HomeMy WebLinkAbout3.4 Supplement #3 SUPPLEMENS
AGENDA ITEM# 2j.1-I
Distributed: \21 2. I5
December 1, 2015
RE: Planning Commission
December 3, 2015 Agenda Item#3.4 � � ���
Amendment of Rules for Small Lots
Dear Planning Commission,
I wanted to share some data in regard to Floor Area Ratios (FAR) in respect to lots under one
half an acre.
Surrounding Jurisdictions Allow Relatively Larger FAR on Smaller Lots (Addendum A)
You will find an analysis of other nearby cities allowable floor areas and how lot size impacts
floor area attached as Addendum A. I recognize each city is distinct and has its own
characteristics and therefore not directly comparable to Los Altos Hills. Remarkable though, is
that they all share a common characteristic: in each and every case, these surrounding
jurisdictions allowed more floor area as lot size as lots gets smaller.
Particularly illuminating is Portola Valley, a town with mostly large lots and strict policies to
retain the rural nature of the Town. Like Los Altos Hills and some of the other hillside Towns, it
uses a slope adjusted calculation to determine allowable floor area. Also like Los Altos Hills, it
has some smaller lots but the majority of the land is composed of larger lots.
Portola Valley, like each and every other jurisdiction evaluated, allows a larger home relative to
the lot size as the lot gets smaller. Indeed each and every one of these cities has found it more
equitable to accommodate the needs of smaller lot owners, which tend to have greater
restrictions, not only due to lot size but also lot shape and other impediments.
This is precisely the opposite of the proposal before you for regulating small lots,which
proposes a more restrictive standard of.16 FAR or the LUF based calculation,whichever is less.
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Homes Built on Small Lots in the Town Over Last 60 Years Average 0.20 FAR (Addendum B)
Attachment 4 of the Staff Report shows existing Lots in Los Altos Hills that are under half an
acre. An evaluation of the FAR of the homes built in the last 60 years was made in Addendum B
to demine the FAR of these existing houses. Since these home represent the as built
environment for our smaller lots in town, they presumably fit within the rural character of the
Town. This list includes a number of houses built all the way back into the 1950's, houses by
today's standards would likely be considered functionally obsolescent due to their small size.
These older homes will also need to be replaced soon. The "revised lots size" numbers provided
by in the Staff Report were utilized, even those these are gross areas and not necessarily net
areas,to ensure the most conservative possible calculation was used. By dividing the floor area
by the lot size the FAR for each lot was calculated,which is provided in Addendum B. The
average Floor Area of these lots was 0.20 FAR, far higher than the proposed .16 FAR.
CDP Approvals Since 2004 on Half Acre Lots Average 0.21 FAR (Addendum C)
In Addendum C, I used the Towns Attachment 6,Summary of CDP Approvals in LAN since 2004,
for another analysis of the as built environment of Los Altos Hill,this time looking at what the
Planning Commission and/or City Council found fair and reasonable to approve in the last 11
years of its history in terms of smaller lots.The town provided list included a handful of lots
over half an acre,which I eliminated so as to focus on half acre lots or less. These remaining 12
Conditional Development approvals have an average of.21 FAR, as shown on the attached
chart.
Summary
The various points of evidence converge in expressing a .16 FAR represents an anomaly
compared to the surrounding jurisdictions, within the Town's existing housing stock and within
projects the Town has seen fit to approve in the last decade and a half.
The proposal before you imposes a new, significantly more restrictive set of rules than have
ever before been applied in Los Altos Hills, rules that to not conform to our existing housing
environment and pose an unreasonable hardship on small lot owners.
So often on projects before public bodies, the applicant stands alone while all the neighbors
pile on against them. Eventually, however, all homes need to be repaired, expanded, or
replaced.As a past Planning Commissioner (for Santa Clara County) myself, I have seen how the
same person opposed to allowing their neighbor to build eventually must come,this time alone
with hat in hand,to request their own project be approved. In my neighborhood,the majority
of lots are non-conforming and virtually all the buildings are non-conforming. Many of the same
people now in favor of harsher rules, or their children, or the people they eventually sell their
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home to, will come back looking for the ability to build or add on to their non-conforming
building on non-conforming lots. These rules before you will make it impossible to approve
reasonable and fair proposals.
In essence, this harsh rules creates a new class of people in Los Altos Hills,those who can build
a house fitting their family's needs, and those that cannot. They represent a threat to the
standards of fairness and property rights we hold dear in our community.
These new restrictive rules also take away the Planning Commission's ability to use its judgment
and experience to determine what projects make sense. By tying the Commission hands, good
projects that you feel deserve to be approved will not be possible because of the logic of this
unforgiving standard.
