The Form-Based Code Committee met on July 9, 2026, to consider six cases involving modifications to the downtown code. The meeting began with swearing-in of speakers, rules of procedure, and a reading of the downtown code's intent. The committee approved three cases, denied one, and deferred one. All votes were unanimous unless noted.
The agenda will be followed. Swearing in if you're planning to speak. Lee Helena. Reno Rapp here. Sarah Brockdon. Lindsay Wilkie. Thomas Palmer. Here. Jack Wood. Here. Okay. If you plan to speak, you must be sworn in and you must sign in. Um when you begin to speak, please say your name and then state your address and your interest in the project for the record. Uh there's a laser pointer available if you need to point to any drawings or pictures. Um you may leave after your case is heard. If you do leave, please go beyond the wood doors. The little area right here is very noisy and uh can disrupt the meeting. Uh if you defer your case, you'll need to notify staff when you'd like to be heard. Uh major modification permits shall be issued within a week of the meeting through the online application portal. And this meeting is being reported. Um rules of procedure. There'll be a staff presentation of up to seven minutes. Uh the applicant will then have seven minutes to speak to the case. We will then call for community comments, uh, either for or against. We'll allow nine minutes total. Um then the applicant has a chance to respond to those comments for another two minutes. And then we will go uh into committee discussion, uh, which we will no longer have uh audience participation, and then we will go into a motion and a vote. Okay, here's the one. The downtown code is intended to balance conservation and development by promoting development that maintains downtown position as a region's pre predominant economic civic and cultural center. All right, umoting development along transit corridors that enhances their function and is as mixed use, walkable centers that serve surrounding residential neighborhoods, providing standards for compatible transitions of use, building scale height between existing and new development, guiding reinvestment in established neighborhoods that builds upon and reinforces their unique characteristics, promoting preservation and protection of historic resources, providing clear and consistent procedures for appropriate and effective public involvement and land use and development decisions. Code is intended to achieve design excellence in the built environment by providing building and site design standards that address public aspects of private development and how building form placement and uses contribute to the quality of the public realm, providing parking and access standards that appropriately balance pedestrian and vehicle needs and result in safe pedestrian environments of the highest quality, promoting high quality innovative landscape design that advances function and the beauty of downtown. The code is intended to guide downtown's prosperous and sustainable future by providing clear regulations and processes that result in predictable, efficient, and coordinated review processes, promoting sustainable building and site design practices, promoting diverse housing options, providing standards for interconnected streets and development patterns that support all modes of travel, including walking, walking, bicycling, public transit, and driving, promoting conservation of land, energy, and natural resources, establish uh the standards established in the downtown code are attended to achieve the following. Maintain a safe, walkable, attractive urban environment along the street, maximize opportunities for redevelopment and investment in the downtown core, provide diversity of housing options, promote development that will support transit and commercial services, the community desires. Protect established single family residentials from incompatible development, protect the integrity of established historic districts and significant historic/slash civic landmarks, balanced development opportunity and conservation along the riverfront by promoting development scale form that maintains public accessibility to the river, considers public-private benefits and scenic views along the river, considers the impact of topography, both in terms of reasonableness and of the standard when applied to a particular site and the potential impacts on adjoining properties, increase the tree canopy, and support adoptive plan policies and recommendations. However, site-specific uh features, topographic changes, lot size, regular dimensions, physical barriers or easements may create conditions that make compliance with a specific standard impractical or undesirable. It is also recognized that an alternative design solutions may achieve the principles stated above and may not comply with a specific standard. It is a responsibility of the applicant to meet the burden of clearly demonstrating the reason for the requested code exception and to provide sufficient documentation to illustrate how the modification is related to a site constraint and or how the modification would equal or exceed the existing standard in terms of choosing the achieving the principles stated above. Our role is the committee, review requests for major modifications to the FBC that do not qualify for staff approval and reveal appeals to staff decisions or interpretations. Motion to approve? Yeah, second. Second. All those in favor? I'm gonna show cherries. All right. On to old business. First case under old business is FC26. One and three street way. So WNZ. And they're requesting for modification. One to allow for a new monument sign, sign construction to reduce that setback on the E to be 5B to see max conventions allowed for the monument sign to title six might be and then allow skyline signs on the building or four stories.