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#14-3686 Northern Oalcs March 5,2015 Page 3 basement. Where some visual relief from the uniformity of 6 new 55-foot wide homes on 75-foot wide lots could be had by the middle two homes having lower 1-1/2 story rooflines, allowing the proposed grading plan revisions will accommodate the applicants' desired 2- story homes. The visual impact of these homes, either with or without a revised grading plan approval, will be significantly less stark than the row of homes on Maple Place,primarily because of the variety of facade designs and the variable setbacks from the road(see Ezhibit E). Marketabilitv Please review the applicants' submitted materials. Applicants suggest that there is no demand for 1-story or 1-1/2 story homes, and that the site constraints restricting buildable lot area are extremely limiting for Lots 3 and 4, making it difficult to provide the market-desired space and amenities within a 1-1/2 story envelope. Analysis It was clear all during the subdivision review process that Lots 3 and 4 would be restricted in terms of flexibility of house location. There was virtually no discussion in the record as to whether these constraints made it imperative that homes with a basement and 2 full stories needed to be accommodated. The grading plans merely suggested that each house was set at an elevation that would accommodate a walkout. In staff's opinion there are pros and cons to allowing the extent of fill necessary to make Lots 3 and 4 accommodate the homes intended by the applicants. It can be argued that the grading plan should have been approved on the basis that it did create new existing grades for determining building heights; but there was no intent on the developers' part to bring in fill to physically create new building pads until individual homes were built. The City has no control over sale of vacant lots, and the applicants could have just as easily sold the lots to other builders who have a completely different idea of what to build on the lots. T'he lots could sit vacant for many years. Staff Recommendation Staff does not want an approval to act as a precedent for generally allowing the use of fill to artificially raise the grade next to a foundation in order to make a defined story into a basement. If Council chooses to approve the requested grading plan changes, it should be documented as an amendment of the subdivision approvals to allow the overall site improvement grading to include establishment of new existing grades for building height determination, based on the original intent of the developer. COUNCIL ACTION REQUESTED Council should review the applicants' request and if approval is warranted, direct staff to prepare an amendment of the Development Agreement docuxnenting the approval.