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Portland City Council tentatively overturned a Portland Design Commission denial of the Ankeny Apartments project by a 4-0 vote on Wednesday.

The seven-story, L-shaped complex at 1122 S.E. Ankeny St. will wrap around two single-family houses, and will include 16 apartments and ground-floor retail. The design has drawn criticism from neighbors but won praise from the City Council for efforts to make the project a net-zero energy building.

The latest change from earlier versions of the building was the adoption of setbacks ranging from 18 inches to three feet from the property lines on the south, north and east sides of the structure. The original design left the structure built up to the property line on all sides, which had concerned neighbors.

鈥淚 want to thank the applicant and the neighbors who spent a considerable amount of time going back and forth on this, and I think coming to a very solid and amical resolution,鈥� Mayor Ted Wheeler said before casting his vote in favor of the project.

After the hearing, project developer Landon Crowell applauded the efforts of the city’s staff, especially Grace Jeffreys and Tim Heron of the city’s Bureau of Development Services. He also gave a nod to his development team, which included Jerry Waters of Yost Grube Hall Architecture, Tim Ramis of Jordan Ramis and Greg Vik of Vik Construction.

Other changes in the project from previous versions evaluated by the Design Commission included the addition of wood siding material on parts of the structure and a slight reduction in tower height.

鈥淚 have no standing to say this, but I think the revised building is an improvement over the original building,鈥� Commissioner Nick Fish said.聽 鈥淚 congratulate you for balancing the neighborhood’s concerns, 聽but also having a building that is quite distinctive.鈥�

The development team also volunteered to add a construction mitigation plan as a condition of receiving City Council approval. The plan will require an assessment of surrounding properties before and after construction to identify any damage that might occur during construction.

鈥淭his project has gone from being a zero lot line project to one that has setbacks,鈥� said Ramis, who served as Crowell’s聽 legal counsel. 鈥淭hat distinction has allowed us to address things like maintenance questions and construction issues.鈥�

The development team 聽also agreed to avoid any pile driving during construction. The issue had been a sticking point with neighbors who 聽feared the process would damage their properties.

鈥淲e will use an auger system where we will drill a hole in the ground and inject concrete,鈥� Ramis said. 鈥淚f we tried to do (pile driving), it would be a violation of our construction plan and we couldn’t do it.鈥�

The road to approval has been a long one for the project. First proposed in February 2016, it went through five Design Commission hearings and four City Council hearings before finally winning approval.

鈥淚 am really reluctant to reward a process that has had five hearings at the Design Commission and (four) hearing before us,鈥� Commissioner Amanda Fritz said before casting her vote. 鈥淚 appreciate the neighbors having been responded to at the end; it would have been better to have respond to them at the beginning.鈥�

Wednesday’s vote was tentative. A staff report will be needed to finalize the updated design and construction plan before final approval is given. The final vote on the appeal will be held Aug. 31.