report I mean often I I you know you get
one kind of big file and we could just
have a separate fi that that represents
all the materials that we sent you and
then we could also attach a file of the
letters can you where where in this does
the notification go up that you know the
white signs the letters to the
neighbors uh saying this is a proposed
land use change right that um that that
really I would you say it's the same
it's the same yeah notice of application
goes goes out uh within 30 days of the
application being submitted the proposed
land use Action Sign goes up during that
same time so the public is notified when
the application comes in then they're
notified again at least two weeks prior
to the public hearing okay because we
had we had some friction uh at the last
couple of development commission
meetings that we had with people saying
they didn't get notification they didn't
know about the community conference
meeting I I don't know if you how much
of that you got back so we we talked a
little bit about uh taking a look at the
notification process to make sure that
people uh did understand there was a
Community Conference there was an
opportunity to talk to somebody ahead of
time on an individual basis or whatever
they wanted to do I I think that that
that was pretty clear because we had I
think three out of two out of three of
the last Community conferences that we
had we had people here that were kind of
upset because they said they they heard
about it from a neighbor that kind of
thing okay all
right no I was just goingon to say
that's great feedback and we'll just
need to make sure that our process is
working I just have a quick comment
about the response to comments I know
that with E's they'll sometimes include
the letters electronically like you
suggested um and then just in a
spreadsheet or something label each
letter with the response that the city
staff writes that corresponds to the
letter so letter A might um be referred
to common response one which is written
to in response to 10 to 20 of the
letters addressing the same traffic
issue so that's that could be a way to
uh um to do what you're talking about
write 10 Common responses and then link
them somehow to the letters so that if
um a Community member wants to look at
their letter they can see how it was
responded to
specifically so we're not writing
individual letters back to each person
who writes okay no I mean they will be
not idea one of the things we are doing
is acknowledging you know if we
especially because most of them come in
as emails we send an email back your
comments have been received and and
we'll respond to it within the staff
report because we we do want to the
thing that you're suggesting is a common
response so that um everyone is getting
sort of the same information and we're
not slightly contradicting or confusing
things by sending out multiple responses
and you're still in effect addressing
each letter that came in I see
okay that's really the end of the
presentation um I'm I'm a little out of
order but we've really covered all the
materials that Christopher and I
intended to go
through do you have anything you want to
add no I don't think so okay anything
you guys would like to
add uh maybe just a quick comment so uh
and I think Lucy you mentioned this just
a few minutes ago about you know you
take your best shot at trying to you
know refine the process make it more
efficient but maintain maintain its
Effectiveness as we go through all of
this but uh clearly you know anytime we
do something like this it's never
perfect so the idea that we'll
experience it a little bit I think it's
be important that as we're doing that we
make a little bit of time to provide
some feedback say here's what worked and
here's where I think we can maybe try
something different that might be more
effective so maybe as we're going
through you know the first one here
coming quick um but then you know the
first several um that we do Under the
new process in the central uh isqua area
that that might be pretty helpful I
think for staff and even for us to you
know check in with each other on what's
working what's not in the new process I
I you know I appreciate what you're
doing though trying to make this more
efficient more predictable for the the
applicants and also trying to squeeze
down the time because time is so
important so I you know good effort on
on trying to try to find a better way to
do this we see how it goes thank
you yeah it seems to me that you're on
really on the right track be in thinking
more in the context of
uh not as much more more conceptual do
more conceptual presentation then
specific because you can real quickly
get caught up in the whether it ought to
be green or brick or you know how
however you might want to do and the the
listening to the comments and what
people's really concerns are gives the
developer more opportunity to be able to
adjust to the comments as opposed to
spend a whole lot of time arguing about
a specific design decision that may or
may not already have been made so I
think that's real
smart would the commission just be
involved in the first public meeting and
then the second public meeting and the
responses that staff prepares will they
be emailed to us or is that a
presentation um number two I I kind of
jumped down to the key piece and I
didn't really talk through that so
thanks for um reminding me of that
the first meeting we're we're showing on
here that it's a public meeting it may
end up being a public hearing and that
we continue the public hearing to the
second uh night we're still talking
through some of the you know
implications of
that the basic structure and kind of
