Attachment 3 - January 12, 2022 Planning Commission Verbatim MinutesLOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 1/12/2022
Item #2, 118 Olive Street
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A P P E A R A N C E S:
Los Gatos Planning
Commissioners:
Kathryn Janoff, Chair
Jeffrey Barnett
Kylie Clark
Melanie Hanssen
Steve Raspe
Reza Tavana
Emily Thomas
Town Manager: Laurel Prevetti
Community Development
Director:
Joel Paulson
Town Attorney: Robert Schultz
Transcribed by: Vicki L. Blandin
(619) 541-3405
ATTACHMENT 3
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P R O C E E D I N G S:
CHAIR JANOFF: We now move on to the public
hearing, Agenda Item #2, which is requesting approval for
demolition of an existing single-family residence and
construction of a new single-family residence to exceed
floor area ratio standards with reduced front and side
setbacks on nonconforming property zoned R:1D, located at
118 Olive Street. APN: 410-15-022. Architecture and Site
Application: S-21-013. Property owners: Thomas and Meredith
Reichert. Applicant: Jay Plett, Architect.
I understand Mr. Mullin will be giving the Staff
Report tonight.
SEAN MULLIN: Thank you, Chair. Before you this
evening is a request to demolish an existing residence and
construct a new two-story residence. The subject property
is nonconforming; the size being 3,680 square feet where
5,000 is required. The proposed two-story residence would
be 1,677 square feet with a 299 square foot garage. The
project also includes a partial 1,195 square foot basement
that does not count towards the FAR. The Applicant is
requesting approval to exceed the allowable FAR for the
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property for reduced front and side yard setbacks, and for
an exemption from the parking requirements.
The Applicant proposes a contemporary two-story
residence with traditional forms, natural materials, and
neutral colors. The Town’s Consulting Architect reviewed
the project and noted that the proposed residence had the
potential to blend well with the immediate neighborhood.
The Consulting Architect provided six
recommendations for the project to increase its consistency
with the Residential Design Guidelines and surrounding
neighborhood. The Applicant responded through design
changes and written justification as detailed in your Staff
Report.
As mentioned, the project would exceed the floor
area by 9%, or 308 square feet. The Planning Commission may
approve an FAR above what is allowed when making findings
related to the consistency with the Residential Design
Guidelines and compatibility with the surrounding
properties.
At the requested size the residence would be the
third largest in terms of FAR and square footage in the
immediate neighborhood. There are also four other homes in
the immediate neighborhood that exceed their allowable FAR,
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and the FAR of the proposed residence would rank in the
middle of these homes.
The project also proposes reduced front and rear
setbacks on a nonconforming lot. Required setbacks on a
nonconforming property, as well as other rules of the zone,
may be modified under an Architecture and Site Application
when findings can be made related to the proposal’s
compatibility with the neighborhood. The proposed residence
includes a front setback of 10 feet where 15 feet is
required, and a left side setback of 3 feet where 5 feet is
required. The Applicant has provided examples of homes
along Olive Street with reduced front and side yard
setbacks consistent with the proposed residence.
Lastly, the Town Code requires that two off-
street parking spaces be provided for a single-family
residence. The code also allows for exemptions from these
parking requirements when a property is found to not have
adequate parking area. The subject property as mentioned is
nonconforming as to size.
The existing residence includes a single non-
compliant parking space in the garage, and the proposed
residence would include a one-car garage, meeting the
required dimensions for a parking space, and would be
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consistent with the neighborhood pattern of one-car
garages.
Based upon the analysis provided in your Staff
Report, Staff recommends approval of the Architecture and
Site Application subject to the recommended Conditions of
Approval included in Exhibit 3. An addendum to your Staff
Report has been distributed this evening, including a
response to public comments prepared by the property owner,
and additional public comment received after publishing of
the Staff Report.
This concludes Staff’s presentation and we are
available to answer any questions.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you for that report, Mr.
Mullin. Before I proceed with any questions of you, may I
see a show of hands of Commissioners who have visited this
property? Thank you very much. Now, do Commissioners have
any questions for Mr. Mullin or Staff at this time?
I don’t see any hands raised, so we will now open
the public hearing and give the Applicant up to five
minutes to address the Commission.
JOEL PAULSON: Thank you. Whoever is going to be
speaking on behalf of the Applicant, please raise your
hand. It looks like I have a hand from Darren, but I don’t
believe that’s the Applicant. Mr. Plett or the property
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owner? Mr. Plett, you can unmute yourself and you have up
to five minutes.
JAY PLETT: Okay, thank you. Good evening,
Commission members. I’m the project architect for this
house.
We designed this project with regard to the
Town’s Residential Design Guidelines, consultation with
Staff, and also the Consulting Architect. The neighborhood
is in a state of transition with regard to young families
moving in and homes being enlarged to accommodate them.
From the inception of the project’s design we
sought to design a home that blends in with the fabric of
the neighborhood, neither the largest floor area nor the
largest floor area ratio, but to all within the average of
the four largest homes. The form of the home is consistent
with traditional American design and closely resembles the
form and mass of several neighboring houses. As a result of
these efforts, Staff has recommended approval of the
project. We also believe it is worthy of your approval.
I’d like to allow the owners now to speak as well
on behalf of the project.
THOMAS REICHERT: Thanks, Jay. Also, thank you
all for inviting us here to go through the project. It is
also our first Commission meeting, so I know it sounds like
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there are a few new Commission members, so welcome to you
guys, but tonight is our very first meeting.
We moved into the neighborhood about a year ago.
I’m here with my wife, and grandma, who lives about seven
minutes away, is watching the two kids at home. We love
this neighborhood, and my wife grew up here, so we’re happy
to be back here close to family.
We are excited about the potential to expand this
house to meet the demands of our family and continue to
grow a long time here in the community, especially given
some of the constraints that COVID has brought to us in our
new environment. Oftentimes the kids have to be home from
school or we have to work from home. These last two years
have proven that a little extra space really can make a big
difference in some mental wellbeing and home life balance.
We chose to work with Jay. He designed a few
houses in the neighborhood, including several on this exact
block, he has his home office here in downtown Los Gatos,
and he really helped us get a good sense from working with
Jay that he has a good understanding of the context of the
neighborhood, working with the Town, both Planning,
Building, and Planning Commission over time, so that’s been
a wonderful part of the process for us.
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One thing in particular about Jay that I really
liked is that he helped us, as homeowners who have never
done a project like this, get a good sense of understanding
how to come to a very realistic type project when we have
come to the table saying we wanted a very large house, or
we want everything and have our cake and eat too, and right
from the beginning Jay sort of brought us to reality and
said, “Don’t submit that. You need to submit something
that’s way more realistic,” to come in here.
