Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-22-2021 - HEX Final Decision Appendix A - Sunset Gardens Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 1 of 17 Appendix A August 17, 2021 Hearing Transcript Sunset Gardens -- LUA21-000168, SA-H, VAR, MOD Note: This is a computer generated transcript provided for informational purposes only. The reader should not take this document as 100% accurate or take offense at errors created by the limitations of the programming in transcribing speech. A recording of the hearing is available at the City’s hearing examiner website should anyone need an accurate rendition of the hearing testimony. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay, perfect. Let me go through that again. It is August 17th, 2021 11 o'clock AM. We are here this morning to hear an application on site plan variance and development standard modifications for an affordable housing project in the city of Renton. The file number is LUA21-000168. The hearing format, we will have a staff presentation with... From Mr. Morganroth, I take it. He will give us an overview of the project. Once he's done, then we'll move on to applicant comments. If you want to say something, you don't have to. But that will be your opportunity. Then after we're done with applicant comments, we'll move on to public comments. And that would be the time for any of you who are neighbors, concerned citizens or anyone who wants to comment on this project, you'll have a chance to speak as soon as the African is done making their comments. Mr. Olbrechts: Then after a public comments, we'll move back to staff rebuttal. That's a chance for staff to answer questions and provide rebuttal evidence. And then finally, the applicant gets final word as a matter of due process. You should see on the screen right now, a little technical direction as to how members of the public can participate. Jenny, did you want to say anything about that? Mrs. Cisneros, did you want to say anything about public participation? How they could make themselves heard? Mrs. Cisneros: As I was trying to [crosstalk 00:03:31]. Mr. Olbrechts: Oh, there you go. Okay. Mrs. Cisneros: So please identify yourself if you are an applicant, or public, or an instrument to the public hearing. And there's a rename function on the three... I think it's the three dots on there that you can rename yourself. You'll have an opportunity to comment. And so, these are the instructions on how to comment. There's a raised hand on the right side of participants screen. So you'll go ahead and do that when Mr. [inaudible 00:03:56] ask for comments at the time of commenting. That's about it. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay, great. Thank you Mrs. Cisneros. And also you'll see on this Mrs. Cisneros' screen there, she has her email address and her phone number. And so, if you are a member of the public and can't... You're not being heard, or you're having technical issues and you can't figure out how to participate, go ahead and Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 2 of 17 either email Mrs Cisneros, or give her a call and we'll figure out how to patch you in. I'll also leave the record open until 5.pm tomorrow in case... Due to technical issues, you weren't able to participate today. Just then email your comments to miss Cisneros with the subject line saying 'Sunset Gardens' and then I'll give the applicant and staff an opportunity to respond to those email comments and they'll be put into the record. So with that, let's move on to the exhibit list. And let me pull up my... Mrs. Cisneros, you have the exhibit list, right? You want to share screen on that? Mrs. Cisneros: Yes, of course. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay, there it is. And also it's on page two of the staff report. These are the documents that were given to me in advance of the hearing to review for today. And they are the evidence that will be considered for making a decision on the applications. There's a lot of information contained in those documents, including the site plans, elevations, floor plans, color renderings, a tree retention plan, landscaping plan, and so on. And traffic analysis. And Mrs Cisneros, those documents are available at the city's website, right? Mrs. Cisneros: Yes, that's the link above. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay, right. The link up there. So, if any of you need to see those documents, go... You can go ahead and click on that link. Or if that doesn't work, email Mrs Cisneros and she'll figure out how you get to those documents. But this point, I just need to know if there are any objections to the entry of exhibits one through... And what's the last exhibit number there, Mr. Cisneros? Is it 25? Mrs. Cisneros: 22. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. We also have the staff PowerPoint is 23. 24 is the city of Renton. Core maps, which is available at the link here. Those are basically zoning maps, critical area maps, that kind of thing showing what's at the project site. And then Google Earth gives us a bunch of aerial photographs as well. So, if any of you have any objections to entry of those documents, one through 25, just press on your raised hand there. Button at the bottom of your screen, or unmute yourself and say, "I object." And let me check to make sure there are no objections. Don't see any. So, we'll go ahead and admit exhibits one through 25. And also I believe that it... Could you put that exhibit list back up, Miss Cisneros? I'm sorry, I just need to verify if the staff report is included in the list or not. Okay, it doesn't. Let's see. It doesn't look like the staff report is one of those exhibits. So, we'll say the staff report will come in as exhibit 26. Any objections of the staff report coming in as exhibit 26? Okay, hearing none that's admitted as well. Yeah. [crosstalk 00:06:55]. Mrs. Cisneros: It's about staff reports with the hearing [crosstalk 00:06:56]. Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 3 of 17 Mr. Olbrechts: Oh, there it is. Okay, nevermind then. We'll keep it to 25 then. Alright. I think we're done with exhibits. Let's move on then to Mr. Morganroth, do you want to make comments at this point? Mr. Morganroth: Yeah, thanks Mr. [inaudible 00:07:08]. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. Let me swear you in real quick. Just raise your right hand. You swear affirm tell the truth, nothing but the truth in this proceeding? Mr. Morganroth: I do. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. Alright, go ahead. Mr. Morganroth: Thank you. And I'll share my screen here quick. Alright. Are you able to see my screen [crosstalk 00:07:33]. Mr. Olbrechts: Yes. Mr. Morganroth: Okay, great. Thank you. Yeah, Ellison Morganroth here. A senior planner in [inaudible 00:07:39] at the city of Renton. Going to be making our staff a recommendation for the Sunset Gardens project. A little bit about the project proposal. So, this is an RHA Rental Housing Authority project. They're proposing a four story structure about 65,000 square feet, a total floor area. Ground floor of the site would be the RHA offices, classified as on site service. And they'll take up about 13,600 square feet. And then there'd be 76 affordable residential attached drawing flats on the three storeys above. project also includes a total of 56 parking spaces, which are a mix of surface and structured parking. Access to the site is proposed via Jefferson Ave Northeast... [Inaudible 00:08:29] Cursor here is I'm going Northwest corner of the project site. They're proposing improvements, roadway improvements on both Jefferson Ave Northeast, and then Northeast 10th Street. And so, they're requesting a site plan review of variance and then four code modifications as part of the proposal. David Albers: Sorry, can I interrupt. This is David Albers, the applicant. That image is not our project. Mr. Morganroth: Oh, that might have been [inaudible 00:08:56] Mr. Olbrechts: Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 4 of 17 Yeah, it looked a little different. Yeah. Mr. Morganroth: Okay. I just have the [crosstalk 00:09:02], a site plan. I can jump to it really quick, and then I'll backup here. David Albers: Okay. Yeah, I just wanted to [crosstalk 00:09:10] Mr. Morganroth: Apologies for that. I've got two projects that are... At the sites look very similar. [crosstalk 00:09:14]. So this is the actual site, you can see that L-shaped building here, Northeast 10th Jefferson. There's also Jefferson over here, which I'll talk about more later, to loop with a portion of it vacated. We apologies for that. [Inaudible 00:09:28] That slide also. So ignore that. Project location. So this is the site here. Again, you can see Northeast 10th street there. Jefferson Ave is located both on the Eastside of the site over here, and then the Westside as well. And then there's a portion that's used for access to these apartment units back here. And there is a parking on that vacated portion of Jefferson Ave. So, it does trigger loop here but the only right of way is where you can see on the map there. It is a single parcel. It currently houses the Renton Housing Authority offices. We can see the building there and then the associated surface parking. I mean, it is in within the sunset area planned action boundary. Mr. Morganroth: Some said characteristics. So it's about a 1.3 acre site. It is mostly impervious surface with the building and the surface parking with some trees and ground vegetation on the perimeter, as well as some interior landscape. The parking lot landscaping. It does slope Northeast Southwest. And you can see here a little bit in the corner, it does sit substantially below the Jefferson Ave right of way. The portion on the Eastside of the site. And so, there's action existing retaining a wall. So you can see the corner of the picture here that it really does sit eight to 10 feet higher than the site itself, which is really unique. Curriculars in the site. Sensitive slopes and moderate landslide has been all located near this portion of the site with the severe grade change there. Mr. Morganroth: Will be about the zoning and the land use designations and comp plans. So, it is in the center of village or CV Zone in the urban design district. The overlay, the site is designated commercial mixed use in the comp plan. It is center village zoning also to the north, south and west. You can see there, residential multifamily little sliver of it there to the east. And then again, they're proposing an onsite service and attached dwelling flats which are both permitted in the CV Zone if specific conditions are met. So this link says, "Look in the sunset plan to actually get the map there." The environmental review committee designated the proposal, a planned of action in the meeting we had in July. And therefore no additional environmental review or mitigation is required, as we've already considered... The site was already considered the project within the planned action document. Mr. Morganroth: Here's a rendering of the building. I know this is the correct building. It's a four storey... Again, four story structure, about 43 feet max [crosstalk 00:12:22] there. Again, the ground floor are [inaudible 00:12:25] as you can see there. And so this is... I'm sorry. Just is looking Northeast from the corner of Northeast Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 5 of 17 10th. And then Jefferson there to the main primary entrance. Two separate entrances, one for RHA offices and then another into the residential lobby. And then elevators for the future residents to access their units. It is L-shaped, with that two wings emanating from the Southwest corner here. The Southeast corner, which you can't really see in the rendering here. But that is actually located, again, below... It's a little [inaudible 00:13:00] being below grade. And that can happen because of the significant grade change between the right of way there, and then the actual site and how it exists today. And so the plan is to build that up to screen. The structured parking that's going to be located back there. And so, it would look like a three storey building from that corner. Mr. Morganroth: Got a big mixing materials there including brick on the first floor. And then like I said, there's a plaza and main entrance there on the Southeast corner. About critical areas. As previously mentioned, you've got the sensitive slopes there on the Eastside of the site. And then you've got a moderate landslide hazard created by the... Not significant but noticeable topography change from the site to the east, to the site we're talking about. Vegetation. So there's 19 trees on site right now and 12 trees are located right away to be dedicated. 