Thanks,



  -Jonathan

Event: . The Open House ran 4:30-6:30 on Tuesday 6/3. There were about 70 attendees total (10 or so from Vuecrest), plus several staff from the city's Planning and Neighborhood Outreach departments. . These slides were presented by Patti Wilma: http://www.bellevuewa.gov/pdf/PCD/06-03-2014_Presentation.pdf . This packet was distributed for discussion in smaller groups. The groups were chosen randomly and covered the same topics. They were each led by a city planner with a member of the Livability Committee also in attendance. Here is the packet: http://www.bellevuewa.gov/pdf/PCD/DTL_Open_House_Print_Packet.pdf . Comment sheets were distributed, and comments can be submitted through Friday 6/6, though later comments are "also welcome." Here is the form (note that email comments are also OK): http://www.bellevuewa.gov/pdf/PCD/Focus_Group_Comment_Card_July_2013.pdf Top takeaways . Here is the process going forward (as I understand it): 1. Committee will meet again later this month to conclude its recommendations. 2. These recommendations will be sent to the City Council for review (and modification) 3. The City Council will send its recommendation to the City Planning department, which will work with architects, planners, etc. to draft specific codes that reflect the instructions given by the council. This will include height limits, amenity bonuses, and other requirements. 4. City Council will study, discuss, amend, and vote on these codes. . The Livability Committee member in our discussion group distanced himself from specific height limits, saying that their job was to make general recommendations on the overall feeling of the downtown area; the planning department would be tasked with figuring out shadow impacts, traffic implications, and other details. . The city was interested in finding out which amenities are desirable to attendees. Examples given included green space, plazas, benches, fountains, parking, and wider sidewalks. . These amenities would be made into an incentive system, which would reward implementation of these items with additional height, FAR, etc. It was not clear to me whether these incentives would allow developers to reach or exceed the maximum levels in the proposal. . Current policy allows an additional 15% or 15' (whichever is greater) to be added to height maximums for certain architectural features. We need to ensure that all modeling for shadows, views, etc. incorporate all of the possible height and FAR bonuses. Next steps . I am working on setting up a Vuecrest meeting with planners from the City to help explain the process, answer questions, and take feedback. I expect that this will take place next week. . We also have an opportunity to meet again with Fortin Group. Ideally this would cover some of the questions raised at last week's meeting. . We may want to begin discussions with members of the City Council to help share our views on the various proposals. Thanks, -Jonathan