So, going through that process with Jay, and
kudos also to Sean and his team, is the very first time
that we went in for submittal. We started from the point of
something that was already reasonable and fit and then were
able to make very meaningful changes through the process
that we were okay with from the beginning. I’ve been really
happy with the process so far and just wanted to say thanks
both to Jay and the neighbors who have helped us get to
this point, so appreciate it.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you for the comments, and at
this time do Commissioners have questions for the Applicant
or homeowner? Commissioner Hanssen.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Thank you for your
comments and presentation. I wanted to ask about
neighborhood outreach. I read everything that was in the
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Staff Report, and I read the Applicant’s letter in terms of
talking about some of the neighbors that you knew and how
you became friends with them, and then as I read on there
was a letter signed by about eight neighbors opposing your
project, so what I wanted to understand was what process
you went through to do neighborhood outreach. Did you reach
out to everyone, or just people that you knew, and then
what did you discuss with them? Did you share your plans or
did you just tell them about your project? This is for Mr.
Reichert.
THOMAS REICHERT: Thanks for the great question.
In the first letter that I think you just referenced, it’s
pretty difficult during this time of COVID—even this
meeting itself is being hosted virtually—and we had just
moved to the neighborhood, so we didn’t know a single
person before we moved in. But to answer your question very
directly, we didn’t reach out to everyone for a couple of
reasons. One, we didn’t know anyone, so we reached out to
quite a few people in our own personal comfort level during
COVID. We were in pretty tight of a bubble. We lived with
close family that had some potential issues, so the people
that we did meet were actually really closely related to
where the kids were going to school and people that we had
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passed in the street. We didn’t go knocking door-to-door or
anything like that.
One part of the process that I would highlight is
actually we erected the story poles significantly longer
than they would need to be required. That’s a way for us to
communicate our intentions and sort of freely let everyone
know, not just the ten-day minimum.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: And then am I to
understand the response that you gave was primarily to that
letter and the objections that were raised by several
neighbors?
THOMAS REICHERT: I didn’t understand that
question.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: You had given a response
and we got it in the addendum yesterday, I guess it was,
and it talked about some different points, and you had some
drawings. Was that intended to interest the neighbors in
opposition?
THOMAS REICHERT: That’s correct.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: My final question and I’ll
be done, Chair. You had two different drawings that your
architect put up, and one was included in the addendum,
which was where you had offered to basically take off that
deck to the side?
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THOMAS REICHERT: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: You had two versions, so
you’re willing to do that, but we would probably want to
keep it. Where do you stand on that?
THOMAS REICHERT: That’s a great point. I
understand we have three minutes at the end of public
comment and I was hoping to talk about that a little bit
based on if there are more potential comments, but yes, to
talk to your point, we have a potential modified plan that
might address some of the concerns that we brought up with
more detail between understanding what that comment was and
now, and we would be open to modify the plan in that way as
a concession to I think the concern specifically was around
privacy. So, yes, open to modify it in a way that allows
them to maintain their privacy.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Thank you for answering my
questions.
CHAIR JANOFF: I have one more follow up question
regarding the long-term of the story poles. Did you receive
any direct communication by mail, email, notes left on your
doorstep, from your neighbors once those story poles went
up? Or were the objections we saw in the Staff Report new
to you?
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THOMAS REICHERT: Every single person who signed
that letter I actually had never talked to before.
Coincidentally, after that I talked to a few of them,
reached out. Some I didn’t hear back from, but a couple of
them I did; we talked about the project and shared plans
directly. But to your point, we had not talked to a single
person, not a note, not a phone call, not a come to the
door to say anything.
CHAIR JANOFF: All right, thank you for that. Any
other questions of the Applicant at this time? Commissioner
Barnett.
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: I actually have five
questions. I don’t want to monopolize the evening, but I
wonder if we could get started on some of them anyway?
My first question is as to the proposed deck, is
that 2 feet or more above grade? The reason I ask is that
the Residential Design Guidelines say that there need to be
special setbacks under those circumstances.
THOMAS REICHERT: Are you referring the deck in
the back yard, or the one off of the master bedroom and off
the garage?
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: The back yard, not the
terrace off the master bedroom.
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THOMAS REICHERT: The proposed deck is under 2
feet, and actually it’s just a level walkout from the back
door, so it’s not above 2 feet.
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: Okay, thank you for that.
If I might ask further, are there provisions made to
protect the privacy of 120 Olive with respect to the window
placement, size, and type? I couldn’t tell from the plan.
THOMAS REICHERT: Great question. I think the
terrace is probably the thing that impedes the biggest part
of their privacy. In terms of windows, zero of the windows
fact that direction and I that think goes a long way with
the potential modification. The windows that are in the
master bedroom that face towards 120 Olive are all
clerestory, like you can’t see them when you’re walking,
even on our side of the house; they’re just for light.
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: Okay, thank you. If I
might continue, the architect recommended the continuation
of the stone on the front façade around the sides for
continuity, and I understand that the owner rejected that,
and I was wondering if you could comment further on that?
THOMAS REICHERT: Maybe I misspoke when I said
it. I agree with it, we should wrap the stone around the
corner of the front, and I think that’s the way that Sean
and Larry Cannon think, so yes, that’s in the intent.
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COMMISSIONER BARNETT: Thank you for the
clarification. I noticed there’s a possible provision for
an elevator for the car parking. I was wondering if that’s
part of the intended project and if that would allow space
for parking for a third vehicle?
THOMAS REICHERT: That’s the intent. We’ve
planned it with Jay so that would be possible. I think
ultimately it will come down to a financial decision, like
if it costs way too much money, then it will be very
difficult for us to accommodate that additional parking
spot. I really want it. I think it provides an additional
off-view spot; I just really like the idea of having an
extra car in the garage.
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: I have a final question
for Mr. Schultz. I know that you’ve commented previously
about the issue of the law and the Town Code with respect
to the right to a view, and I wonder for the record in this
matter if you could repeat your advice on that point?
ROBERT SCHULTZ: Thank you. Yes, our code does
not address views whatsoever. I do know some jurisdictions
that have adopted codes that do protect views, but unless
it’s specifically set forth in the code and General Plan
there is no right to a view.
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COMMISSIONER BARNETT: Thank you, those are my
questions.
CHAIR JANOFF: I do have one additional question
for the architect, Mr. Plett. You refer to the house at 114
Olive as being similar in mass as 118 Olive. Can you tell
me the height of 114 and the height of 118, please?
JAY PLETT: 114 is about 20 feet, and then 118,
we’re at 27 feet.
CHAIR JANOFF: All right, thank you. Any other
questions for the Applicant at this time? Commissioner
Clark.
COMMISSIONER CLARK: I have a few questions.
First is you’re requesting a reduction of the front setback
and I wanted to ask if it has been an option to reduce the
back setback instead or if there was some wiggle room
there, and if so, why you’re not reducing that?
THOMAS REICHERT: The front setback, we are
asking for that. We are by no means even at the 10 feet.
The closest front setback, some are as low as 5 feet, so we
shot to do that. It articulates the front elevation and the
massing very well, and we also would like to preserve as
much of the back yard as possible, because it’s such a
small site, so the reasoning with that is a back yard, a
play area for the kids.