information at each of those meetings
we're planning on sticking with as it's
shown here we take all of that we
prepare the briefing response memo um
The Briefing response membo has you know
again kind of bundles of comments we've
heard bundled into topics we have a
staff uh response an applicant response
and a
conclusion so the conclusion may be you
know we feel that we've covered it in
our comments we've clarified whatever it
needed to be it may be a new condition
an edited condition it you know it may
be um providing additional uh uh
diagrams or plans or something that a
photo um that clarifies or um provide it
corrects um the what we've heard uh at
the public hearing we come back and we
present all of that uh so we have the
applicant and the staff go through each
of those topics and talk through that
with the commission then we would take
public testimony and the um commission
would have a chance to talk through it
ask questions and make their decision
does that answer your
question oh uh thank you no you would
get it just like the staff report it
would be sent out a uh at least a week
before the meeting so um Commissioners
all have a chance to consider the
information and then we would meet in a
week a week later and have a discussion
about
it I I guess I would uh back to the
initial part of the the green sheet and
the
checklist um I don't know if it has to
be as detailed as the green sheets but I
always found useful to have some kind of
checklist when you've gone through a
long hearing or public meeting to go
back and then step through and it it
walk yourself through the all the 17
items that have been covered so if you
did come up with something I think it
would still be helpful because yeah
because I know you use that then to go
back and where where you wanted to add
conditions or change conditions yeah I I
I agree with M I'm I'm a little bit this
sounds a little bit amorphous for
decision making I mean I I if we don't I
don't it's not Dumbo's feather I mean I
don't have to have a green sheet or but
but I I re I do agree that especially
with big things like this uh there there
are a lot of specific decisions and a
lot of specific issues and I it may be
something of a challenge to keep all
those perspectives and responses and
things in in uh in order basically so I
I would agree with Mel I don't know if
it's it's maybe not a green sheet but
something that's going to help us
recognize uh and not miss anything
right so I I'm need to decide it now no
no no and and I'm just at a little bit
of a disadvantage because I've never
used the green sheets and this is if
it's anything it's not the same but it's
more similar to what we've been doing
with the urban Villages um so all I can
say is it's been working for those
Commissioners but that does not mean
that we don't need to develop a tool to
support you I think one of the things
though that we found that's part I think
of the value for staff and Commissioners
in doing that briefing response memo
because we really go through every
single thing even you know when we did
Grand Ridge Plaza people were talking
about traffic at Grand Ridge
Elementary which is you know a half a
mile away and has nothing to do with it
and yet we had a brief response on that
because that was a something that came
out from the public and we felt that we
needed to provide uh a brief response to
it um even though it wasn't necessary
didn't really have bearing on on the
decision that the commission need to
make so I'm hoping that that memo May
serve in some way as that but if it's
not then what we're going to need to do
is develop a different tool that helps
you work through the criteria and and
the elements that you need to decide and
you'll I'm sure let us know that I I
know exactly what you guys are saying
and and I and we are going to have to
figure out whether the briefing response
mem addresses that or whether like Lucy
said we'll need to come up with another
uh
document um Mr chair I'd also like to
say having having worked for a long long
time on the central Isa plan task force
that I thought Lucy did an excellent job
extolling the visions and ideas and
goals of the plan itself so thank you
well thank you I'm I'm still learning it
myself so I appreciate that
great uh are there any further comments
from you folks any other
comments um just wondering um
Christopher if we I don't recall getting
copied on the isqua plan the central
isqua plan oh receiving an actual copy
of it uhhuh it's online okay how do you
feel about that I'm okay with that I
suppose we so I think the thing the city
website it's a little buried so we'll
get we'll provide send a link out to us
so we can get to it that' be great then
so we can go through it um I mean we
were involved along the way as it was
being devel not at the level that um
commissioner Morgan was involved um but
um at different points along way so
we're somewhat familiar with it but it
would be nice to see how it's all mapped
out in the code itself absolutely and um
I appreciate that reminder um because I
know with the Urban Village is we used
gave out the first um development
agreement which is about 3 inches thick
and then after a while we started
relying on that and it's important to
make it easy for you to find the Cod
that you're reviewing for so that's and
we will expect you to cram on it in the
next two in the next two weeks you got
two weeks just just to uh make it clear
from from me the the uh number three the
public hearing the the commission action
there will be a vote to approve the site
uh the site permit or the master site
plan as presented as amended as has been
the case before even though this is the
central isaquel plan it's going to be
