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Planning Commission <br />March 23, 2017 <br />Page 2 <br /> <br />would rather paint the metal units, themselves, rather than installing a metal shroud around the units and have <br />that as an extra cost and maintenance issue. <br /> <br />Commissioner Tjernlund stated that he was comfortable with staff continuing to work with the applicant on <br />adequate screening for those units. <br /> <br />Commissioner McRoberts asked staff if they were comfortable with continuing to work with the applicant on <br />adequate screening for the rooftop mechanical units. <br /> <br />Leitz stated that the Commercial and Industrial Design Guidelines suggests having an architectural element that <br />adequately screens the equipment from view, compared to the installation of a metal shroud if the mechanical <br />equipment is not adequately screened. She stated that it is in staff’s opinion that the parapet is increased to <br />solve this issue ahead of time, however would continue to work with the applicant if the parapet is not raised to <br />ensure the mechanical units are screened. <br /> <br />Commissioner Arcand asked if the parapet was part of the main structure of the building. <br /> <br />Mr. Shaw stated that the height of the parapet varies because the roofline slopes to the south. He stated that <br />they are proposing to locate the units towards the center of the building to help with screening, as well. <br /> <br />Commissioner McRoberts asked if there was a visibility issue with the mechanical units, if it would most likely <br />be from the north elevation. <br /> <br />Mr. Shaw stated there would more likely be a visibility issue from the north compared to the south elevation. <br />He stated if there was an issue with screening, they would propose to paint those units the same color of the roof <br />edge. <br /> <br />Commissioner Rosenquist asked if low profile units were being installed and suggested those are looked into to <br />help with the screening issue. <br /> <br />Mr. Shaw stated he would be happy to look into low profile units and if something was still visible, he would be <br />willing to paint the units the same color as the roof edge. <br /> <br />Commissioner Rosenquist suggested looking into the low profile units and providing staff with elevations and <br />site line drawings with those units to see if those would be adequately screened. <br /> <br />Mr. Shaw stated he would be willing to do that. <br /> <br />Commissioner Arcand asked the applicant if it would be possible to lower the portion of the roof where the <br />mechanical units are proposed to be. <br /> <br />Mr. Shaw stated that would not be feasible. <br /> <br />Commissioner Tjernlund stated that he believed it was important to keep in mind that this is an industrial area. <br /> <br />Mr. Shaw directed the Planning Commission to the site line visual provided in their packets. He stated that <br />view was from Fenway. Mr. Shaw stated that he is trying to avoid having to burden the owners at the end of the <br />project with screening these units further with costly upgrades and maintenance.