I urge you to treat small lot owners fairly by rejecting rules that put the a disproportionate
burden on small lot owners, one with no precedent in neighboring jurisdictions or the Town's
existing housing on small lots.
Thank you for your consideration of this data and my perspective.
In Gratitude,
Forrest Lwebarger
Forrest Linebarger
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Portolla Valley
Town of Portolla Valley FAR Ratio by Lot Size
0.25 0.24
Floor Area
Lot Size House Size 0.22
Ratio (FAR) 0.19
15,000 0.24 3,563 0'20 0.18
.37 ac 16,311 0.22 3,651
.46 ac 20,000 0.19 3,853 0.15
.50 ac 21,780 0.18 4,012
1.0 ac 43,560 0.12 5,235 0 0.12
P
cc 0.10
ce
LL
Notes:
Assumes 10%slope 0.05
0.00 ,
0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000
Lot Size
Addendum A
•
•
•
City Of Los Altos
City Of Los Altos FAR Ratio by Lot Size
0.40
Floor Area 0.35
Lot Size Ratio (FAR) House Size 0.35 0.35
* 4,500 0.35 1,575 0.30
* 5,500 0.35 1,925 0'27
.37 ac 16,311 0.27 4,381 0.25
0.23
.5 ac 21,780 0.23 4,928
O 0.20 - 0716
1 ac 43,560 0.16 7106
2 ac 87,120 0.13 11462
gx 0.15
,, 0.13
LL
•
Notes: 0.10 -
*Special small lot rules apply
0.05
0.00 1
0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000
Lot Size
Palo Alto
City of Palo Alto FAR Ratio by Lot Size
0.50
Floor Area 0.45 0.44
Lot Size Ratio (FAR) House Size
0.40
0.38
5,500 0.44 2,425 0.35
.37 ac 16,311 0.38 6,208 0.30 0.28
.5 ac 21,780 0.28 6,000
0 0.25
.91 ac 39,999 0.15 6000
ce 0.20
0.15 0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000
Lot Size
City of Los Gatos Los Gatos
FAR Ratio by Lot Size
Floor Area 0.5
Lot Size House Size 0.45
Ratio (FAR) 0.45
* 4,500 0.45 2,012 0.4
0.42
5,500 0.42 2,303
.37 AC 16,311 0.28 4,633 0.35
.5 AC 21,780 0.23 4,974 0.3 0.28
1 AC 43,560 0.14 6,000 •
2 AC 87,120 0.07 6,000 a 0.25 0.23
c
re 0.2
Notes: 1 0.14
*Special small lot rules apply 0.15
Additional allowable garage not included in calculation
Assumes 10%slope 0.1 .�.
0.07
0.05
0 , I , , ,
0 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000
Lot Size
Mountain View
City of Mountain View FAR Ratio by Lot Size
0.46
Floor Area
Lot Size 0.45
Ratio (FAR) House Size 0.45
* 4,500 0.45 2,025 0.44
* 5,500 0.44 2,447 0.44
.37 ac 16,311 0.40 6,524
.5 ac 21,780 0.40 8,712 0.43
1 ac 43,560 0.40 17424 0
I= 0.42
2 ac 87,120 0.40 34848 r
a
0.41
Notes: 0.40
*Special small lot rules apply 0.40 0.40 ,.
0.40
0.39 ,
0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000
Lot Size
Menlo Park
City of Menlo Park FAR Ratio by Lot Size
0.60
Floor Area
Lot Size House Size
Ratio (FAR) 0.51
0.50
* 5,500 0.51 2,800
* 7,000 0.40 2,800
.37 ac 16,311 0.28 4,662 0.40 0.40
.5 ac 21,780 0.26 5,756
1 ac 43,560 0.23 10112 0.30 0.78
2 ac 87,120 0.22 18824 a 0.26 0.23
LL 0.20 -
® 0.22
N otes:
*Special small lot rules apply
Additional 700 SF granted for accessory buildings not 0.10
included in calculations.
0.00
0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000
Lot Size
Atherton
City of Atherton FAR Ratio by Lot Size
0.60
Floor Area
Lot Size House Size
Ratio (FAR) 0.50
0.50
* 4,500 0.50 2,243
0.44
* 5,500 0.44 2,408 0.40
*.37 ac 16,311 0.26 4,191
*.5 ac 21,780 0.23 5,094
0.30
1 ac 43,560 0.18 7840 0.26
2 ac 87,120 0.18 15682 w 0.23 0.18
LL 0.20
$ 0.18
Notes:
*Special small lot rules apply
0.10
0.00 , ,
0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000
Lot Size