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COMMISSIONER CLARK: Thank you. And something
else I wanted to ask about was the suggestion by the
architect to add trim, and it sounded like you are not
going to do that. I wanted to first verify that that’s
still the case, and then also ask to hear your reasoning.
THOMAS REICHERT: Yes, the windows will be inset
instead of having trim that would protrude on the building
face. In lieu of that, the windows will be set in and
recessed into the wall.
COMMISSIONER CLARK: Okay, thank you. I have a
follow up about the 120 Olive property. Something that
struck me during the site visit was how close it seemed
like the buildings would be together, and then how tall
they would be. Are those neighbors supportive of this
project, or do you know?
THOMAS REICHERT: Commissioner Clark, the
homeowner and the renter both are not in support, and I did
reach out to both of them and unfortunately was unable to
even talk to them. One of them had COVID and a trial case
they were working on, and the other was unable to
communicate outside of just both signing the letter, so no,
we have not been able to communicate with either of the
people at that location. I think in my response letter I
offer what I think might be a good compromise, having the
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ability to talk to them was we’re not proposing anything
that they don’t have. They have a 3-foot setback; we’d like
a 3-foot setback. They have a two-story; we would like a
two-story. Their two-story is the entire length of the
home; we’re only proposing to have two-stories on a very
short portion outside of the garage.
COMMISSIONER CLARK: Got it. Thank you.
JAY PLETT: If I could add to that, only the
ground level is asking for the 3-foot setback. The second
floor is a 5-foot setback as it exists right now.
COMMISSIONER CLARK: Okay, got it. Thank you. One
last question. Something that the neighbors brought up in
that letter that they signed was the excavation that will
be necessary for such a large basement, and I was wondering
if that’s anything that you would ever consider eliminating
or reducing because of how inconvenient it sounds like that
could be?
THOMAS REICHERT: Yes, obviously we’re not to
that part of the building process yet, but one of the
things we did is we already hired the soils engineer to let
us know if it is possible to build on that site. We did
that in advance, at risk, to better understand it with more
perspective. He suggesting using a technique called “stitch
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piering,” which allows us to do the entire construction on
our side of the fence on the property line.
COMMISSIONER CLARK: Thank you. Those are all my
questions.
CHAIR JANOFF: All right, thank you. I just want
to remind the Commission, and especially our newer members,
that we’ll know more if we hear from the members of the
public how these particular concerns are articulated, and
then the Applicant will have a chance to address those in
his next session. Do we have any other questions from
Commissioners? Commissioner Barnett.
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: I had one follow up
question. Is the height of the proposed residence lower
than the height of 120 Olive Street?
JAY PLETT: Thanks for that, Commissioner
Barnett. Yes, the height of our proposed product is lower
than both of the two heights of the western properties.
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: I thought that’s how I
read your material, but thank you for that.
CHAIR JANOFF: Any other questions from
Commissioners? I don’t see any hands raised, so at this
time we will ask if any members of the public would like to
speak on this item?
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JOEL PAULSON: Next will be Shelli. Shelli, you
can unmute yourself.
SHELLI BAKER: Good evening to all and thanks for
your time. I no longer live at 120 Olive Street, but in
2004 we did purchase that home for two reasons. Number one,
it has a beautiful amount of natural light that streams
through the entire home. Number two, there is a quite
beautiful mountain view out of the master suite, which is
the only second story part to this home, and it was
probably done back in the forties. This home, by the way,
is approximately 1,500 square feet total.
We bought the home for those reasons, and this is
also a reason why since 2012 it is easy to rent. People go
in, this is a happy place. It’s bright, it’s sunny, it’s
cozy, it’s cute, it’s open, and it’s very dated also
inside. It’s an old house, but it’s very easy to rent. We
moved up in the hills of Los Gatos, but our intentions are
during retirement to move back to 120 Olive Street, so it’s
not just like a rental property for us, although when you
have a rental you also of course very much care about the
value of the home, which I do.
I looked very carefully at what was available
early on, about a month ago. The shadow study scared me. I
looked at it very carefully, watching the way the from mid-
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December to June the light coming into the entry, kitchen,
living room, dinning room, master bedroom, and our back
yard will be completely in the shadow for most of the day,
and December, January, February, March, these are the
months where you need light more than anything, so that was
exceptionally disturbing to me.
The privacy of course, reducing a setback, it’s
only a 5-foot setback to 3 feet. I just don’t understand.
The house is enormous. I know there are other enormous
houses, but these are the tiniest lots. That’s actually why
we left, because we have three children and we’re like we
better go get a house, a space, so they have a place,
because it’s tiny. I just feel like reducing setbacks and
putting the house closer to the street, and it’s already
going to be very vertical, and exceeding the FAR, those are
the reasons why I’m not in agreement with it.
Even if I didn’t live right next door, I feel
like 120 Olive will be imposed more than any other home
directly on the street based on its proximity, but even if
I lived down the street or around the corner, it’s
something that I don’t think we should set a precedent for:
let’s exceed the FAR, let’s reduce the setbacks front and
side. That’s not my stance and never has been.
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If you visited the site, you can see that if that
terrace does remain—I heard that that is now in question—
but if that terrace does remain…
CHAIR JANOFF: Ms. Baker, excuse me, I need to
interrupt you. You’re time has expired. Thank you. Do any
Commissioners have questions for Ms. Baker? Commissioner
Hanssen.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Thank you for sharing all
of your concerns about the project. From your point of
view, what would make this project acceptable?
SHELLI BAKER: The bare minimum, I would say I
would not reduce setbacks. The lots are 3,600 square feet,
so why reduce setbacks on a home that is already exceeding
the FAR? I wouldn’t even say exceed the FAR, because then
the next house is going to exceed the FAR because this one
did; it sets a precedent.
It’s not the street for large houses. I know we
have a few and that’s great, but not. It’s just not;
they’re tiny. There’s no parking. We lived there for ten
years, so we know what it’s like.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you. Commissioner Hanssen,
has your question been answered?
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Unless there was something
else. What I was looking more for was a specific
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suggestion. You said that if the setback is reduced, then
that would be an issue, but I did want to follow up on
that. The Applicant claimed that you also have a 3 foot
setback, is that correct?
SHELLI BAKER: No, I do not believe so. On one
side, on the uphill side, there is a smaller setback.
That’s because had a problem with the lot line. (Telephone
rings.) Hold on. This is Darren Carroll as well, because he
probably couldn’t unmute, so I can arrange if you would
like to hear from Darren Carroll as well.
CHAIR JANOFF: Ms. Baker, hang on. Let’s let
Director Paulson manage the speakers and their sequence.
Commissioner Hanssen, do you have any further questions?
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: No.
CHAIR JANOFF: All right, thank you. Any other
questions for Ms. Baker? I don’t see any hands raised, so
thank you for your comments, Ms. Baker. Director Paulson,
do we have any other speakers tonight?
