2003-07-28 TBLASMAN (4) - Laserfiche WebLink

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YUEN:The excavation, I canÓt answer. The, I think that they testified, Mr. Bleck testified that they werenÓt going to excavate the basement, or their car, the garage thatÓs underneath the buildings, that that was built at, basically, at grade. I would agree certainly that a single-story building in the back would be less obtrusive and would also be easier. If the project came in with even with a single-story building, I would still recommend a landscaping condition. It would be easier, considerably easier, to shield the view of a single-story building than the multi-story building. SPRINGER:Thank you. GIFFIN:Thank you. Now, going one more time, the County, Mr. OÓToole? OÓTOOLE:Mr. Yuen, I understand that itÓs common to put in conditions of, in the SMA permit, that certain things would be taken care of at the plan approval level. Can you explain what your concerns would be if these kinds of conditions were put in this permit? YUEN:There are a number of concerns there. First is that itÓs, if a permit is approved with a particular site plan, and then also a landscaping condition, thereÓs the implication that the landscaping has to work around the site plan. And if then that the landscaping is not sufficient, then the site plan wins out over the landscaping. It then becomes a difficult matter of negotiation between the Planning Director and the Applicant, rather than being a firm condition. The second point is that if a Planning Director rejects a landscaping plan at the time of plan approval, the Applicant can appeal that to another body, the Board of Appeals. And if the Board of Appeals doesnÓt have perhaps the, the same desire as the Planning Director for the screen or disagrees with the Planning DirectorÓs analysis, then the Board of Appeals can overturn the Planning Director. This could, this could not be done if the Planning Director was enforcing a clear condition put in at the time of the SMA permit. Another concern that I have is that we tend to, and I hope IÓm not doing this here, we tend to sometimes, I think, in making land use approvals to paper over problems with conditions like -. And so if thereÓs an issue that comes up, we rather than say no, we put on a condition. And then the condition doesnÓt really work or get enforced because itÓs really very difficult. I donÓt want to do that here. I want to have a condition thatÓs clear enough to be enforced in the future. And I donÓt want to set up something that, that thereÓs a irreconcilable conflict between the development and the condition. 10