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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/04/2016Approved March 10, 2016 1 February 4, 2016 Regular Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Minutes of a Regular Meeting Town of Los Altos Hills PLANNING COMMISSION Thursday, February 04, 2016, 7:00 P.M. Council Chambers, 26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022 ______________________________________________________________________________ 1. ROLL CALL AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Present: Commissioner Abraham, Commissioner Mandle, Commissioner Partridge, Commissioner Tankha, Chair Couperus Staff: Suzanne Avila, Planning Director; Steve Padovan, Consultant Planner; Jaime McAvoy, Planning Secretary; Edward Gruztmacher, Assistant City Attorney 2. PRESENTATIONS FROM THE FLOOR There were no presentations from the floor. 3. PUBLIC HEARINGS 3.1 LANDS OF POLYAKOV/SABSOVICH; 25541 Fremont Road; File #297-15-ZP- SD-VAR; A request for a Conditional Development Permit for additions totaling 251 square feet and a variance to allow an addition within the front yard setback. CEQA review: Categorical Exemption per Section 15301 (e) (Staff-Genevieve Fernandez). This item will not be heard and has been continued to the next regularly scheduled Planning Commission Meeting. This item was not considered and was continued to the March 10, 2016 Planning Commission meeting. 4. STUDY SESSION AND DISCUSSION Ex Parte Disclosures: All Commissioners said that they had met with the applicant. Commissioner Partridge added that he also spoken with a neighbor. 4.1 LANDS OF LINEBARGER; 10730 Mora Drive, Lot 1, File #415-14-ZP-SD-GD- CDP-VAR; A Conditional Development Permit and Site Development Permit for a new 2,696 square foot, two-story single-family dwelling with a 1,419 square foot basement on the lower floor and a sub-basement of 1,258 square feet on a .374 acre lot and setback Variance requests to allow for side yard building setbacks of Approved March 10, 2016 2 February 4, 2016 Regular Planning Commission Meeting Minutes 10 and 15 feet, one required uncovered parking space in the side yard setback, hardscape and basement lightwells within the side yard setbacks, and grading within 10 feet of the property line (Maximum height of structure is 27'). CEQA review: Categorical Exemption per Section 15303(a) (Staff-S. Padovan). No action will be taken on this item. 4.2 LANDS OF LINEBARGER; 10730 Mora Drive, Lot 3, File #413-14-ZP-SD-GD- CDP-VAR; A Conditional Development Permit and Site Development Permit for a new 2,520 square foot, two-story single-family dwelling with a 1,381 square foot basement on the lower floor and a sub-basement of 1,202 square feet on a .398 acre lot and setback Variance requests to allow for side yard building setbacks of 10 and 15 feet, one required uncovered parking space in the side yard setback, hardscape and basement lightwells within the side yard setbacks, and grading within 10 feet of the property line (Maximum height of structure is 27'). CEQA review: Categorical Exemption per Section 15303(a) (Staff-S. Padovan). No action will be taken on this item. Consultant Planner Steve Padovan presented the staff report. Commission asked questions of staff. Commission shared a general concern with the applicant's definition of basement and whether or not it met the Town's definition. Chair Couperus clarified that the goal of the study session was to obtain direction on how to proceed with this application, and that a decision would not be made this evening. Applicant Forrest Linebarger spoke on behalf of his application. Staff asked questions of the applicant. Chair Couperus opened the floor to PUBLIC COMMENT. Rosemarie Nahm, Los Altos Hills, presented photos to the Commission of setback violations, and stated her opposition to the proposed development. Karen Kehlet, Los Altos Hills, stated her opposition to the proposed development. Matt Chappel, Los Altos Hills, shared similar concerns with the previous speakers. Hal Feeney, Los Altos Hills, stated his opposition to the variances being requested on these properties. Edward Cristel, Los Altos Hills, stated his opposition to the proposed development. Approved March 10, 2016 3 February 4, 2016 Regular Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Esther John, Los Altos Hills, presented a map displaying all the neighbors against this project, and stated her opposition to the proposed development. Gerda Cristel, Los Altos Hills, speaking on behalf of the Winchells, paraphrased a letter submitted by them stating their opposition to the proposed development, and added that she agreed with the statements of previous speakers. David Crocket, Los Altos Hills, was concerned the high density would be fire hazard. Gary Bultman, Los Altos Hills, stated his opposition to the project. Gregory Fretz, Los Altos Hills, stated his opposition to the project. Chair Couperus closed the floor to PUBLIC COMMENT. Chair Couperus opened the floor to PUBLIC COMMENT for Item 4.2. Hal Feeney, Los Altos Hills, stated that Mr. Linebarger had never proposed a two lot subdivision as he had stated in his presentation. Rosemarie Nahm, Los Altos Hills, reiterated her opposition to the proposed development. Esther John, Los Altos Hills, reiterated her opposition to the proposed development. Chair Couperus reminded the audience that they were looking for constructive suggestions on how to proceed with this proposal. Karen Kehlet, Los Altos Hills, said that her constructive suggestion was to not approve this development. Chair Couperus closed the floor to PUBLIC COMMENT. Commission asked questions of staff. Commissioner Mandle asked if there was such a thing as an unbuildable lot. Edward Grutzmacher, Assistant City Attorney, said they were not prepared to answer that question based on the evidence before the Commission this evening, but that City Attorney’s office would be happy to prepare a memorandum for the Commission in advance of considering this item again. Commissioner Tankha inquired about the lot requirements of county versus Town standards. Mr. Padovan said the county has certain rules for substandard lots, and has allowed reduced setbacks on said lots. Approved March 10, 2016 4 February 4, 2016 Regular Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Commissioner Abraham said that the Commission has been aware of this underlying lot problem for quite some time and have yet to develop an ordinance that would assist in processing these applications that would be