the same uh parliamentary process that
uh absolutely it's Robert's Rules of
Order we I mean what we've usually done
is prepared a motion that um captures
all you know the staff report the
materials that have been submitted the
briefing response memo and we also leave
room for edits to conditions we
recognize those come up as we're going
through it and then directs the staff to
work with the chairperson to prepare the
finding conclusion and um conditions
that make up the notice of
decision but that's all within Robert's
Rules of Order I would uh along the
lines of a copy of the central is I've
read the plan online I'm old school and
so having a hard copy it has real value
because I annotate and do that kind of
thing that's not nearly so easy online
are there hard copies available that we
can either purchase or get I I I think
we can make one available maybe when we
send out the link to everyone you could
respond with may I please have okay
great anything
further and um please mark your
calendars for that May 6th event um it
we will be sending out a reminder but
just to let you know and that is again
May 6th event is the first with the
hearing examiner for the the kind of
legal
training I'm not going to be
here it's fine uh I I just would like to
thank you for this for doing this I mean
we've talked for a long time we've
talked about having formal education
sessions for the commission on a couple
of different things so this is a as far
as I'm concerned this is a real good
step to take to keep us up to Snuff and
I'd also like to thank my fellow
Commissioners for coming here tonight
and taking advantage of this uh was from
my perspective really well done to uh
record comments by a member of the
public uh hi my name is Connie Marsh and
I have a store at 1175 Northwest Gilman
Boulevard and also live on squawk
Mountain so I go to a lot of these
meetings so I came down to give my
comments on what I like and don't like
about a bunch of the processes um one of
the things that I think that we're going
to need to have in the centralis quat
plan is uh to be sure that we show a
large amount of area around each uh
project so that we can understand how it
is connected to the rest of the
centralist CL
area um I do like the idea that you all
talked about about green sheets it gives
you a way to make sure that you are uh
checking off each topic with a
thoroughness that you would like to see
and not being entirely dependent upon
staff um one thing that I don't know if
you know about the central isqua plan is
it starts out with some sort of
highlevel goals and then it sort of
comes down in scale and only some of
those actually have have teeth there's a
lot of the central isqua plan that was
sort of put into place that was that was
to create a uh an idea of what we want
to have but didn't
necessarily require it and so that I
think is something that's going to be
sort of hard to understand how to get
something done when you can see no
visible teeth we were assured at that
point that we would be able to get there
without requiring it though I think
that's a good thing to to do when you
read the centralis qual plan and
hopefully they give you the entire
structure not just the guidelines and
the standards you know the whole goal
setting
stuff um one of the examples that you
might find with the difficulty of
getting something is where they've lined
out where they want larger Parks they
haven't really stated exactly where so
none of the land owners really know if
it's going to be them or how they're
going to get it or how that's going to
happen so that just sort of exemplifies
some of the difficulties that you might
be thinking of the other thing that they
did not bring up is the visibility to
the public which was very important to
me and online there's a list of all of
these projects large and small that are
going through you're only going to get
the really big ones and so this list
online is supposed to have everything
and everything that's happening on it so
the public can actually see what is
happening at a given period of time and
in the end there's supposed to be a push
out so that you guys could keep an eye
on that too so you can get an idea of
large and small projects just because
you have some expertise I'd like to see
uh you at least know that that exists in
life
um uh Lucy said there was higher
impervious
surface but one of the complexities of
the central isqua plan is there's some
trade-offs for the higher impervious
surface we're supposed to have larger
buffers and more Street scaping and so
the caution of how to balance it all
holistically I think is important rather
than per parcel you have to look at how
much green we're getting all over the
area incrementally and I don't know how
that's going to be tracked over time um
there's a Planned action ordinance that
St says a little bit how that's going to
be tracked but I'm hoping that that
could be a part of your review you also
to see how we're moving incrementally in
the
process uh the public sometimes has
difficulty in understanding how to ask
for a condition you've seen this in the
development commission too so it would
be nice to think of a way to make it
easier for to ask for a condition that
could make it better because sometimes
that's the hardest thing is how do I
phrase this to make a condition it might
sound like whining but I want a
condition and how do you go from whining
to a condition if you think it's
important not that I would whine no okay
that's that's it thank you for
listening there any other further
comments by members of the
commission that's helpful yes I did too
thank you
Connie all right if uh if there are no
further comments by the commission we
will adjourn the meeting