02-25-2004 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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ensure that the basements do not evolve into additional office space. The building official should comment on the effectiveness of use restrictions in the basement levels of these buildings. For parking supply purposes, the plan shows a total of 102 parking spaces off- street. Based on staff's expectations for interior finishing of these buildings, it would be expected that 93 -98 parking spaces would be required, not including the basement storage areas. The uses are permitted in this district, designed to be a mixed -use area with office, commercial services, retail, and housing. One issue raised by staff has been the orientation of the buildings on the site. The Redevelopment Guide for this area encourages a village -style site plan, with buildings encouraged to be located along the street fronts, and parking lots placed to the rear. The applicant has indicated that placing the eight -unit building along the street would make parking access difficult for the owners, and complicate driveway access. Planning staff would encourage any site plan amendments that reduce the exposure of parking lots to the streets — either Market Drive on the north, or Middle Street to the west. The landscape plan shows plantings along the "front" entrance areas to both buildings, but little or no landscaping to the rear. For the eight -unit building, the offices abruptly abut a sidewalk, which is adjacent to the south parking lot, leaving a very hard edge. If no additional landscaping is possible along the buildings themselves, a landscaped border at the site's southern property line would be the minimum acceptable. For the six -unit building along the pond, a simple lawn is shown with an open "row" of five trees along the pond boundary. Planning staff would recommend an intensified use of this green space, with additional trees and areas of shrubs and perennials to enhance the site. The building design utilizes a hipped roof arrangement with front - facing gables. A small sign band is shown over the door and window areas for each office bay. Materials appear to consist of a combination of brick, decorative concrete block, and stucco. The applicant should be required to supply material and color samples to the City for review. The fagade drawing shows only the front and side facades. The "rear" facade is not included in the packet. For the eight unit building, the rear fagade is particularly important since there is no landscaping available to soften the view of this portion of the building. A drawing showing the rear facade should be submitted for City review. The applicant has not submitted a formal plat drawing. For buildings of this type (with basements), it is expected that individual town -office lots will be created within a larger commonly -owned parcel. This information is important for review of the association documents. Moreover, the City will want to review the association documents to ensure that the restrictions on basement use, as well as ongoing maintenance of the PUD, are adequately covered. As a result, Planning staff would recommend tabling action on the Preliminary and Final Plat until the next meeting agenda schedules.