1012 40TH ST 2016-01-01 MF Import

Teresa Weldon From: Allan Giffen Sent: Monday, May O5, 2014 2:43 PI�1 To: Teresa Weldon Cc: Gerry Ervine;leff Heilman;�iony Lee Subjeet Building permit hei�ht cakulation (or sinqle (a��ily d::ellinn on �40th Street Teresa—Af[er meeting with Eugene Friday, I visited the site ihis momin�. It is very obvious that he was way off in his cakulation of base eleva[ion when he submitted i[ for building permit. He shows a difference in elevation of 3 fee[ between poin[ B (west midpoint) and point D (east midpoint), on a site that slopes, on average by about 15% (10 feet drop in a 60 foot wide lot= 16.7%). Eiased on photos of the lot as vie�ved from the sireet prior[o the start of construction, the uphill �vest side of the site was more level than the east side of Uie lot. It appears that the retaining wa{I built on the west property line for the house to the west may have cast the dirt from that excavation on the uphill side of the subject lot, thereby creating the shelf on the west portion of the subject lot. Since the plat was approved in 1P81, prior to the change in our method of calculating building height and base elevation, the code requires us to use the existing grade, rather than the approved topography that the (:ity approved through a land development permit, like a subdivision. Had Eugene taken more care �vith the establishment of base elevation, he would not have had tc hire a surveyor, and we would not be in the position of attempting to review the assumptions of lhe sun�eyor. However, since nis estimation of the elevation oF the midpoints of the redangle endosing the building footprint were so far off, I am indined to agree cith the surveyor's assumed elevations before excavation. Even if the surveyor was off by 2 feet for the assumed elevation of point 4, the base elevation eJould be diffcreni by 6 in�hes, and not enough to make any difference in irnpact ro the views of the hvo houses located on ihe uphill�vest side of the subject property. While I do not want to be put in the position of having surveyors ueate assumptions about elevations tha[existed prior to cons[ruction, in this insiance I �vill agree w�th the surveyor's vaork and approve the building height based on this methodology, the site visit, the photo from prior to construction, cuntour information on the City's GIS, and the contour elevations in the original plat file. 1 �vould like to encourage staff to visit building sites in the future in ordcr to deterrnine if buildings of 2 storics or more on sloping si[es may be al risk o(exceeding the permitied height abovc� base elevation. While it is not al�.v�:ys pnssihle to review all sites, it would prefcrahic b review such permit applications to see i(staff agrees with the infarmation provided hy thc applicant. Thank you for your ef(orts on �his ihank you also to Jeff for his tirne and assistancc v�ith this permit. llllan Gif(en �� "1 1