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The Portland Design Commission on Thursday gave its approval for a 12-story mixed-use project (including affordable units), but the decision may be appealed to Portland City Council because of two conditions the commission imposed.

The planned building at Northwest Raleigh Street and 14th Avenue was approved unanimously after about two hours of discussion, but Sarah Stevenson, executive director of developer Innovative Housing Inc., said she and her team will decide this week whether to appeal the conditions.

One condition concerns the design team’s groupings of oriel windows at the fifth and sixth floors with another grouping at the top three floors. City planner Grace Jeffreys said that staffers recommended moving all of the oriel windows to the top five floors.

As submitted, the design by Salazar Architect and LRS Architects shows a gray and white checkerboard pattern on one side of the building with the oriel windows on the other side. The groupings of oriel windows would be orange and the spaces between them, at levels two through four and levels seven through nine, would be white.

But in addition to lumping the oriel windows at the top of the building, city staffers also recommended bringing the checkerboard pattern around the building to fill in all the white spaces.

After the meeting, Stevenson said she was surprised that city staffers created a new rendering showing the changes they recommended. She said she would meet today with her staff and the design team to decide whether to appeal the two conditions to City Council.

The conditions attached to the approval could make a big difference in what happens next, Stevenson said.

鈥淚f their changes were purely aesthetic, we could move forward,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut these changes aren’t purely aesthetic and we need to talk about what’s the cost and impact of doing that redesign.鈥�

The building’s design calls for 93 affordable units at the top 11 levels, ground-floor retail space, a lobby connected to bike parking and ground-level parking for 16 vehicles. Exterior materials include metal siding and vinyl windows over ground-floor brick and aluminum storefronts.

The redesign required by the city could impact costs and construction schedules.

鈥淔or me, it comes down to time,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e need to get started on this project and I’m feeling a lot of pressure to not delay on new affordable housing.鈥�

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the roles of the architecture firms involved in the project.