10% tree retention required on the site, which would be one tree. Because the only by the time you take off these 12 trees, you're left with seven significant trees. As we round up 10% of that will be one. They are proposing to remove all trees. And the main reason for that is just due to their location and due to the... And prime. Most of the trees are in the right of way. So they take advantage of furniture improvements. They have proposed a significant number of replacement trees in their conceptual landscape plan. Mr. Morganroth: There's a condition of approval recommending an updated, a detailed landscape plan that demonstrates compliance with these simple [inaudible 00:14:41] retention standards, whether that be replacement, fee in lieu or retain them. So that is something staff will verify. And when they submit that at the time of civil construction permit review. And then also another... This is not the landscape plan, this is just a tree retention plan. But that they do propose a substantial amount of landscaping along this Southeast corner there. Again, it's conceptual. So we did add a condition to recommend a condition of approval to make sure there is substantial landscaping to screen the little bit of surface parking there. And then the residential units that are located on the second floor technically but it will look like the ground floor because of the build up of the grade there. Mr. Morganroth: Access and transportation. So, this is a little better review of the site here where you can see the vacated portion of Jefferson that is used for parking for these units. Access is going to be via an existing single driveway up here off of Jefferson that will get into the parking lot. [inaudible 00:15:45] improvements along all three sides of the site, along all frontage there, and excluding, obviously, the vacated portion of Jefferson. That the access to these apartments will need to be maintained, and will be maintained as part of the proposal even though it had... There'll be sidewalk along here and that will change into the parking area there. But there will be access maintained to those apartments. And they get 56 total parking spaces with the structure tuck under and surface parking. Mr. Morganroth: So one of the three entitlements of site plan review. So again, the access up there and I... This is actual site plan landscape, where you see a little better the access up here into the parking lot. The structured Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 6 of 17 parking is here, and then there's also some tucked under structured parking under second storey terrace right here. This is all surface parking along the Northeast side, and along the Jefferson Ave, the vacated portion of Jefferson Ave. There's a plaza area at the Southwest corner there, near the primary entrances that has a number of pedestrian scale features, canopies, landscape planners. There will be lighting plans submitted. There's a good mix of active and passive common areas. We've got a movement garden area over here with walking pathway, and there will be some seat walls built in as well as a second storey which you can see on here. But the second storey terrace, outdoor terrace that will include, perhaps, some gardening opportunities for future tenants and some other landscaping and just have the nice patio area. There's also a common space area inside the building adjacent to that for future residents. Mr. Morganroth: There's pretty good pedestrian circulation around the perimeter of the site. And then in the site itself, with the installation of new six foot and eight foot sidewalks in the right of way. And then some pathways in the parking lot, as well as to the memorial garden. Again, mentioned before, but the use of the site topography to stream the structured parking here. And to reduce the bulk of the structures, [inaudible 00:18:00] a little bit we'll go down to topography. And it'll go from the four stories down to three stories here, so a little better transition. Again, there's the... One of the, I think, the best features, the best result is front entrance here. And that [inaudible 00:18:20] against others seat walls, and just using topography to really improve the pedestrian experience there. The applicant is requesting variance from our development standards. So in the commercial development standards for the CV Zone, the code doesn't allow surface parking between a public right of way or a street, and the building. Mr. Morganroth: And so, here you can see... There's about 11 spaces that are located between the small portion of Jefferson here and the building. Even though they're setback, it's still technically [inaudible 00:18:54] and violation of that code section. Obviously didn't request a variance and justification revolved around the issue of the site topography and then the issue of the site shape. So being boxed in [inaudible 00:19:07], by right of way on three... Almost three all sides, made it challenging to design any surface parking without at least a little bit of it being located between the building in the right of way. And so you can see here that it proposed additional landscaping, or substantial landscaping there. Mr. Morganroth: Another thing that's really hard to tell without looking and rendering is that... Again the grade change here. Because this parking lot sits so