JOEL PAULSON: We do. The next speaker will be
Mark. Mark, you can unmute yourself.
MARK BOSKOVICH: Good evening, everyone. My name
is Mark Boskovich. I live at 112 Olive Street. I live a
couple of houses down from the Reicherts. I had the
pleasure of spending time with their family, we have a
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young family as well, and they’re a wonderful family and we
love their design. We think it will just be a beautiful
addition to this neighborhood. We see it as a huge upgrade
and it’s going to raise the values of all the homes on this
beautiful street. It has that Los Gatos touch thanks to a
great Los Gatos architect in Jay Plett.
I’ve been hearing a lot of comments about the
setbacks, and I don't know if you’ve taken a really close
look at this street, but the setbacks are all unorthodox in
this area. My next-door neighbor’s setback from the front
is probably 4-5 feet, and that’s just kind of the norm in
this neighborhood, unorthodox setbacks, and so I don’t
think it’s setting any kind of dangerous precedent. Most of
the places in this area have different, unusual setbacks.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you for your comments, Mr.
Boskovich. Any questions from Commissioners? I don’t see
any hands raised.
MARK BOSKOVICH: Can I make one more comment too?
I just want to say that the Reicherts made a huge effort
with some of the neighbors, including myself, to speak with
us to make sure that we were okay with the plans. I think
they did their best under some very difficult
circumstances.
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CHAIR JANOFF: All right, thank you for that
addition. Director Paulson, do we have any other speakers
who wish to address the Commission?
JOEL PAULSON: We do. The next speaker will be
Bonnie. Bonnie, if you unmute yourself, you have three
minutes.
BONNIE HURWITZ: Hi. Thank you very much for
allowing me to speak. My name is Bonnie Hurwitz and I’m at
121 Olive Street; I’ve lived here for 18 years.
Yes, it’s an eclectic neighborhood. The gentleman
who just spoke before me is brand new to the neighborhood
and I don’t think has as much experience living here;
probably been here maybe two or three months.
The reason that I’m speaking up is because we’ve
already discussed at length the size of the proposed home,
so I’m not going to belabor that again, but I do need to
address the parking situation on this street.
It is quite a narrow street with parking that
alternates between one side and another, and to add
additional parking that’s really outside the scope of what
the norm should be is really going to be problematic. It’s
already permit-only parking on this street, which means
that when everybody has a car on the street, I personally
had to go around the block and park around the corner from
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where my home is, and that’s really problematic as far as
I’m concerned.
As regards the outreach portion of this, again,
I’ve lived here for 18 years, and nobody came to talk to me
at all, and I see that as a huge issue. Yes, we have a
pandemic. Yes, I understand we don’t want to be up close
and personal with people we don’t know, but there was no
correspondence, no letter provided in my mailbox, which
sits on the outside of my house. I was not approached in
any fashion to address these new neighbors to explain what
their position was on any of this, and to me it was quite a
surprise.
When I saw those poles go up, I was really
shocked at the size of the proposed structure. Thank you
very much.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you, Ms. Hurwitz. Do any
Commissioners have questions at this time? Commissioner
Raspe.
COMMISSIONER RASPE: Thank you, Chair. Ms.
Hurwitz, first of all, thank you for your comments and for
taking the time to appear this evening. I wanted to ask you
one question specifically with respect to parking.
The materials that we were provided seem to
indicate that there is a pattern of one-car garages in that
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neighborhood, and that this project would fall into that
norm or pattern. Do you find that to be an accurate
statement, or do you have a different experience?
BONNIE HURWITZ: I personally have an easement
for my home. I don’t have a driveway that sits on Olive
Street, I have an easement that is provided on Thurston,
which is the street parallel to Olive Street, so I’m
probably out of the norm, but having said that, most of the
homes do have one-car garages, but also having said that,
many of those homes are too small for cars. For example, on
the one side of me there’s a home that is way too small. It
would probably fit a car from 30-40 years ago, but that
garage and many other garages on Olive Street do not fit
conventional cars that are built today, which means people
are parking on the street. And again, it’s permit-only
parking and you get two spots and then that’s it.
CHAIR JANOFF: Let me just interrupt you, Ms.
Hurwitz. Commissioner Raspe, did you have your question
answered?
COMMISSIONER RASPE: My question has been
answered. Thank you.
CHAIR JANOFF: All right, thank you. I do have a
follow up question. It’s my understanding that the current
house has a nonconforming garage and a car doesn’t fit into
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it, and that the proposed project would have a garage that
a modern car would fit into. Does that not sound like it
would contribute to easing some of the parking problems?
BONNIE HURWITZ: Not from the size of the
driveway, from what I recall seeing on the drawing, and I
don’t have a drawing in front of me, but some of the homes
on the street have longer driveways that can actually fit
the additional car in the driveway itself, so that parking
on the street is not impacted, but I thought with this
short a driveway that wouldn’t be possible.
CHAIR JANOFF: All right, thank you for your
comments. Any other questions for Ms. Hurwitz. I don’t see
any hands raised. Director Paulson, do we have anyone else
wishing to speak on this item?
JOEL PAULSON: Do you want me to try Darren one
more time? We do have additional speakers, but I’m going to
see if he can unmute himself.
DARREN CARROLL: What I want to say is that
several of the people that signed the letter with the eight
signatures asked me to just relay the fact that their
position hasn’t changed, they’re just unable to call in
because of several reasons, including not being technically
savvy, as I obviously should be in that category.
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But I’d also like point out there are a couple of
other things that are not necessarily specific to the
house, but to the notification process, and that is I don’t
think the netting depicts the true setting of the house to
the southeast corner. The architect’s summary and the signs
on the property say that it is an addition, not a new
construction, and that’s confusing and misleading. Several
people walking the neighborhood have said, “Oh, they’re
adding on.” I was like, “No, they’re building new.” So, I
think the implications might be a little bit deceiving on
that.
Along with that, my main concerns are the setback
requirements. I just feel they’re starting with a clean
slate. There are no real mitigating circumstances that
dictate a size reduction or a font reduction for setbacks
on it. I know my house is a larger house in the
neighborhood, but I didn’t ask for any of the building
setback requirements on that and I was able to do a nice
house, and I even have more restrictive setbacks than that
one does.
I’d just like to point out, Olive Street is
probably the narrowest street with the smallest lots in the
whole town, and when you turn onto Olive Street from San
Benito or from Santa Cruz Avenue, the netting on that house
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just eclipses everything around it, including pretty much
mine. A nice house can be designed there, and I’m not
denying anybody that possibility, but I just don’t see the
need to build a house that’s almost 28 feet tall 10 feet
from the property; it just is going to look like a
lighthouse there. If they want to build that house, then
meet the setbacks, that is my biggest concern.
