Here's a recap of what happened last night at the M-UTC Meeting:<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Last night's report from Patriot Group:</span><br>1) Patriot showed what changes they made since our last meeting to get feedback. Main changes are:
<br>building facade looks a bit more articulated with more variation than the last design. They definitely are moving more in the right direction architeture-wise, in my opinion. But still a ways to go.<br><br>2) Parking deck would be 3 stories, just under building A, not stretching across both buildings. They decided the issue of street closure and building a long vault would not be worth it. They've taken soil boring samples to 35 ft deep and they are comfortable w/ doing a deep deck.
<br><br>3) No changes in height and no step backs provided on top floors to mitigate height.<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Comments to Patriot Group from the Committee</span><br><br>1) building height is still an issue
<br><br>2) rear facade treatment was not provided -- committee urged that rear facades receive detailing, articulation and design attention, because the building will be visible from 360 degrees.<br><br>3) design is going in better direction, but there is still a ways to go on providing the level of design variation that the guidelines call for. for instance, zoning calls for visual cues that distinguish commercial from residential uses. there is opportunity to make building a and building b read as separate developments, rather than one monolith, and other suggestions were provided.
<br><br>4) concerns that the commercial parking provided (19 + 6 spaces) is not adequate to support businesses. Concerns that Riverdale Rd cannot accomodate the 6 on street spaces provided in the plan. <br><br>5) residents expressed a number of concerns, some of which are not design/zoning issues, but may be items that the town council will want to make note of such as - a. will condos have an onsite fulltime manager, b. will there be an owner-occupied requirement to prevent condos from being rented c. general feeling that communty members want the condos to be high quality units that enhance the town's housing stock, rather than detract from it, d. concerns about traffic and the inconvenience that a major construction project may cause in terms of dust, noise, etc. e. concerns that parking current residents on Riverdale Road retain access to parking in front of their houses. f. concerns about what insurance/liability coverage there is for any adjacent properties that experience foundation shifts or other problems as a result of construction.
<br><br>Thanks for your interest. We expect that there will likely be another submission by the developer in time for the June meeting. Next meeting is June 7 at 7:30 pm. <br><br>By separate email, I'll send the staff comments that contain zoning detail. These are provided to Patriot Group to guide their revisions.
<br><br>- Alice Ewen Walker<br>M-UTC Chair <br><br><br>