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Design board backs Akins Town Square phase, recommends waivers to council
Summary
The Eagle Design Review Board voted to recommend City Council approve the Akins Town Square mixed‑use building at 167 East Akins with site-specific waivers, citing ACHD and drainage easements that reduce the buildable area by roughly 50%. The board approved reductions to landscaping buffers and interior landscaping in exchange for design and operational conditions.
The Eagle Design Review Board voted to recommend City Council approve DR‑2024‑16, the Akins Town Square mixed‑use building at 167 East Akins, after hearing an applicant presentation about site constraints and staff analysis of required deviations.
Danielle Strollo, attorney for Roth Construction, told the board the site is about 0.45 acres, contains an existing single‑family house and will be developed as residential over commercial frontage with podium parking. "These easement areas limit the buildable area of the property by 50%," Strollo said, citing an 11.5‑foot ACHD pedestrian‑improvements easement on the north frontage and a wooded drainage‑ditch easement on the south rear. She said the project provides 18 parking spaces for residents (including eight covered and two guest spaces) and five spaces for commercial uses.
Staff recommended and the applicant requested a set of waivers and alternative‑compliance items: adjustments to lot coverage, relaxed front/side setbacks tied to the ACHD encroachment, a reduced perimeter landscape buffer (2.5 feet instead of 5) supplemented by a tall green screen, and a reduction in interior landscaping to 3% (code requires 5%). Strollo also said the proposed trash enclosure is integrated into the building and that the trash hauler "approve[s] of this trash enclosure and are willing to serve it."
Board members debated architectural detail and the tradeoffs of urban infill, asked the applicant to consider relocating an interior parking island by two to three stalls to meet the 60‑foot landscape distance requirement, and pressed staff for precise condition language. The board's recommendation edits included striking the staff's site‑specific condition requiring an external trash buffer, accepting the front‑setback tied to ACHD's 11'6" easement, and adding conditions to allow the applicant's alternative compliance (perimeter buffer reduction and 3% interior landscaping) provided several site‑specific items are finalized in plan submittals.
The motion to recommend approval with the edited site‑specific conditions passed on a voice vote. The board's recommendation will be forwarded to City Council for final action.