I’ve always been under the impression that there
was some sort of a community benefit by building a house
that you had to put into it, whether it was additional
parking, or landscaping, or a privacy concern or something
like that, and I just truly don’t see that. I see a big,
huge house that’s making every attempt to manipulate every
avenue to build a big house on a lot that truly doesn’t
support it, and that’s why I’m asking that the Town,
specifically you people tonight, do not support this.
If I have extra time I’d like to address a couple
of questions that were brought up earlier regarding
notification to neighbors when the story poles went up. Is
that okay?
CHAIR JANOFF: Darren, it looks like your time is
up, so you won’t be able to proceed, but I do want to ask
Commissioners if you have questions for this speaker? Thank
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you for your comments. We appreciate it. Commissioner
Barnett, did you have a question?
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: Yes, I do. Darren, can you
tell me what the height of your residence is?
DARREN CARROLL: Offhand, I can’t, but I’m going
to guess. It’s tall, but my house is on a corner that has a
9-foot shift from end-to-end, so from the front of my
house, which is on San Benito Avenue, it’s just a normal
two-story house. If you walk around to the back of my
property, there’s a walk-out basement, and that’s just
fitting the topography, this is not where I had a flat lot
to build with and I wanted to go that high. If you took all
of my levels, three of them, I don’t exceed the 28 feet
that that house is above grade, so what’s visible at my
house from the front and back are substantially lower than
that. I just have the benefit of being higher
topographically than that property and the lot that it was
very difficult to design a house for.
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: I do understand your
response and I appreciate it.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you, Commissioner, and thank
you, Darren. At this time, I’ll ask Director Paulson if
there are other speakers on this matter.
JOEL PAULSON: Yes, the next speaker will be Lee.
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LEE QUINTANA: I have a few comments. One of them
is on the history of the San Benito house that is included
in the comparison table. I have two comments.
One, if my memory serves me well, when I was on
the Planning Commission that house was a very difficult
decision, it was very controversial and it was a split-
decision because of the fact that it does seem to be so big
and it was feared that that would lead to a domino effect.
The thing I would like to say is that this was
originally proposed as a remodel. As remodels, they would
not have had to fix the nonconforming setbacks to the side,
but as a demo the Town says that you have to meet the
requirements of the zone. In this case that means wider
setbacks. However, there are provisions for exceptions for
nonconforming residences, but this project is asking for
four or five different exemptions, and each one may
individually meet the findings, but cumulatively it may
have a bigger impact.
The other thing I wanted to mention is that it’s
my understanding that granting an exception is not
required. The Commission may grant an exception if they
meet the findings necessary, but they’re not required to,
and so I would ask you to very carefully consider what
exceptions you actually give. The parking might be
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reasonable in the sense that they are making the garage
more conforming than it had been, but I also question
shortening the driveway, and specifically the request for
an exemption to the FAR. They’re using a cellar, and the
Cellar Policy states that it should be in lieu of visible
space; it doesn’t say that it counts towards the FAR, but
it should help with a house being more consistent with the
others in the neighborhood.
The last thing I want to say is I do have a very
personal feeling about Olive Street. I think it is one of
the cutest streets in the Town; I really love that street
because of all the small cottages that are there, and it’s
changing so that that’s no longer its character. Thank you.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you, Lee. Any questions for
the speaker? I don’t see any hands raised. Director
Paulson, do we have anyone else wishing to speak on this
topic?
JOEL PAULSON: We do, and the next speaker will
be Leslie.
LESLIE GARRISON: Thank you, Director Paulson.
Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Leslie Garrison; I
own the property at 15 Ashler Avenue on the other side of
the fence from Olive Street. I’ve lived here since 2016
with my family, and my son is currently in Cub Scouts with
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the Reicherts’ daughter, whom we’ve had the pleasure to
meet and get to know very well as a direct result of being
neighbors. Having just completed my own renovation on a
historic property I have come to appreciate this process,
so thank you for considering my comments.
I find the Reichert proposal to be a tasteful
plan. It’s in line with the neighborhood aesthetics and is
likely to yield broader property value improvements for the
wider neighborhood. As a full-time working parent with one
child already in Los Gatos public schools and soon to have
three in Los Gatos public schools, I can relate to some of
the constraints and desires of the Reichert family. Given
my stellar experience in this neighborhood—I love living
here—I really encourage the Commissioners to reduce
barriers to new families being able to buy and stay here in
our beautiful walkable neighborhood, rather than create
conditions that push families farther away.
I really do understand and appreciate all
comments being made tonight and I understand that
reasonable minds can disagree on these details, but I
really welcome neighbors to respectfully make efforts to do
more with less space, and I express my support for this
plan. Thank you for considering my input.
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CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you, Ms. Garrison, for your
comments. Any questions for the speaker? I don’t see any
hands raised. Do we have anyone else wishing to speak?
JOEL PAULSON: We do. The next speaker will be
Marcus.
MARCUS LAM: Hi, thank you for allowing me to
speak. I’m at 114 Olive Street. Our house was recently
remodeled right before the end of COVID. Jay Plett was our
architect. My wife Celeste and I have been here since 2014,
when this house was originally 800 square feet. Obviously,
that’s not enough space to accommodate a growing family
with two boys now; one is in school at Daves and the other
is in preschool at Growing Footprint.
To mirror the point made by the Ashler neighbor,
we appreciate how nice this neighborhood is, but we also
need to find ways to accommodate the changing demographics
in this town with growing families trying to move in. My
wife and I had a very difficult submission process for our
remodel. We actually tried to do two stories as well, but
because of the feedback from neighbors around us we were
very discouraged from that and had to compromise with a
different plan. We hope that with the Reicherts, having met
them and gotten to know them very well, don’t also have to
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compromise if they don’t have to, and we are very in
support of their project.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you, Mr. Lam, for your
comments. Do any Commissioners have questions for Mr. Lam?
I don’t see any hands raised, so thank you for that.
Director Paulson, do we have other speakers on this item?
JOEL PAULSON: The next speaker will be Andrea.
ANDREA GALATEA: Hi, everybody. My name is Andrea
Galatea; I am actually the renter at 120 Olive and I just
wanted to make a few comments. I live here with my three
children, twin daughters and my son.
Mr. Reichert was very, very nice to come over. I
was very busy with some child stuff that I was doing, but I
did want to make a comment, because I saw the orange stuff
coming up about a month ago.
The first thing that I wanted to say is when we
rented—we moved from Saratoga—what drew me to this house
was the character and charm of that small town feel, and I
think that a large house like this, though I’m sure it
would be very beautiful, probably belongs on a large
property, because the aesthetics of it, though very pretty,
takes away from the feel of the neighborhood and that
quaintness of the neighborhood charm that we have here.
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As far as the setbacks, the other thing that drew
me to this house was the light and all of the beautiful
windows, and it is an old house, but that’s the charm that
I like. The single pane windows. When I wake up and have my
coffee in the morning in that little front area of the
sunroom, what I love is the views and the light and being
able to watch the sunrise, and I think that all I will see
are walls of the neighboring home, and whether it’s me or
somebody else, that’s what they will see.
