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March 18, 2025 Page 5 garage would go largely unused – an economic burden that provides no specific benefit to the land use. Staff believes that there may be reasonable grounds for variance consideration in this case, given that the purpose of the underground (or under-building) parking is to limit surface parking and the impervious surface that comes with it. In this case, there would still be a need for some surface parking for visitors and transient employees, even if there were underground spaces available. In this way, the underground requirement can be viewed as an unreasonable burden on the otherwise reasonable use of the property. 5. Building Design and Materials. The proposed building is designed as a two-story facility with a gabled roof and two cross-gables along the north (front) wall. The south exposure does not show any additional architecture variation either in the roof or wall plane. The R-4 District includes the following requirement: The applicant for any multi-family structure in the R-4 District shall provide a proposed materials palette, including a plan that shows brick, stone, glass, and architectural metal on no less than 50% of all building walls. Architecture shall include significant articulation in both wall facades and building roofline. The building materials for this structure are primarily lapped metal siding and a wainscot of simulated stone, as well as other stone elements around the main entry facing the parking area and toward the street. The west (street), north, and east exposures show some changes in building wall and roofline. However, the south wall, adjoining the apartment property and subject to the requested setback variance, shows little articulation as noted above. Staff would recommend that this exposure is addressed to add visual interest on this side of the building. This recommendation is strengthened by the fact that this exposure is limited in potential landscape planting due to underground utilities and the narrowed side yard. Enhancing the visual impact of this exposure would help offset the lack of landscape and the setback reduction. 6. Emergency Access. The applicants have worked with the City’s Fire Department staff to design a no- parking lane on Foss Road for emergency vehicle access to the site. It is noted that with assisted living facilities, higher emergency call rates are common, and ensuring that this access is available is a condition of site plan approval. The alternative would have required backing emergency vehicles out onto Foss Road after a call, a less than ideal condition. 7. Grading and Drainage, Impervious Surface. The site is developed to capture stormwater and drain to infiltration and rate-control ponding at the east end of the site, before the treated stormwater is released to the Mirror Lake storm system. The City Engineer will review the grading and drainage plans for compliance with the City ‘s requirements. The site is designed to fall just within the maximum impervious surface coverage of 50% for the R-4 District. This coverage excludes the deck area to the east of the building, which is not factored into the impervious coverage provided that the “weed barrier” below the deck is a pervious fabric material.