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Planning Commission Minutes Approved 7/26/00 July 12, 2000 Page 4 Mr. Maston provided supplemental information in the way of a handout regarding trees as they relate to the driveway. He felt between making moderate adjustments in the field and working with the fire department they will be doing everything they can to save the trees. He further discussed off-site views of the road and screening by planting on both sides of the "S" curve which allows them to block the views of the road due to the serpentine layout which will eventually help them with a landscape plan. They feel comfortable that the future approval process will create mitigation landscape screening. He.further addressed a previous concern regarding the possibility of reducing the square footage of the upper site house to reduce its impact. As a result they have provided an alternate plan which would eliminate 387 square feet from the house as summarized on A-4. He reminded the Commission that there was a petition of 180 supporters previously and an additional 10 letters of endorsement received. They have gone through an exhausted effort to gain the support of neighbors. He further discussed the pathway at the top of the hill. He referred to the plans showing the pathway which would follow the road alignment until it reached the upper portion than drifting out as it has no place to go at the moment and there is a concern by neighbors and the Open Space District the appropriateness of this trail and where it will go. The original intention was for it to go to the Open Space District. Yet no one wants it to as then it becomes an uncontrolled access (and unsupervised) to the open space. They are proposing eliminating the pathway on the upper site, to limit the pathway to where it is currently shown on the previous approval at the bottom of the lower site at Francemont Court. He referred to the letter from the Open Space District, in particular, the inappropriateness of having this house on top of the hill. Eighteen acres of open space have been dedicated and the General Plan approved the upper site as a buildable site with an exception to the conservation easement to allow this to happen. Regarding the conservation easement, they are not proposing to encroach into the conservation easement but to realign it so that there is no net gain. Should they take the approach that this is not a feasible option he can work with Mr. Cahill on language identifying a general location of the pathway by centerline on the map. In this way the centerline of the pathway is established first and the final document for the easement description is filed after the trail is actually built. This allows the surveyors to use the trail for the final layout of the map. This has worked well in Portola Valley and he felt it would work well here. Options are eliminating the pathway or if required, the simplistic way of laying out the pathway in the field. He continued by discussing condition#1. He suggested modifying it to work with staff and the Town Engineer to further investigate alternative ways to address the drainage without taking all the water down to the creek. It is obvious that it has never gone there before and the road alignment has been in place for 40 years. There is a minor concern from their arborist that if they take too much water away from the hillside it could effect the existing native vegetation. Their concern is how they can come up with a drainage plan that evenly disperses the water on the hillside without creating erosion. They would like the opportunity to work with staff if this is a possibility and if not will accept the condition as originally proposed. Regarding condition #3, regarding the grading moratorium, the contractor felt the grading was a 6 to 8 week job. If they can start by September 1St and be completed by November 1St, than this is not an issue. They have a Site Development permit for the lower site and they would like to attach the grading of the upper site with the site permit for the lower site. This would include the retaining walls, the road and erosion control in place; not the final concrete apron because they would want to keep that in gravel through the winter otherwise they would sustain too much damage to the concrete from construction crews. They estimate 8 to 9 weeks for completed roads, retaining walls and building pad. As a part of the conditions, they would be happy to plant the major trees now with the smaller landscaping postponed to a later date. He further