Also, the master bedroom, instead of looking out
at a beautiful view, from my bed at night I can see the
moon, and there’s a huge pine tree up off in the distance,
and all that will be gone and it will darken the master
bedroom, and so definitely the light in the home is going
to be gone.
CHAIR JANOFF: I’m sorry to interrupt you. Your
time is up. Thank you for your comments. Do any
Commissioners have questions for Andrea? I don’t see any
hands raised. Thank you. Director Paulson, do we have any
other speakers on this item?
JOEL PAULSON: I don’t see any other hands raised
at this time. Again, I see Mark, who already spoke, but
let’s see if there’s another member of the household that
wants to speak.
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CHRISTY BOSKOVICH: This is Christy Boskovich;
I’m Mark’s wife. Sorry, I was helping put the kids to bed.
I just wanted to add in a note of how supportive
we are of the Reicherts’ plan. They’re such a wonderful
family in the community. We’ve really enjoyed getting to
know them; they have a daughter at Daves and they’ve just
been so wonderful and really have that community spirit of
bringing everyone together, and I really just want to
support more and more young families coming to our street.
I just think that their plan is so tasteful; it’s
very thoughtful. I thought it was such a smart idea to do
the basement so that they could get a little more space so
that when everyone is home in this COVID world they have
that, but it’s not making the house super large.
I think it’s going to look very tasteful, very
beautiful, and really start to match the neighborhood, and
we’re just so, so supportive and we really hope that they
can build the house of their dreams and they can build this
family and live here a really long time, and really just
continue to contribute to the Los Gatos community.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you for your comments. Do
any Commissioners have questions at this time? I don’t see
any hands raised. Director Paulson, are there any other
speakers on this matter?
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JOEL PAULSON: There are not, so we go back to
the Applicant.
CHAIR JANOFF: All right, thank you for that. At
this time we’ll invite the Applicant to come back to the
Commission. You’ll have up to three minutes to address any
of the comments made or provide any additional information.
THOMAS REICHERT: I just want to thank everyone
for participating, and I think it’s what Leslie said that
resonates most in my head, that we can all communicate
civilly and all have a good way of communicating and
talking about it, so I appreciate everyone participating.
I think I want to start with Andrea and Shelli at
120 Olive. They had some really good points, and one of the
proposals that they talked about was a large focus on the
light. When we look at the lighting study, the part of the
house that they’re talking about, as Andrea mentioned, she
has her morning coffee there, and actually that’s probably
when I see her the most, give a wave or pass by, that part
of the house is actually not proposed to change one bit.
It’s not getting any closer to the front setback and they
will not loose… The lighting study changes zero. We’re not
going to be going up higher than the garage at that point.
That’s not necessarily intentional; we didn’t know that
that was a big part of potential concern, but in terms of
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the context and neighborhood plan, in fact they won’t be
losing any light in that main living area. Their view won’t
change at all.
Then in terms of the back where the second story
is, unfortunately we are proposing a second story right
next to their second story, so I’m not sure what
considerations we made; that’s kind of what we’re just
asking for. It’s the second story right next to their
second story.
Jay, you got something?
JAY PLETT: Yes. I’d just like to add that the
statement was made that it’s 10 feet away and it’s 28 feet
tall, and that’s not quite accurate. It’s 27 feet tall and
the second story portion of the house has a 15-foot
setback. The 10-foot setback only pertains to the first
floor, but the second story has a conforming setback of 15
feet, which I believe is correct in that neighborhood.
I would also differ with the perception. If you
look at the house, if you look up from Santa Cruz Avenue,
both 120 Olive and especially 546 Santa Cruz Avenue loom
over our story poles, and by no means would our project be
dominant; 546 Santa Cruz will still be well above the
perceptible view of our project.
Our driveway length will not be changing.
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THOMAS REICHERT: Jay, I wanted to point that
out. One of the concerns I heard was from the neighbor
Bonnie. Sorry we haven’t met yet. I’m excited to
potentially meet and sorry that that’s the circumstance.
But the parking driveway, to Jay’s point, in addition to
having the new conforming proposed garage, a full size car
does fit in our current driveway and we are proposing no
changes to that, so both of our cars would be parked
onsite, on property, with the proposed plan.
CHAIR JANOFF: Director Paulson, are you
indicating that the time has expired? He is, so your time
as expired, but if Commissioners have questions of the
Applicant, now is the time to ask. Yes, Commissioner
Tavana.
COMMISSIONER TAVANA: Yes, thank you, Chair. Just
one quick question. I can’t quite see it clearly in the
drawings, but what is the length of the driveway as
proposed?
THOMAS REICHERT: I think Jay is going to
probably measure it, like this scale. On the CRB and it
fits without walking on any of the sidewalk, because the
ticket person is vigilant about making sure that doesn’t
happen, so it fits fully in the driveway.
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JAY PLETT: Yes, the existing driveway is 18 feet
and will remain that way.
CHAIR JANOFF: Just a follow up question on that.
I’m looking at sheet C-3 and it indicates that the driveway
is 17 feet, 4 inches. Mr. Plett, are you saying that the
driveway is going to stay at 18 feet, or will it actually
be at 17 feet, 4 inches?
THOMAS REICHERT: There’s a slight variation
between Jay’s measuring off the property line, but
technically the City owns part of the driveway. That could
be the variation of the measurement. The dirt and grass and
part of the driveway are technically part of the City
property on our easement.
CHAIR JANOFF: But it sounds like that area is
parkable, and so it probably adds a few inches to the 17
inches, 4 inches.
THOMAS REICHERT: It’s not part of the sidewalk,
correct.
CHAIR JANOFF: Any other questions for the
Applicant? I do have one, probably for the architect. It’s
a little bit difficult to gather this, because your
elevations don’t indicate what your plate heights are, but
could you clarify what your ceiling heights are on each
floor?
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JAY PLETT: We have a 10 foot ceiling on the main
level, and then on the upper level the plates heights vary.
Let me go to the elevations here. The plate heights vary
from 8 feet in the master bedroom, at the rear we have a
plate of 7 feet, the master bathroom we are at 6 feet, 6
inches.
CHAIR JANOFF: Let me make it a little easier. Is
there a plate height on the second story that is over 8
feet?
JAY PLETT: No.
CHAIR JANOFF: And then the middle story, the
living space, you say it has a 10 foot plate height, and
then the basement level looks like it also has a 10-foot
place height?
JAY PLETT: No. Let me go to that sheet. It would
be 9 feet in the basement.
CHAIR JANOFF: And could I just clarify, is it
your intention at a future date to include a lift and a
lower level garage in that area?
JAY PLETT: Yes.
CHAIR JANOFF: And is there a requirement for a
9-foot plate height for a subterranean garage?
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JAY PLETT: In a basement garage, I’ve done them
before with a 9-foot basement. I don't know if we could go
lower than that.