compliant with State of California laws. He said that developing a policy that was useful for the Town needed to become a priority. Chair Couperus said that when this first came up he was under the impression that there might be a rule that if one owner owned contiguous substandard lots then they could be told to merge them. It turns out that they do not have that rule, but understood at the time that they could develop this rule for future situations. He then asked if the Town still needed to come up with a set of words that would meet the State’s Map Act standards. Mr. Padovan said it would be a good idea should something like this happen again. Commissioner Mandle mentioned that the State Map Act says that the Town cannot compel lot mergers of lots above a particular size, so it would have no effect on these particular properties. Commissioner Abraham said that he was not aware that there had been a change in how the Town calculates basements, and that he did not agree with the applicant’s interpretation and it should be changed. He said that the County does have different rules about setbacks than the Town, but as the properties are now in Los Altos Hills, county regulations should not be considered. Any variances considered or granted would be based on the Town's policies. Commissioner Mandle said that she had no issues with the way the basement was interpreted as Commissioner Partridge was on the subcommittee that created the current ordinance. She said that developments like this on small oddly shaped lots are limited by the setbacks, and as such this project had too much proposed development for the lot. She agreed with Commissioner Abraham that the Town needs to prepare for more situations that may arise in the future. Commissioner Tankha said that before the Commission could continue with this conversation they needed to decide whether or not the Town could declare a lot to be unbuildable, and if so, under what circumstances. She agreed that any new development should follow Town regulations and variances would be considered per these regulations on a case by case basis. Commissioner Partridge agreed that these lots are a part of the Town and will have to follow Town standards. There have been a lot of older homes coming to the Commission recently with a need for a variance, and the Commission needed to look at the types of variances that have been approved recently when moving forward. A variance is not an easy thing to obtain, and a request for a variance should be more modest than what is being presented here. He added that the basement ordinance update came about because of two-story houses coming in with large day-lighted basements, giving the appearance of another floor. The project Approved March 10, 2016 5 February 4, 2016 Regular Planning Commission Meeting Minutes before them did not have a three-story façade and was an appropriate interpretation of the ordinance. Chair Couperus said the reason for setbacks is to provide residents with visual separation between lots. He then asked if a setback violation below ground was as serious as a violation above ground, as it cannot be seen. The current desired use of Maximum Floor Area (MFA) is forcing applicants to ask for encroachments into the setback, and as every case that comes before them is unique, he did not think they would be able to come up with a "one-size fits all" formula. Mr. Padovan confirmed that the Commission wanted to follow Town criteria moving forward, that they would like the applicant to focus more on meeting the basement criteria, and that they would wait to decide on the setbacks until they have a response from the City Attorney's office on whether or not the lot is buildable. Chair Couperus added that this situation is also unusual in the fact that there is no existing house to serve as a reference to build from, which has been the case on the other properties coming before them. Commissioner Abraham asked if Mr. Grutzmacher if he had any thoughts or comments on the evening. Mr. Grutzmacher said he had no additional comments. The Planning Commission thanked the audience for a respectful meeting. 5. OLD BUSINESS - none 6. NEW BUSINESS - none 7. REPORTS FROM THE CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS 7.1 Planning Commission Representative for January 27 – Commissioner Abraham Commissioner Abraham presented a report on this meeting. 7.2 Planning Commission Representative for February 18 - Commissioner Partridge 7.3 Planning Commission Representative for March 17 - Commissioner Tankha 7.4 Planning Commission Representative for April 21 – Chair Couperus 8. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 8.1 Approval of January 6, 2016 minutes MOTION MADE AND SECONDED: Commissioner Abraham moved to approve the minutes of the January 6, 2016 Planning Commission meeting. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Mandle. Approved March 10, 2016 6 February 4, 2016 Regular Planning Commission Meeting Minutes AYES: Commissioner Abraham, Commissioner Mandle, Commissioner Partridge, Commissioner Tankha, Chair Couperus NOES: None ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: None MOTION CARRIED 5-0. 9. REPORTS FROM FAST TRACK MEETINGS – JANUARY 19, JANUARY 26, 2016 9.1 LANDS OF BELIVEAU; 26270 Purissima Road; #319-15-ZP-SD-GD; A request for a Site Development permit for a new single story residence and guest house. CEQA review: Categorical Exemption per Section 15303 (a) (Staff-G. Fernandez). 9.2 LANDS OF LI & CAI; 13801 La Paloma Road: File 419-15-ZP-SD-GD; A request for a Site Development Permit for a 5,855 square foot new residence with a (maximum height 20’), a 1,000 square foot second unit (maximum height 14’9”) and a swimming pool. CEQA review: Categorical Exemption per Section 15303(a) (Staff-S. Avila). 9.3 LANDS OF FARAHYAR; 11475 Summitwood Road; File #246-15-ZP-SD-GD; A request for a Site Development Permit for a new 4,842 square foot residence (Maximum height 27’) and minor grading exceptions for the garage back-up area and the rear portion of the garage. CEQA review: Categorical Exemption per Section 15303(a) (Staff-S. Padovan). 10. REPORTS FROM SITE DEVELOPMENT MEETINGS - none 11. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 10:05 P.M. Respectfully Submitted, Jaime L. McAvoy Jaime L. McAvoy M.A. Planning Secretary Approved March 10, 2016 7 February 4, 2016 Regular Planning Commission Meeting Minutes The minutes for the February 4, 2016 Regular Planning Commission meeting were approved, with corrections, on March 10, 2016.