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Attachment 02 and 03TOWN OF LOS GATOS ITEM NO: 4 DESK ITEM PLANNING COMMISSION STAFF REPORT Meeting Date: April13, 2016 PREPARED BY: APPLICATION NO .: LOCATION: APPLICANT/ CONTACT PERSON: PROPERTY OWNER: APPLICATION SUMMARY: EXHIBITS : REMARKS: Erin M . Walters , Associate Planner ewalters@ losgato sca.gov Architecture and Site Application S-14-056 18151 Overlook Road (Located on the north side of Overlook Road , west ofWissahickon Avenue) Urban West, LLC, Nicole King Ronald M. Tate Requesting approval to demolish an existing single-family residence, to construct a new single-family residence, and obtain a grading permit on property zoned R-1 :8. APN 510-40-146. DEEMED COMPLETE: March 11 ,2016 FINAL DATE TO TAKE ACTION: September 11 ,2016 1-16 . Previously received with April 13 , 2016 Staff Report Received with this Desk Item Report: 17. Comments received from 11:01 a.m. on April 8, 2016 to 11:00 a .m. on Aprill3, 2016 18. Applicant's Letter, Proposed Landscape Screening Plan, and Photo Simulations of the Neighbor's View with Proposed Screening, received April 12, 2016 (four pages) 19 . Applicant's email correspondence with Neighbors, received April 12, 2016 and April 13, 2016 (four pages) The attached public comments (Exhibit 17) were received after distribution of the staff report. The applicant provided the attached letter and a modified landscape screening plan in an attempt to address the rear neighbor's privacy concerns (Exhibit 18). In addition the applicant has provided two photo simulations illustrating the view from the rear neighbor 's patio towards the proposed project with proposed vegetative screening. The vegetative screening plan proposes ten (15-17 feet tall , 24 inch box) Podocarpus gracilior plants along the subject rear fence line. This information was received after distribution of the staff report . ATTACHMENT 2 Planning Commission Staff Report -Page 2 of 2 35 N. Santa Cruz Avenue/S-14-056 Aprill3 , 2016 Exhibit 19 includes email correspondence from the applicant to the neighbors located to the rear and the north (right) of the subject project that occurred after distribution of the staff report. ~ Prepared by: Erin Walters Associate Planner JP :EW :sr Approved by: Joel Paulson, AICP Community Development Director N:\DEV\PC REPORTS\20 16\0verlookRdl 8 151 -A&S -desk item.docx REGARDING THE OVERLOOK PROPERTY. .. to the los gatos planning committee The house has been empty for over a year and is beginning to show obvious neglect. The poles showing height are considerably higher than the present roof line. This has a big impact of blocking the afternoon sun and sky at my house. The house is over 3000sq. ft and only has a one car garage, plus an uncovered parking space. I envision cars permanently being exposed in the driveway as an eyesore. The lot is deep but narrow and this house appears to be a much too big like the MONSTER HOUSES allowed in other communities ~<ff--;s.,._ Jpu 'D, '-C'~ RECEIVED 'f<-( APR 1 I 20 16 KAY THOMPSON [next door] TOWN OF LOS GATOS kltway7 @gmail.com rLA;:~~~ 18121 OVERLOOK RD, LOS GATOS, This Page Intentionally Left Blank Erin Walters Associate Planner Town of Los Gatos Community Development Department 1 10 E. M ain St r eet Los Gatos, CA 95030 (4 08 ) 354 -683 4 RECEIVED APR 11 2016 TOWN Of LOS GATOS PLANNING DIVISION ~-14-~~~ RE: Propos e d N ew Resid e n ce -1 8 1 5 1 Overlook Road Dear M s . Walters: 1/we are res iden ts o f l os Gatos residing near the proposed new residence loca ted at 18151 Overlook Ro ad. 1/we have reviewed th e architectural site plan, floor plans, and elevations o f the proposed new resi de nce in our neighborhood . Respectfully, Si gnature : __dJ£_~~ Name: D ', Ci\.V\0-. t-\B Wt:.i l Address : \d.S &-leV' ~~&£ye {tur. L-G. qstl30 Contact Info: __ '--(..:__. 0_~_....::;:3_l_/c:; __ q_~_3_\:___ _____ _ Erin Walters As sociate Planner Town of Los Gatos Community Deve lopment Departm ent 1 10 E. M ain Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 (40 8) 35 4 -6834 RECEIVED APR 11 2016 tOWN OF LOS GATO S PLANNING OIVIS tON ~-I '-1-~S(p RE: Proposed N ew Resi de nc e-18151 Ove rlook Road Dear Ms . Wal te rs : 1/we are residents of Los Gatos r es iding near the proposed new r esidence located a t 1 8 15 1 Overlook Road. 1/we have reviewed the archi te c tural si te p l an , fl oor plans, and eleva ti ons of the proposed new residence in our ne ig hborhood . Respectfully, Signature : N ame : Address: _\~(j.-"-=-5_..c:::,(;{___:_'f~V\-1--f-'{y;-'--"' ~o\-:--r~"""'---¥-Av~r .. _L _, (,~... .. q 5V '3o Contact Info: -~C;"-""£'--'-l \..:...___lj_.._O.:.....CC:_.