CHAIR JANOFF: All right, thank you. Any other
questions for the Applicant at this time? I don’t see any
hands raised, so at this time we’ll close the public
hearing on this item and ask if Commissioners have any
questions of Staff, wish to comment on the application,
introduce a motion, or anything else? Commissioner Hanssen.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I’m going to go back to
where I was asking a question earlier. My first reaction
was there are a lot of neighbors who are supportive, and
then when I saw the letter that was signed by eight
neighbors opposing the project, several of whom have spoken
tonight, but not all. I think we have a situation that
needs to be addressed.
But as far as the application itself, it seems to
be a pretty well designed house. I think they’ve made a lot
of effort to make it fit into the neighborhood, but on the
other hand, they are asking for quite a few exceptions: the
FAR, front and side setbacks, and also the parking. From my
perspective I think that it really isn’t enough for them to
answer some of these questions in the hearing tonight. I
think that some additional work should be done with the
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eight people that signed that letter to try to assuage some
of their concerns. It may not be possible. We would hope
that those people would be amenable to being cooperative
and trying to come up with a compromise, but from my
perspective I think that more work needs to be done with
the neighbors in order for this to go through.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you, Commissioner Hanssen.
Do any other Commissioners have comments or thoughts they’d
like to share at this time? Let me ask a different question
of the Commissioners. Do we have a position on the
Commission where Commissioners are in favor of the proposal
as submitted to us tonight? Commissioner Tavana,
Commissioner Barnett, Commissioner Raspe.
COMMISSIONER TAVANA: Sorry, Chair, if you don’t
mind. I understand your concerns, Commissioner Hanssen, but
I’m not entirely sure based on what I heard tonight what
the chief concern was. Some of it was FAR, but it’s coming
from neighbors whose own houses have exceeded the FAR.
Height was brought up as an issue, but looking at sheet A-
1.1, Olive Street looking at the project, the height is
actually rather in line with a lot of the houses in the
immediate neighborhood, so I’m not sure what the chief
concern was and what could possibly be addressed by going
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back to the neighbors, so in general I am in support of
this project tonight.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you, Commissioner Tavana.
Any other Commissioners wish to speak? Yes, Commissioner
Raspe.
COMMISSIONER RASPE: I’ll join in Commissioner
Tavana’s comments. I noted in the materials and in the
comments tonight that the home in its height, setbacks, and
FAR wouldn’t be unique if we were to grant the request as
presented tonight. I thought the design is fairly
thoughtful. My only concern in coming into the hearing was
the parking, and that concern has been assuaged, as well as
the privacy concern, and as I understand it from the
opening comments, the redesign would largely take care of
privacy concerns, so as presented I’m in favor of this
project.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you for your comments.
Commissioner Barnett.
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: I’ll explain my reasoning
as well. Residential Design Guidelines do put a lot of
weight on neighborhood compatibility and character, but
there’s also language in there about the inevitability of
change and I think that this is a case where the
neighborhood is in flux. I understand the desire of certain
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of the neighbors to maintain the traditional architectural
values that are in place, but I think as was mentioned with
growing families, and frankly the value of lots and the
opportunity to improve them to current standards, makes
sense in this case, and I think that the exceptions have
been addressed or are justifiable under the code.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you for your comments,
Commissioner Barnett. Any other comments? Commissioner
Thomas.
COMMISSIONER THOMAS: I am a little bit on the
fence with all of this. Coming into this I think that this
is a nonconforming lot. It’s small, but reduced setbacks
were not a huge problem as far as I was concerned. I was a
little bit surprised to hear so many neighbors commenting
on that and FAR, especially when so much of the
neighborhood does exceed the FAR and does not have regular
setbacks.
So, from that perspective I don’t see a huge
issue with approving the application. I do wonder though
about the below grade square footage, is that really in
lieu of above grade square footage?
I understand the COVID situation, and being new
to the neighborhood I completely understand, it just is
unfortunate that it puts us in a position where we’re in
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between two parties because of the situation. I know that
part of our job is mediating, so I am interested to hear
what suggestions Chair Janoff and Commissioner Hanssen
have, because you’ve been doing this longer than the rest
of us.
CHAIR JANOFF: Commissioner Hanssen.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I should clarify that my
comments were more directed at a continuance than they were
at denying the application. I think at the end of the day
the application has merit, but I don’t feel like the proper
due diligence has been done with the neighbors, and I
recognize the complications of COVID, but we’ve seen so
many other hearings in the last year-and-a-half where they
managed to figure out a way to connect with the neighbors
on Zoom or on a phone call or something like that, so I
would feel better about approving this and the exceptions
if that step had been done, and could be done as a follow
up to this meeting, to at least go over the plans with the
neighbors, and I think they’ll find that most of those
concerns are actually addressed, but some of those
neighbors didn’t even come and speak tonight, so I would be
in favor of a continuance to give them time to speak to
those other neighbors that are opposing, and that would be
my recommendation.
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CHAIR JANOFF: I’ll add onto that. You’re
correct, Commissioner Thomas, our job is in some cases to
mediate, but it is not make a decision perhaps in a vacuum,
so I think what Commissioners Raspe, Tavana, and Barnett
are saying is it’s important, that this is a project that
technically has many merits and it has the endorsement of
the consulting architect, it helps the parking because of
the driveway length and the conforming garage, so it’s
helping in those respects.
I don’t have an issue with the nonconforming
setbacks; it seems to be standard in the neighborhood
because these are exceptionally small lots, and how are you
going to fit what you need to fit onto them without some
exceptions, so I don’t have an issue with that.
I did have a bit of an issue with height. It’s
difficult for me to understand from the information we have
from the architect. Story poles give you just sort of a
basic data point, but we don’t have the kind of elevation
renderings that we often get at the Planning Commission
where we can really see the articulation of a design and
you sort of get a little more perspective on where your
mass is articulated, forward or backward, so you begin to
see the impact it might have on some of the neighboring
structures, and I think that’s important for us to see. I’m
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in favor of the project as it is, but I think it would be
very helpful, especially for the neighbors, to be able to
see how the massing of the proposed project looks. It looks
so flat from these illustrations that we have; it’s really
difficult.
Having said all that, I think it’s very
important, especially in a neighborhood that’s this tight
physically and emotionally, you’ve got a lot of friendships
yet to come, for the Applicants to reach out to their
neighbors, see if compromise can be made. It may be that
that is not possible, but at least show that you’ve
respected your neighbors and your neighborhood and get a
little feedback from them. It may change the position of a
window in the master bedroom so that your neighbor on that
side doesn’t feel privacy has been infringed.
I’m actually in favor of the project, as three
Commissioners have noted, but I would like to see more
outreach to the neighborhood to make this really a
neighborhood-accepted project. I think having some harmony
in the neighborhood rather than controversy is probably a
good thing.
I would be in favor of Commissioner Hanssen’s
request for a continuance in order for the neighborhood
outreach to be developed, and then we can hear whether that
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outreach has resulted in any changes to the plan, large or
small, at a continued meeting.
