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Maple Knolls PUD 4/22/92 Page 2 <br />• roadways that will need to be put into the covenants governing the project. We have not <br />reviewed a copy of the proposed covenants yet. <br />Design Considerations <br />1) Overall, the buildings will be attractive and well-designed and would be a welcome addition <br />to the community. Rottlund has a good reputation and is building a project (of 112 units) in <br />Roseville, at Highway 36 and Dale Street. The units there are similar, but not identical, to the <br />ones proposed for Maple Knolls. <br />2) The buildings are placed on the site at various angles. While there may be situations where <br />this is warranted, we believe an arrangement that would line the buildings up more closely with <br />the right angles of the property lines would make just as much sense on this property and would <br />eliminate the condition where the outdoor patio area is as close as 5 feet to the roadway. There <br />is ample room on the site to keep this dimension at a minimum of 15 feet in all cases. At the very <br />least, aligning the buildings with consistent angles would be an improvement. The narrative <br />supplied by Rottlund indicates that the angled placement is to improve solar gain to as many units <br />as possible. In the design they propose, the northerly unit would receive practically no winter <br />sun at all, whereas if the buildings were aligned straight north and south, the northeast and <br />northwest units would receive at least some morning or some afternoon winter sun. <br />3) Parking for the project appears to be adequate. The Ordinance requires 2.5 spaces per unit, <br />and Maple Knolls will have 4 spaces per unit, excluding any parking on the private road. All <br />fourplex units have atwo-car garage and space for two more to park in the driveway. The 8-unit <br />building has two-car garages for the 4 corner units and one-car garages for the 4 interior units, <br />also with an equal number of spaces in the driveways. The plans note the possibility of parking <br />on one side of the private road. We would recommend this only if the roadway were widened to <br />30 feet from the proposed 24-foot width. <br />4) Landscaping <br />The landscaped screening of drive and parking adjacent to Prior Avenue is generally adequate. <br />However, this could be enhanced with the addition of some shrub massing along the north edge <br />of drive and west edge of parking. <br />The landscaped screening/buffer along the eastern boundary appears to be generally adequate. <br />Screening along this boundary adjacent to the fire station, near the entrance to the project, will <br />lessen the impact of the fire station storage area. However, to adequately buffer this activity, the <br />City will have to clean up the storage yard and plant landscaping on the fire station property in <br />this area. <br />The landscaped screening buffer along the southern boundary appears adequate. <br />The landscaped screening along the western boundaries needs additional overstory/evergreen <br />plantings along the walkway/emergency vehicle access to buffer the residential neighborhood <br />across the low area to the west. The western boundary along the existing office development <br />needs additional evergreen and shrub plantings to adequately screen the offices and parking from <br />view. <br />The area along the northern boundary between the proposed development and the office complex <br />needs substantially more plantings. This area serves as the visual focal point for the existing <br />• office development. The terraced walls should be heavily landscaped to enhance its functions as <br />