much lower than the right of way. It really won't be that visible until you're off looking down onto it to kind of... It sits about eight feet lower. So it's not your typical, where you're just going to look across and see cars. It's going to be fairly difficult. And so we found the request didn't meet all four variance criteria. Mr. Morganroth: Modifications. I'm not going to read through each and every one of these. There is a number of modification four code sections that include a couple of standards from each section of the parking. [Inaudible 00:20:02]. A reduction in stalls and width for parking aisles [inaudible 00:20:06] different type of play drag. Rubbish and recycling allowing one enclosure instead of the two normally required, reduced vertical minimum overhead clearance. Fences, hedges and retaining walls. Some three standards there. And then the street modification. Okay, we'll go into. So they did request reduced Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 7 of 17 dedication on Jefferson Ave Northeast. And this is the portion on the Eastside of the site where it turns into the vacated portion. They did request to go from one and a half to zero feet. The reason for that being there is an existing retaining wall that's right up against the right of way. And if they dedicated that, it would then be in our right of way. And I'm trading number about the plan to rebuild it. So it's basically just to keep that retaining wall on site. Mr. Morganroth: The other portion of the street mod, is to retain the [inaudible 00:20:57] kerb width the Northeast 10th Street, which is recommended by the city's transportation section. And all modification requests to meet the modification criteria if a few conditions of approval are met, and staff does support approval of the four modifications. That's integral project features, most of which were discussed. But here's a little better... It's a snippet of the second story terrorist area. A really great use of space. I think it allows both covers up the parking and whilst [inaudible 00:21:31] covered parking for residents, for inclement weather. But also provides a nice space for, again, gardening, relaxing, whatever it might be. That's up and away from the road just on the backside of the site. And you've also got a nice memorial garden there on the Northeast side of the site, for folks to enjoy when the weather is nice. Mr. Morganroth: The building does use a pretty high quality design and a number of different materials which will be further improved, and all conditions of approval that are recommended are met. Again, there's the unique use of the site topography to hide the parking and allow the building. Look, here's step back, step down a bit with the outdoor amenities. There are a number of above grade landscaping elements that are proposed, including planters, building or landscaping behind some of the seat walls that will really add to the both the entry and then the pedestrian experience for people walking along Northeast 10th, the Jefferson. And the use of some neat visual cues like the canopy, a higher pair of it. And again, the seat wall. I talked about to denote the entrance and make it pretty obvious where the RHA entrances and then where the residential portion entrances. So, in conclusion, I'm recommending approval of the sunset gardens outside, plan to review variance and modification applications, subject to the other 26 conditions contained in the staff report. And I'm happy to go back and answer any questions. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. On the standard, that's subject to the variance request, the parking variance. Did you know... What's the purpose of that requirement? Is that basically to make the buildings more pedestrian friendly by making them adjacent to the sidewalk? Or is it more of an aesthetic concern? Mr. Morganroth: I would say it's both. I guess the main reason is aesthetics. It's definitely not in anyone that's walked along, either to a nice building with overprotection. Versus walking along a surface parking lot when maybe you got to worry about people entering and exiting, and just the visual look of a parking lot. It is primarily aesthetic. Mr. Olbrechts: Oh, okay. Mr. Morganroth: Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 8 of 17 [inaudible 00:23:48] a service parking back. Back from the road and have the more pedestrian oriented stuff adjacent to the frontage. Mr. Olbrechts: Oh, I see. Is there a lot of pedestrian traffic in this area? I couldn't quite tell what commercial uses are nearby. There's obviously a lot of multifamily housing around there. Do you see a lot of people walking back and forth to the commercial area or not? Mr. Morganroth: Yeah, no. That's great question. So there are... Right. In the immediately adjacent area is mostly residential. There is a... It does get commercial really quick, because you're just to the south of sunset area. So, presumably folks will walk north, along Northeast 10th to get to the sunset area where there's restaurants, grocery shops and all that. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. And then I noticed in the public meeting portion, it looks like it had pretty good attendance. I think it was 14 people or something. Do you recall what the most significant concerns were? Mr. Morganroth: Yeah, so I.... Matt was the one that intend that I did read through all the notes and Matt [inaudible 00:24:45] jump in. But it looked like a lot of it was based on the security of the building was actually some of it. Which was something the applicant obviously is tasked with looking at more so than us. I remember seeing that, and obviously with how the aesthetics of the building. If I remember correctly... And again, to either the applicant [inaudible 00:25:03] jump in. I think there were a certain number of comments on just how the building would be secured. Mr. Olbrechts: Oh, I see. Okay, great. Alright, thanks. Mr. Morganroth. Great presentation. Let's move on to applicants. Applicants do you want to say anything at this point? Like I said before, you don't have to. But now's your opportunity. Any takers? David Albers: Sure. Hi, I'm David Albers. I'm with SMR architects. I'm the applicant. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. Let me swear you in Mr. Albers. Just raise your right hand. Do you swear affirm to tell the truth, nothing but the truth in this proceeding? David Albers: I do. Mr. Olbrechts: And for the record, your last name is spelled A-l-b-e-r-s. Is that correct? David Albers: Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 9 of 17 That is correct. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. Alright. Go ahead. David Albers: Yeah. I just first wanted to say thanks to the staff at city of Renton for helping us get to this point. They answered a lot of questions before our land use application and got us to where we are. And so I wanted to say thank you for that. And then I think it gets covered later in we... When we run through the conditions of approval. But we will have some comments in reference to that. So that, probably, is the better location to do those comments. Mr. Olbrechts: Well, I think staffs [crosstalk 00:26:11]. Sorry? David Albers: Because I thought we were going to go through the items of basically what the city is saying, "We'd like you to do this for us to approve." Mr. Olbrechts: No, I think- David Albers: I didn't know if we were walking through those items. If it's not, then yeah, I can speak to a certain couple items. Mr. Olbrechts: Sure. Yeah, no I... Yeah, I think Mr. Morganroth was done with his initial presentation. So, now would be the time to talk about conditions if you have concern with them. David Albers: Sure. So I don't know if we have the ability to pull up the hex letter that has those conditions? Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. Yeah, I can share my screen. Let me get the staff report up here. Just give me a second. David Albers: Sure. Mr. Olbrechts: Alright. See, I think it's this one probably. Okay. Alright, perfect. David Albers: Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 10 of 17 And so yeah. Yeah, that number one is actually the first one I'll key to. Basically, it's stating there's some concern with our stormwater facilities that we have between the building and Jefferson to the west. And so, I see that in the language. They're saying, "If we can demonstrate." I'm trying to find the verb. They used the wording here, that if the landscaping can commingle with the stormwater facilities, then they're okay with the layout. And I just wanted to speak to that a little bit. So we were talking a lot about the topography and basically, with the east side being high and the west side being low, and the building being situated mostly to the west. The water is going to want to go that direction. So, that's basically where we have the opportunity to put these stormwater facilities to help retain the water before it goes back into the city system. David Albers: And then there are some struggles there because we are giving some land back for the right of way improvements. We're undergrounding utilities along Jefferson. And then there's also requirements when you do these stormwater retention ponds, they are not ponds, but they're basically planters that they can... They have to be so far from the right of way, but they also have to be so far from the building. So in this design, we're really threading that needle. We're able to get exactly the amount we need for the building in the space that we have. And we're trying to be very mindful of that this is along public way. And you could see in the planting plan that was shown, that there's basically three layers of trees. One, that's the layer of street trees right at the right of way. And then there's another layer of trees between the property line and these stormwater retention planters. David Albers: And then there's another layer of trees between the planters and the buildings. And then there's also ground cover in that area and the way that the lip of these retention planters are, is they're just above ground. And so within a year of growth, that ground cover will cover those edges. So we feel that those planters will blend into the planting, and they won't be seen as holes, if you will. So I just wanted to describe that, basically, what's going on over there to maybe help. Maybe I'll leave some thoughts about that and how we came to that design. I think if we don't... If we aren't able to do that stormwater retention, we'll have to look at a more expensive system, probably a vault under the parking. So I think that the stormwater retention design with the planting that we have is favorable for the owner, but I also think it's a better system as well. Mr. Olbrechts: So, are you saying if it's... If you're unable to commingle, that you don't want to be stuck having to put it outside of the landscaping, is that [inaudible 00:30:30]? David Albers: No. So, when we go in for permit and the city deems that we haven't been able to commingle- Mr. Olbrechts: Right. David Albers: The landscape with the planters? Then I think, basically we would ... We would not be able to use a storm retention plant or design, because there's nowhere else to put it on site. So we then would be switched to more of a detention system than a stormwater retention system. Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 11 of 17 Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. David Albers: And the retention platters themselves are planters. There will be plants in them. They're not just a hole that's full of water. So, I think, again, that the design is it's definitely taking into the account the city's concern and we're addressing. Mr. Olbrechts: Oh. Okay, got you. David Albers: I just wanted to explain what it is, and how we got there. Mr. Olbrechts: Oh, okay, understood. Thank you. David Albers: My next one was item 11. I think it's on the next page. So this is in regards to the building and the main building entrances which are along 10th to the south of the site. So we have RHA's main entrance. And then farther east, we have the residential building entrance. And they're asking us to place... See if the application will get the language. They would like some raised planters in lieu of our upgrade planters there. And it wasn't part of the presentation, but it is included in our civil drawings that we submitted with the land use. That show that there's a significant number of connections that we have to make for water on off of 10th into the building. That's our sprinkler, and our commercial, and our residential water connections. David Albers: And all of those connections have meters, they have valves and all of those require either a handhold or an actual vault in the ground. And with all of... With the two entrances, and then with all of that infrastructure for water in that location, we feel that if we're starting to introduce other structures like this. Basically concrete formed in place planters that were not going to have room to meet the requirements for all the infrastructure for water. And that's why we went with just upgrade planting. That way, wherever they need to put these faults or these handholds which would be placed in the ground, and the concrete would be poured to flush with them. So they wouldn't necessarily be protruding, but they would have more leeway in where they're located and less impactful. Mr. Olbrechts: Well, how about modifying that condition to require raised planters if it's feasible to do so if there's space given the other connections we're talking about, would that work? David Albers: I mean, it's something that we can look at with civil. We can plan for best case scenario, but it may not end up in that exact location. So we may have to take a look at again once utilities are installed, and then we would have possibly an updated plan. Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 12 of 17 Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. David Albers: So I think that's something we can look at. But as of right now, I don't see it working out very well. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. David Albers: Just because there are substantial, they're not small. And there's going to be at least four pieces of equipment either in the ground or in that vicinity that will make at least... I think, making it architecturally pleasing, and not haphazard, trying to jog around all of these things in the ground. I don't know that we'll end up with something that's necessarily more favorable than just some open areas that have some plants growing accurate. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay, so you... In other words, you want to see that condition stricken if possible condition [inaudible 00:34:42]. David Albers: I would prefer that, yes. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. David Albers: Let's see. Item number 15 is the next one. And this is asking us to add glazing on the Southeast corner, if I'm understanding the language here properly. This also goes back to the grading of the property. So, the Southeast corner is the high point of the site. And so that you're coming up 10th. And then when you get to Jefferson off of the Southeast corner of 10th, that is actually the second floor of the building. So level one commercial of the RHA space, is all at level one, and it dies into the grade and the parking is at that corner. And we've hidden it with changing of the grade. David Albers: And so, where they're asking for this 50% glazing between four and eight feet are actually apartments. And we think that would be pretty detrimental to those units to have that much glazing and be that exposed. And we feel we addressed this in the conceptual planting plan where there's quite a bit of trees on that corner, between the right of way and the building. And there is some glazing in the wall because there are units. So there is a living room and a bedroom window. But I don't think that glazing... Adding that much glazing to that corner is going to be beneficial for the residents. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. Anything else? Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 13 of 17 David Albers: I just have a confirming question on 17. They're just asking for a higher contrast in the brick color at level one. So, we have a light color and a dark color on the building, and then the brick is in between the two. So I'm wondering, do you want a better, bigger contrast from the lighter color? Or the darker color? Mr. Olbrechts: Mr. Morganroth, can you get through that right now? Mr. Morganroth: Yeah. I don't have the [inaudible 00:36:58]. So I think we'd be open to a number of different things. It is [inaudible 00:37:02] the rendering of providing some of the elevations, a little bit difficult to tell if there was going to be that contrast. So I think once we get the materials board stuff, it possibly nice to maybe get sent over both options, at least on one elevations, so I could see it. I hear what you're saying. I think the concern was the blending into a wider [inaudible 00:37:25] or a grip that contains variation within the individual bricks. So just to make it stand out a little bit more, but happy to work with you guys on that find a pattern that works. David Albers: Okay, yeah. We can do that. And is the material board required at permit submittal? Or when would that be required? Mr. Morganroth: Yeah, you can always... I mean, obviously, we can make it work, I get it. But yeah, it is required with the building permits. So, we can always take a look at it earlier or something, if you wanted some confirmation before submitting. David Albers: Okay. And then my final one is item 24. So this is asking us to utilize a concrete seat wall in lieu of the plan rockery on 10th Street. Would it be possible to show that self elevation to illustrate what changing this will do? Mr. Olbrechts: [Inaudible 00:38:24] Mr. Morganroth, can you do that? Mr. Morganroth: Yeah, give me two seconds and [inaudible 00:38:30]. David Albers: Sure. So while that's going on. So basically, when we started the conversation with the city before we did our submittal, it was relayed that we would like... They would like us to hide the concrete wall that is below under building parking in that Southeast corner as much as possible. And so, we looked at this idea of stepping the grade as it goes north, or sorry, east along 10th. But one of the issues we have to deal with is that it is quite a bit of slope. And we're planting it as well. And so, we're maxed out at a three to one slope. And this allows the plantings to actually grow. And it allows ground cover to stay in place. So, looking at this south elevation, you can see how much of that concrete wall we're burying Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 14 of 17 between grid lines eight and 12. We only have that triangular piece that show if this is... Yeah. And number two. David Albers: So there's that triangular piece of gray between a grid eight, nine. So that's really the only part of the wall that's exposed, and we're bringing it all the way up to just under the Hardie siding, you can see between grids 10 and 12. And that's based on us starting four feet above grade at 10th. And the way we're getting to that grade is having a four foot rockery. And then we slope back from the top of that rockery at three to one. And then we have another rockery wall, and at the top of that wall, we slope back to do and you can see those steps in the edge of that triangle. David Albers: And so like I said, that grading starts at four feet above the grade at the right of way, or the property line. So if we were to drop that from four feet to say 18 inches, 16 inches, which is what you would want for a seat wall, you're going to expose another two and a half feet of that garage wall. And we want to make sure that you guys understand the implications of dropping that retaining wall down because it's going to expose a band of concrete between grids nine and 12 of about two and a half feet. Because we can't go any steeper than the three to one slope at the back of that seat wall. David Albers: And we're also thinking that if the idea was to hide concrete here, having a wall of rockery is a much more natural feature than concrete. Whether it be the concrete of the parking garage or the concrete of the seat wall. So we just feel that the rockery is a better, more natural treatment if we're trying to separate the building from the right of way. If we did go with the seat wall, we would... Obviously we would want to put the anti-skateboarding devices on the lip, and things like that. If that is something we need to do, but we're in favor of the design as it currently is shown. So those are the items that I had comments on. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. Alright. Thanks Mr. Albers, and Mr... I'm sure Mr. Morganroth will respond to those when we get back to staff comments. Were those all the comments on behalf of the applicant then? David Albers: [inaudible 00:42:19] from Bronner, [inaudible 00:42:21] has any comments? Bronner: I'm good, David. I actually took care of the item that I had wrong. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. All right, let's move on to public comments then. As I mentioned before, the public will have an opportunity to comment on this as well. So if you're a city resident or anybody who's interested in project, now is your opportunity to say something if you want. And just raise your virtual hand or unmute yourself, say you want to participate. I don't see any takers. And again, look at Mrs. Cisneros' screen there, she has her phone number and email address. If you're trying to participate and can't get Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 15 of 17 through, just email or phone Mrs. Cisneros and let her know. And we will figure out a way to patch you in. So there you go, 971-217-9357 is the phone number. Mr. Olbrechts: Alright. With that, let's move back to staff comments. Mr. Morganroth, do you want to address the comments about the conditions? And as you know, a lot of times, we do leave the record open for a day or two to work out for the parties to revise conditions. That's an option you can certainly use in this case, too, if you think that's necessary. Mr. Morganroth: Okay, for sure. Yeah, I'll just go through some other concerns. I have four conditions. So the first was the stormwater, then wetlands... Module wetlands that are located in the landscaping strip. So, your content to that condition was to really emphasize that the purpose of the 10 foot and on site landscaping is just for landscaping and not for other elements. I do totally understand David's point. And part of the issue with this is that we [inaudible 00:43:57] acquire conceptual but we're looking at conceptual landscape plan, right? So we couldn't see exactly how those... Maybe built a little bit of cement as expose would be screened. And so again, I think the gold standard would be to get those out of the 10 foot landscaping, if not mostly out of it. If that is not feasible, it would just... Again, we just wanted to show on the landscape plan that they are thoughtfully incorporated. And that you can't necessarily tell that there's a stormwater element there. Mr. Morganroth: I get that the module wetlands... They do have plans to them and stuff. But we just... We get the point of the outside of landscaping really is just for just straight landscaping for the screen. So, but again, I think we good. Working on design that if it's shown that it's really strained, then you can't tell there's still an equal amount of landscaping, if it would be otherwise. That's something that we [inaudible 00:44:45], for sure. Mr. Morganroth: The next conditions here was number 11. [inaudible 00:44:57], yeah 11. So connections, yeah. So, again, the point of that condition was just to add a few more pedestrian elements. And that's why that one, in addition to a couple other ones, we did leave open an alternative architectural elements. So it doesn't