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multi -family development. He gave assurance that if the developer installed a wall to save the cost of landscaping buffers that the wall would require landscaping as well. The Chairman opened the public hearing. Renee Renzi, 340 Waverly Place, was pleased this amendment has moved forward. Debra Ecker, who spoke on behalf of an informal alliance of environmental and horticultural groups and other individuals, supported the amendment, urged the use of native plants wherever possible and expressed the group's preference for landscaped berms instead of walls. Peter Radke, 2302 Vero Beach Avenue, pointed out that increasing the buffers would decrease the open space that could be used by residents. He pointed out that buffering is not required for subdivisions. Joe Paladin, Growth Awareness Committee, thought the Commission should raise the bar even further. He recommended the 10 -foot strip minimum on the exterior corridor should be increased to 30 -foot because it is important what people see from the streets. He preferred a berm instead of a wall and specified that it should be a 4 -foot berm instead of a 3 -foot berm. It was suggested that Mr. Paladin meet with Mrs. Ecker and her group. The Chairman closed the public hearing. Director Boling responded to Commissioner Davis' concern about projects that are already submitted by advising that this amendment would only impact new applications but staff members have been successful when they have asked developers to increase their buffering. He noted that we are not getting that many multi -family project applications. Staff felt it was good reasoning to calibrate the depth of the buffer with the size of the project. February 15, 2005 16