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the property to enable us to eliminate a second home, thereby reducing the size of the community to 24 homes. Second, in an effort to address neighborhood issues regarding the alignment of Roosevelt right-of-way, we agreed to modify the improvements recommended by the Planning Commission so that the gas station ITontage would not be changed at all. And so that, while on-street parking in ITont of the project would be retained, the travel lanes would not be narrowed significantly. Third, in response to neighborhood concerns regarding parking, we agreed to use a portion of the property ITeed up by the loss of homes for public parking along Upton Street. (Mr. Ward showed an overhead of the 24-home configuration site plan.) This overhead gives you a visual representation of those changes, the loss of the two units formerly along Upton Street, introduction of parking in a diagonal configuration along Upton, and a realigned Roosevelt Avenue. We had constructive and productive dialogue with the neighbors and in our opinion we have made substantial progress toward resolving these issues." Mr. Ward reported that at the conclusion of their third meeting last Tuesday, Classic Communities advised the neighbors this option would be introduced at this Council meeting. He said they believed they listened to the neighbors and "responded in real ways to their concerns. None of these changes have come easily for us." He said Classic Communities had made compromises in order to get the property owners to make compromises as well. He said the new proposals were hailed by some but not by all the neighbors. Mr. Ward said, "while we respect that position, we believe that the changes we have agreed to are major and they address the issues" brought by the neighbors. He said Classic Communities took the initiative to meet again with the neighbors even after the Planning Commission had approved the original project. He said, "in our view, the proposed development would be a significant improvement for the neighborhood. It will remove a blight ITom the neighborhood by taking a dilapidated, obsolete commercial building which has been unoccupied for approximately 3 years now, out of service. Second, even at the 26-unit level it will reduce the volume of traffic generated by the property by a factor of eight. It will produce only 1/8 of the traffic generated by a commercial retail use. Third, it will provide a land use that is more compatible with the nearby residential uses than is the current retail use. Fourth, it will increase the amount of on-street parking in the neighborhood with the addition of new street parking on Roosevelt and potentially on Upton Street. Fifth, it will restore the original contour to the slope to create the commercial building site. And sixth, it will provide the opportunity for some younger and some older households to live in... and become assets to this neighborhood." Mr. Ward said over 80% of the site was bordered by commercial or institutional uses, "yet, all of the proposed homes are detached, single family dwellings." He advised that there were lot sizes across the street on Euclid that were approximately the same size as those proposed in the subject development. He described the lot sizes and how setbacks would be larger than required in an R-l zoning. Mr. Ward said the 24-unit proposal would have up to 17.5 feet setbacks, over 3 times what is present in other infill projects, and would include two guest parking spaces in each courtyard. He said the homes had a lot of architectural variety and elevations to reflect the diversity of the neighborhood, and said Classic Communities was committed to utilizing the same high REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 55 MAY 5,1997 MINUTES Page No. 288 PAGE 13