Council ponders building

CITY HALL — The City Council on Tuesday was on the verge of deciding the fate of a proposal to construct a two-story office building in the Magnolia Park District, a building that residents in the area have maintained would be too large and would not be compatible with the surrounding neighborhood.

Though there was no decision on the issue at press deadline, council members were discussing potential ways to modify the project, such as increasing setbacks to allow for more driveway visibility and limiting the building height, in order to balance project plans with the concerns of residents.

"Residents have given us a lot of information and now our job is to try to figure out what to do with it," Councilman Jef Vander Borght said. "And, as always, it's a balancing act."

The project developer had indicated a willingness to accommodate the council's recommendations.

"This developer is up against some incredibly subjective standards … and I think this project proposal has gone to great lengths and great efforts to address those," said Michael Shonafelt, an attorney representing the developer.

The project proposal had already undergone several changes since the design was submitted to city planning staff in 2006, assistant city planner Laurie Yelton said.

The original development application requested the city's approval to construct a three-story, 23,650-squarefoot building with three stories of subterranean parking. The Community Development Department denied that project, unable to make findings that showed it to be in compliance with development review standards — in particular, that the project would not pose risks to pedestrian safety.

The applicant reduced the overall square footage of the building and took the revised plan to the Planning Board on an appeal in October 2006. The Planning Board rejected that proposal, largely siding with the concerns of residents that the project was too large for the area. Board members also concurred with the findings of the Community Development Department that the project did not meet development review specifications.

But the most recent proposal, which went before the council Tuesday, had the approval of planning staffers, who found that the revision met the standards required by the development review process, Yelton said.