CHAIR JANOFF: Commissioner Thomas, then I saw
Commissioner Clark as well. Go ahead, Commissioner Thomas.
COMMISSIONER THOMAS: Thank you. I agree with
everything that was just said, Chair Janoff, and I also am
in support of a continuance.
I think that there are some cases where it might
be difficult for the neighbors to articulate specific
changes that they’re asking for, and if that’s the case and
the Applicant can bring that to us, and we’ve been in
support of the project thus far, and we don’t have any very
specific feedback about changes, then I don’t see why we
can’t move on with a continuance.
I have really appreciated Mr. Plett’s ability to
verbally communicate and answer many of the questions that
we’ve had, but it was difficult in person at the site and
on paper to really visualize with these visuals that we
have. He was correcting us a couple of times, we were
getting clarifications on things, and we spent a lot of
time with these materials, so I think also getting some
better renderings and having a better idea of what the mass
and scale actually is on the property will hopefully allow
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the neighbors to come to agreement or feel more comfortable
with the project moving forward.
I just wanted to say that I’ve appreciated the
clarifications tonight and I think that a few more things
just need to be clarified and one last attempt to come to
some agreement on a few things, so I’m in support of a
continuance.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you, Commissioner Thomas.
Commissioner Clark.
COMMISSIONER CLARK: Thank you, Chair Janoff.
Just a couple of additions to what was said. I do agree
that the outreach was not done to the extent that it needs
to be, and it honestly sounds like the Applicant wasn’t
aware that it’s very important and normal to go door-to-
door and actually talk to their neighbors, and so I do
think it would be important to give them the opportunity to
do that and to try to address those concerns with their
neighbors, because it would be really sad to see
relationships with neighbors hurt through this, and once
the house goes up just there being resentment around that.
I think it would be nice to give them some time, see if
there’s anything that they’re able to explain to neighbors,
and then also maybe there are some really minor changes
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that they’d be able to make that would make other people
feel a lot better.
I agree it helps the parking situation, it was
built with a lot of intention, and I like the design as it
is, but I think that there should be more outreach before
I’m comfortable approving it.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you for your comments,
Commissioner Clark, and I did want to just clarify that
when we recommend further outreach, it doesn’t need to be
face-to-face. If the Applicant and neighbors are concerned
regarding face-to-face communication given COVID, please
make an attempt to provide phone numbers or emails, but
it’s so much better to talk than do the emailing thing, so
you could certainly distribute a flyer to your neighbors
and say, “Please give us a call. We’d like to hear from
you.” So again, it doesn’t have to be face-to-face. It can
be if you want to have a street meeting; that might be
interesting, but having said that, do I have any other
comments from Commissioners? Commissioner Tavana.
COMMISSIONER TAVANA: I have a concern about
continuing this tonight and the fact that it could open up…
I want to see if we can maybe limit the scope of the
continuance just to neighborhood outreach as opposed to re-
reviewing the whole entire project as a whole. I think that
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would be unfair to the Applicants tonight. They came all
this way to present to us, we’ve been discussing this for
an hour-and-a-half, and we’ve just continued it for
neighborhood outreach, which I do believe they did do.
Folks that we did hear tonight are not part of the
immediate neighborhood. So, is there a way we can just
limit the scope of the continuance tonight is my question?
CHAIR JANOFF: I think we can do that. Staff?
JOEL PAULSON: You definitely can limit the scope
to whatever is in motion. That doesn’t mean that that’s all
that may get discussed, but I think that direction might be
helpful just so folks know where the Commission is if
that’s where they’re interested in going.
CHAIR JANOFF: Commissioner Hanssen.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: What my intent was by
suggesting this, and I’ll stop short of making the motion
at the moment, was to limit the scope of this to simply
extending the neighborhood outreach to at least the eight
people that signed that letter, and anyone else that had
written in, and anyone else that’s in the immediate
neighborhood as we defined it by the Town Residential
Design Guidelines if they haven’t already been spoken to.
I’m not suggesting that they have to meet the
requirements of those neighbors, but if there’s something
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that’s reasonable… I’ll just give an example. If the
neighbor says, “I don’t think houses should exceed FAR,”
and there’s no harm that can be demonstrated because of it,
that might not be a good feedback, that’s your opinion but
it isn’t a harm that you’re experiencing, so what I would
envision is having some dialogue, doesn’t have to be face-
to-face, limited to the immediate neighborhood, and I’m
assuming that all the people that signed that letter were
in the immediate neighborhood.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you for that clarification.
I would just like to add, for those who may not know, that
the Residential Design Guidelines define “immediate
neighborhood” as the two houses to the left and right of
the property and the five houses across the street from the
property, so those would be the primary outreach homes. I
don’t recall whether the eight names on the letter were all
on Olive or from other areas, so we would want the focus to
be on those 2-2-5 houses in particular.
I think it’s clear from the discussion tonight
that the Commission is generally in favor of the project as
provided but that we would like to see some renderings so
that we can get a better understanding of it, and that
those renderings may help neighbors better understand what
they’re looking at over the story poles, and that we would
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not be expecting wholesale design changes. These would be
minor modifications that would help neighbors feel more
comfortable with the design proposed. With that,
Commissioner Barnett.
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: Based on all the
discussions that we’ve just heard, I would make a motion to
continue this hearing for a period of 30 days or more to
allow the Applicant to reach out to the neighborhood as has
been described by Chair Janoff, and also that the
additional elevations be provided; I think that would be
helpful.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you for that motion. Do I
have a second? Commissioner Hanssen.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I second the motion.
CHAIR JANOFF: Thank you for that. Any comments
regarding the motion on the table? Director Paulson.
JOEL PAULSON: I would just suggest that we do a
date certain of February 9th. If they’re not ready then,
then we can continue it to the next meeting.
CHAIR JANOFF: Is that modification to the motion
acceptable to the maker and the seconder of the motion?
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: It is to me.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: (Makes thumbs up motion.)
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CHAIR JANOFF: All right, with that then, I don’t
see any hands raised to further discuss, so I’ll call the
question. By roll call vote please indicate yes, no, or
abstain. Commissioner Hanssen.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Yes.
CHAIR JANOFF: Commissioner Tavana.
COMMISSIONER TAVANA: Yes.
CHAIR JANOFF: Commissioner Barnett.
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: Yes.
CHAIR JANOFF: Commissioner Thomas.
COMMISSIONER THOMAS: Yes.
CHAIR JANOFF: Commissioner Clark.
COMMISSIONER CLARK: Yes.
CHAIR JANOFF: And Commissioner Raspe.
COMMISSIONER RASPE: Yes.
CHAIR JANOFF: I vote yes as well, so the motion
to continue this matter for 30 days or to a date certain as
Director Paulson has provided is approved. Director
Paulson, there are no appeal rights for a continuance, are
there?
JOEL PAULSON: That’s correct. There are not.
CHAIR JANOFF: All right, thank you.