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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,July 6,2015 Page 17 Chair Boguszewski noted that both he and Commissioner Daire had attended those CEC subgroup meetings, involving how to succeed in notifying those occu- pants mentioned by Councilmember Willmus. Chair Boguszewski stated that Community Development Director Bilotta had been very helpful in talking about some of the logistics in obtaining and tracking occupants, their names and ad- dresses; and the subgroup recognized those efforts and difficulties. Regarding the notice area, Chair Boguszewski opined that certain projects by their very nature may warrant or mandate a broader geography for notice; or those affecting a school may require a broader base covering the entire school district boundary as a default neighborhood. Chair Boguszewski noted that the subgroup would be bringing forward some recommendations in the near future on potential triggers based on those discussions. As chairperson, and speaking specifically of the work of the Variance Board, Chair Murphy noted the work of that body, and noted as an accomplishment the lack of Variance Board decisions appealed to-date. Chair Boguszewski recognized the service of Chair Murphy and Commissioners Daire and Gitzen in serving on the Variance Board; and thanked them for under- taking those additional duties. With Mayor Roe noting the difficult decisions often involving variance requests and application of those particular rules fitting a situation, Chair Boguszewski opined that one measure of the success of the Variance Board and Planning Commission has been their history of not always following staff recommenda- tions, whether to approve or deny an application. Chair Boguszewski opined that was an indication they were fulfilling their function of thinking through projects and not just involving a rote process, while recognizing staff had mandates to fol- low, but allowing the commission to dig deeper under their mandated charge and consider other factors as well. Move-up Housing Thresholds During the City Council's priority planning meetings, Councilmember Willmus advised that from a planning perspective he understood the questions from the commission, but could not personally identify a hard target that indicated whether or not a development proposal fit in that category. Councilmember Willmus opined that it was more of a directive from the City Council to staff based on past experience and future needs for housing stock that addressed higher end or use developments. Councilmember Willmus advised that the $350,000 number was taken from a Minneapolis housing study about cost benefit and at what value a home consumed less in services than tax revenues generated. Councilmember Willmus noted that would always be a moving target; and questioned whether or not the Planning Commission needed to consider this criteria in evaluating a pro- posal, to which he considered the answer to be"no."