need to be turned into... You can't turn into another large concrete planter. Again, we didn't leave it pretty open so that there's just some other architectural element added. So I would be in favor of keeping that as written. I think it does allow for an alternative, endless possibilities with how it was written. Mr. Morganroth: 15. Again, my response to this is that we just need an open alternative, and that's adding additional landscaping. And so, you don't completely understand that the way that they're designed for privacy concerns. Why you [inaudible 00:45:49] add additional glazing. So solution going to be adding a little bit of glazing with some landscaping. If that's just, again, can be demonstrated. That's just not going to work. That's why there is an alternative, that's just landscape based in there. So again, I think we can work with you on that. Obviously, to get weighed into the gold standard, but understanding that it's at ground level upgrade there. We just want something to provide a little more privacy as well. Privacy but Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 16 of 17 also... Privacy, but it'll also improved the look of the facade there just because it is so close to the sidewalk. Mr. Morganroth: And then the last one, 24. Yeah, the intent of adding that condition was to provide, again, another different place for people to sit. And just to make it a little more of a nicer pedestrian. And an additional pedestrian amenity buried by a seat wall allowing folks [inaudible 00:46:44]. So maybe looking at something like a two foot seat wall or something smaller, but obviously, we don't want that to come at the expense of exposing the garage. So, and I think we're amenable to adding... Or changing that condition that if it's feasible, that's what we'd like. Though to have some seat wall for folks to actually build to use. But it is going to result in the exposure of more of that cement wall, and that can't be mitigated by landscaping or anything else. That's one way to do that. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. So you're open to modifying 24, to say. I mean, they need to add that concrete seat wall, if it can be done without exposing more concrete, is what it boils down to, yeah. Mr. Morganroth: Exactly, yeah. It is feasible. And then again, I didn't... To be frank, we don't look at every single engineering aspect. Even though the building of the walls, right at the time of land distribution. So certainly, there could be some challenges with that that we're not aware of. So, and I think we're open to looking at that. I just wanted to explain. That was not the intent, was to provide [inaudible 00:47:44] additional pedestrians space there. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. Alright. Anything else? Mr. Morganroth: No. I think that's all for comments [crosstalk 00:47:57]. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. Fantastic. Alright. Mr. Albers as mentioned at the beginning of this hearing, you have final word? Did you want to make any final comments? David Albers: Sure. Yeah. Most of them do have some open ended interpretation and we can definitely work with the city to dial those pieces in. I think our biggest concern, which might be the city's, is item 24., with how much we would expose that wall. We work through many options and if we... Like I said, if we break that four foot height, we are exposing wall. So I'm not sure that we can really find something that's going to work where you stop the rockery for a couple feet, and you introduce a seat wall. Because it's going to introduce a lot of complications for how you integrate that with the rest of the rockery, and then change slope in which we can alter play on three to one. So I'm just fairly skeptical, unfortunately, that we can get a seat wall in along 10th. But I think we can work, obviously, with the other items discussed and come to an agreement with those- Sunset Gardens Transcript Page 17 of 17 Mr. Olbrechts: On the unconditional 11... I mean, what kind of alternatives to the raised planters do you see is working there? David Albers: We would need to discuss with the city architectural features. It could be a change to the facade of the building in that area as opposed to something in the ground. We do have... I mean, we have a lot in the, what is the Southwest corner? The plaza area, we have a lot of seat walls there and some area for public. So I don't know if we just need to take a deeper dive and really see where these pedestrian amenities are concentrated at the moment. And if it's better served to spread them out a little bit, or if we're creating a hub. And having that hub is what makes that place feel good and work for the building, and if that's really enough. But I think we won't know, necessarily, the answer to number 11 until utility you have are in site. Whether we can actually do a planter with which will provide a seat wall, but we could definitely talk with the city about what would be acceptable in lieu of that. But still give us the room we need for the infrastructure. Mr. Olbrechts: Okay. Alright. Sounds great. Okay, then I'll go ahead and close the hearing. And yeah, I'll definitely be modifying condition 24 to provide some more flexibility there. So that concrete seat are only required if it doesn't significantly result in additional exposure of concrete. Other than that, I mean, this is... Obviously, it's a great project, a real asset to the Renton community. It's really exciting to see something as important as affordable housing presented in way that's so well integrated into the surrounding area and so well designed. This is another example, I think, of how well the city's design standards influenced development in the community. And it's just a great project overall. So, of course, I'll be issuing approval and I'll get that out in the next couple of weeks. And I appreciate all your participation today. And we're adjourned for this afternoon. So, have a great day everybody. Bye Automated Voice: Recording stopped.