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Planning Commission Minutes DRAFT December 10, 1997 Page 5 4.2 LANDS OF ZATPARVAR, 26170 Fremont Road (179-97-TM-IS-ND-GD); A request for approval of a two lot subdivision, and proposed Negative Declaration. The Planning Director introduced this item noting the receipt of a letter from the applicant which discussed the easement for the drainage channel and access road which would need to be approximately 35.84 feet, while if there is no drainage channel, they would need only 25 feet. This means they are losing 10.84 feet of their property width for the development, which could have a negative impact on the house design. They were hoping for some flexibility from the Town in regard to codes and regulations. Also discussed in the letter was the height restriction on Lot A, and concerns regarding starting the driveway next to the channel and between the redwood trees (the applicant included an arborist report). The request for a landscape easement (along that portion of the channel that will not have a driveway adjacent to it) rather than a conservation easement was discussed by the assistant engineer who noted this was not the original location of this drainage channel. It use to cut through the other properties. She stated it was the City Engineer's view that this is actually a storm drain channel. This 30 foot wide easement that the storm drain channel is in will be a rock lined channel for the most part with some native plantings. This is the reason for a landscape easement so there will be native plantings adjacent to it so it will begin to look more like a natural creek. She further discussed the channel improvements as it relates to this property and the surrounding properties. Improvements on the these two lots will be a part of the subdivision. The channel depth will range from 4 feet from were it first outlets to 3 feet for the majority of the channel. Commissioner Schreiner questioned the letter from the Santa Clara Valley Water District asking at some future date would the channel need to be widened. The assistant engineer commented no, not with the Town's current zoning. Commissioner Jinkerson asked, other than the impact on the development area, is there any other argument against putting the driveway on the east side of the property. The assistant engineer responded no, other than increasing the amount of development on the properties with the two driveways with more impact to the lots on the other side. The Town would still need access to the channel so there would need to be another roadway put in for the Town to access the channel. Commissioner Jinkerson felt there was a safety issue with the placement of a driveway within six feet of a creek in a flood plain. OPENED PUBLIC HEARING Jeff Lea, 26229 Eden Landing Road, Hayward, project engineer, noted if a conservation easement is placed over the channel, he asked that the wording include that reconstruction of the channel limits be allowed. A rock lined channel which will go through some settling in. The channel during its lifetime will need some repair as opposed to having a concrete lined channel which will not need repair but will have other drawbacks. He asked for language to be included to allow reconstruction to occur even if they call it a conservation easement. He further discussed the suggestion to increase the buffer between the channel and driveway to eight feet noting they could only increase the buffer to 6.6 feet. Anything beyond that would force them to go below the 160 foot building circle figure. He did not feel there was a safety issue.