July 31, 2024 Planning Board Special Meeting Transcript - WEHI

47 (Pages 182 to 185) Page 182 1 than highlighting. 2 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: Got it. 3 MR. APPEL: And that was in regard 4 just to being more sensitive to that. 5 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: All right. 6 Now, have you considered, in your public spaces, 7 where or how many garbage cans you're going to have, 8 around the clubhouse, the dog kennel, the dog park? 9 MR. APPEL: Have not gotten into that 10 level of detail. 11 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: But there will 12 be public trash cans in those public areas? 13 MR. APPEL: I think that's a wonderful 14 idea and I think that we should include some of 15 these, and one of the things we did not, uh, we did 16 not think through, we located bike racks below the 17 buildings but not at the clubhouse and I think 18 people should be encouraged to bike to the 19 clubhouse. 20 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: On that note, 21 are you going to have bike lanes? 22 MR. APPEL: Um... 23 MR. ANDERSON: No. 24 MR. APPEL: I don't believe there was 25 anything proposed as a bike lane. Page 183 1 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: Is the street 2 wide enough to incorporate a bike lane? 3 MR. APPEL: Not currently. 4 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: All right, and 5 then my last question, back to the COAH units. In 6 the affordable units, the balconies -- you can go to 7 the slide, whichever slide that was. In the COAH 8 units, the balcony is accessed only through 9 bedrooms. In the market-rate units, the balcony is 10 accessed through the living rooms. What is the 11 thinking behind that? 12 MR. APPEL: I'm not sure if that's the 13 case for everything. 14 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: Okay. 15 MR. APPEL: Give me a moment, please. 16 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: Sure. 17 (Witness looks through documents.) 18 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: So it's slide 19 -- 20 MR. APPEL: So I'm looking at PB-4 -- 21 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: 7. 22 MR. APPEL: -- .7 -- 23 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: Yes. 24 MR. APPEL: -- so -- so 4.7 -- 25 MR. AFRAN: Can the lights be dimmed Page 184 1 for a couple minutes? It's hard to see. 2 MR. APPEL: So living room, so the 3 balconies off the bedroom and this is -- on the one- 4 bedroom, it's off the bedroom -- 5 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: Right. 6 MR. APPEL: -- and that was to allow 7 the living room to be larger. That was why we had 8 done that, we thought it was a better tradeoff. 9 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: Okay. 10 MR. APPEL: And then on the two- 11 bedroom COAH, it is off the living

living room to be larger. That was why we had 8 done that, we thought it was a better tradeoff. 9 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: Okay. 10 MR. APPEL: And then on the two- 11 bedroom COAH, it is off the living room -- 12 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: Living room, 13 right. 14 MR. APPEL: -- and on the three- 15 bedroom COAH, it's also off the living room, so -- 16 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: So my notes 17 weren't clear, but on the -- 18 MR. APPEL: But you're correct on -- 19 on that one. 20 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: And so the 21 thinking was to give a larger living room. 22 MR. APPEL: That was why we had placed 23 it over there, because we could mirror the unit so 24 we keep the balcony in the same place, but now 25 you're going to have a smaller living room and we Page 185 1 thought that was more valuable for the residents. 2 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: That's a 3 choice, I just wanted to understand the thinking 4 behind it. 5 I will say I am a little disappointed 6 with the size -- the square footage difference 7 between the affordable and the market-rate units. 8 That is disappointing. What we -- what I would like 9 to see, I won't speak for anyone else, are the 10 affordable units, I won't use the word 11 "indistinguishable," that's already been refuted and 12 pushed back against, but substantially or were 13 substantially similar to the market-rate units. The 14 lower-end, you know, you're looking at about a 20 15 percent difference between an affordable unit and a 16 market-rate unit, with the affordable unit being 17 much smaller. You know, it's not as bad in the 18 two-bedroom, but it is a big difference in a three- 19 bedroom. 20 MR. APPEL: So what you have to look 21 at in here is -- is that, on the short side of the 22 building, we have both market and affordable units, 23 so you have a one-bedroom over here, and this has to 24 be a two -- so here's a one-bedroom COAH and a 25 one-bedroom market. You can see -- you shouldn't