1012 40TH ST 2016-01-01 MF Import

Teresa Weldon From: Allan Giffen Sent: Monday, Ma��O5, 2014 2:43 PM To: Teresa Weldon ��; Gerry Ervine, Jeff Fleilman; Tony Lee Subject: Quildmg permit height calculation for sinc!e family dwelling on 40th Streel Teresa—Aher meeting with Eugene Friday, I visited the sire this moming. It is very obvious that he was way off in his calculation of base elevation ,vhen he submitted it for building permit. He shows a difference in elevation of 3 feet between point E3 (west midpoint) and point � (east midpoint), on a site thai slopes,on averege by about 15:6 (10 feet drop in a 60 foot wide lot = 1G.7°6�. Based on photos of the lot as viewed (rom the street prior to the start of construction, the uphill west side of the site was more level than the east side of the �ot. It appears that the retaining wall 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 port+on of the subject lot. Since the plat was approved in 1981, prior to the change in our method of calculating building height and base elevation, the code requires us to use the ezisting grade, rather than the apprcved topography that the City approved through a land development permit, like a subdivision. Had Eugene taken more care with the establishment of base elevation, he would not have had to hire a surveyor, and we would not be in the po"ition of attempting to review the assumptions of the surveyor. However, since his estimation of the elevation of tf�e rnidpoints of the rectangle enclosing the building footprint were so far off, I am indined to agree with the survevor's assumed elevations before excavation.'Even if the surveyor was off by 2 feet for the assumed elevation nf point D, the base elevation v✓ould be different by 6 inches, and net enough to make any difference in impact to the vie�vs of the two houses located on the uphiil west side of the subject property. While I do not want to be put in the position of having surveyors create assumptions abou[elevations tha[exisied prior to construction, in this instance I evill agree with the surveyor's work and approve the building height based on this methodology, the site visit, the photo from prior to construction, contour information on the City's GIS, and the contour elevations in the original plat file. ' I would like ro encourage staff to visit building sites in the fuWre in order to determine if buildings of 2 storics or more on slopin�sites may be at risk of exceeding the perrnitted height above 6ase elevation. While i[ is not aiways possible to review all sires, it would pre(erable ro review such permit applications to see if staff agrees with the in(ormation provided by the app�icant. Thank you for your e(forts on this. Thank you also to Jeff for his time and assistance with Ihis permit. Allan Git(en 1 `V