05/17/2005 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 5/17/2005 landscaping instead of plain areas of pressed concrete. The ARB recommended that both the east and west sides of Building B should have less hard surface sidewalk and more green surface areas. Revised plans show the plaza on the west side has been reduced, and planting areas have been added on the east side. • Landscaping. Revisions to landscape plans reflect a number of planting additions to the plaza areas. In general, the ARB recommended that the applicant should create more green space where concrete will be eliminated. There were also a number of substitution plants recommended by Mr. Zergott that would be more appropriate for location and climate than those proposed. These changes were made on the plan. The landscape plans show additional plantings along the Mitchell Road portion of the site. These include 13 clusters of five trees each along with what was originally proposed. Another proposed amendment to buffering involves area adjacent to the Linda Drive properties. The buffer area behind Buildings C and D remains the same approximate depth. However, the applicant proposes to remove the once proposed retaining wall, and extend the mound over a greater length of the buffer area. This would result in moving the fence somewhat closer to the residential property line, reducing the distance between the foot of the mound and the praperty line. Residents along Linda Drive were dissatisfied with the modification of the buffer area and felt that the mound and fence was coming too close to their properties. Upon hearing this at the Planning Commission, and as presented last night, Carnegie proposed a further amendment to the landscape plan which would involve changing the slope of the mound from a 3 to 1 ratio, which is the horizontal distance to vertical rise, to a 2 to 1 ratio. Changing the degree of slope would somewhat increase the depth of land between the residential property lines and the foot of the mound by approximately 5 feet. The Planning Commission had recommended approval of the amended development plans with the following recommendations: - There would be a revised landscaping list which includes the mounding plant lists, as well as increased plants for mounds along Linda Drive, which has been addressed. - The plantings would be approved and defined by the Architectural Review Board Chairman Zergott for the area east of Building B. - The fencing and gate are to tie into the proposed fencing of the Linda Drive mound, so that the only access is through the gate. - Boulders will be added to entry front similar to what is along the embankment. - All other conditions and requirements previously imposed would be and remain in full force and effect. • For clarification, the changes to the relocation of the building and the modification of the parking fields as presented by Mr. Rinker and Mr. Schiely were in response to what they believe to be failed leasing efforts. They have presented to Council the argument that their attempts to construct the building as originally approved were meeting resistance from prospective tenants based upon the fact that the parking fields were combined. That is, if there was an office use and a retail use using the same parking field, it was believed, and apparently the prospective tenants stated, that the office use would take the closest parking spaces and leave the remnants to the retail users who would be further from the buildings. That presented a problem according to the developer. 9