-----""'(a::.._C{_\ --____,q"--"5::.._5=--D ___ _ ~URBAN WEST April5, 2016 Erin Wolters Town of los Gatos -Planning Division 11 0 E. Mai n Street los Gatos, CA 95030 RE : 18 151 Overlook-Privacy Screen ing Erin , RECEIVED APR ., '2 2016 T OWN OF LOS GAT O S PLANNING DI VI S IO N ~-I~D'?b Per conversations with the Kelly's, our neighbors directly behind us residing ot 9 Chestnut, we hove developed the attached solution to address their concerns over privacy related to the proposed construction of o new home on our property. Please find attached the following : 1. Updated planting schedule showing the addition of ten mature (15-17' toll) podocorpus grocilior plants along our fence line. As you con see from this document, we hove also moved the replacement oak tree to occommodote this change. 2. A render ing of what this privacy screening will look like from the Kelly's perspective . I hired o designer to place the trees into the photos Mrs. Kelly provided to us . I hove reached out to the Kelly's via ema il showing them the end product. It is my sincere hope that this meets their sati sfaction. If you need any more supporting materials please let me know. Regards, ~~- lance Tote Managing Member, Urban West LLC 408 .399.4950 x2 llonce@urbanwest.com II ' 22 S. Sonia Cruz. Avenue. 2M Floor '", I 'I Los Gatos, C A 95030 ~ 408.399 .4950 offic e ln!o@U!bonwest .com II www.urbonwe sl.c om EXHlBtT 1 8 This Page Intentionally Left Blank Rubber Tree Ties (2 Per Tree) s• Below First Branch Backfill Mix· See Specs -~~-'--·-·--------~ Puddle & Settle Backfill _ Before Planting Tree Finish Grade ---- Roughen Sldea Of Rootball To Cut Circling Roots · __ (8) Fertilizer Tablets Dlstrllluted Around Rootball For Each 24• Box Tree; (4) Tablets For E'<lch 15 gal. · Tree 2x Rootball Diameter '----· 1x4 Red_wood; AUach To Stake With 2 Wood Screwa -..:!:::_ Construct Watering Basin Top Of Rootball 2" Above Flillsh Grade r--------._, .. ~--------~ ~ Tree Staking Construct Watering Basin ilackiili"Mfx See Specs Finish Grade (3> Feitlllzer-talileiS- Per 5 gal.; (2) Per 1 gal. Top Of Rootbell a• Above Fhdsh Grad& .,_ __ lloullilen-sJCies-6f Rootball io Cut . Circling Roots Rou91ien s1iles Of Excavation Note: Indicates Existing Oak Already Removed Per Permit #T-15-053; Replace With (1) 36" Box Quercus agrifolia (Coast Live Oak) Per Arborist's recommendation. \ I I \ / ... r. ~c ----.....__ 0 ...... -~ .. I I I I I \ I 1 I I ( ----I -------+ 0 OVERLOOK _DRIVEWAY Maintain 6" Distance From Tree Trunk With Wood Chips- Typical "'""--'C"~---•8""·'"C'"*"'~ ----- -ROAD / I I \ \ j 0 \ I I 0 0 I '" I ' / X 0 \ / \ \ I ) I / \ \ I / I Indicates Existing Trees To Remain See Arborists Report "Arbor Resources" David Babby Dated September 21, 2015 For Specifics All Planting & Irrigation Installation Shall Be Installed Per Note # 13, Page # 8 Of The Arborists Report / Note: \. \ \ \ l J I Contractor Shall Install A Fully Automatic Drip Irrigation System For All Proposed Planting Areas. No Over Head Irrigation Will Be Allowed. Plant Schedule: Symbol Botanical Name Common Name Size Water Rating & Trees: A B California Black Oak Western Redbud 36" Box L 36" Box VL ' c & Shrubs: 1 Quercus kelloggii Cercis occidentalis Quercus agrifolia Arctostaphylos d.'H.McMinn' Westringia !.'Morning Light' Rhododendron m.'Chinoides' Polystichum munitum Podocarpus gracilior Coast Live Oak 36" Box VL Manzanita 5 g.c. L 2 3 4 ~~ 5 Coast Rosemary 5 g.c. L Rhododendron 5 g.c. M Western Sword Fern 5g.c. M Fern Pine 24" Box M Premium Arbor Mulch By Lyngso Or Equal 6"-8" Layer Carex divulsa M VL Arctostaphylos 'Emerald Carpet Dwarf Manzanita Plant 1 g.c. @ 36" o.c. VL Planting Notes: Berkeley Sedge Plant 1 g.c. @ 24" o.c. Fragaria vesca M Beach Strawberry Plant From Flats @ 12" o.c. 1. Circles shown indicate approximate mature size of plant material. 2. Contractor shall be responsible for adequate erosion control measures during construction. 3. No plant shall be planted in a drainage swale regardless of position on plan . 4. FINISH GRADING: Till all planter areas to an 8 inch depth. Break up or remove all compacted lumps of soil, rocks larger than 1 inch in diameter, and all deleterious material from planter areas. Finish grade all areas to a smooth, even surface free of abrupt changes in grade. Make minor grading changes as required to insure positive drainage(1% minimum). Slopes 3:1 gradient or greater need not be tilled. 5. No plant shall be installed until a fully automatic drip irrigation system, covering all planter areas, is installed, tested and is fully operational. 6. PLANTING OF TREES & SHRUBS : Unless otherwise noted, All trees shall be planted per detail : 1 All shrubs shall be planted per detail: 2 All planter pits shall receive the following back fill mix: 1. 50% soil of the site 2. 30% nitrogen stabilized redwood shavings 3. 20% Nitrohumus or Gro-power or equal Acid loving plants shall receive peat moss 4. Fertilizer tablets (Agriform 21 gram: 20-1 0-5) or equal, applied per manufacturer's recommendations. 7 Contractor shall guarantee all shrubs, vines & ground covers to live and grow in an acceptable condition for a period of 90 (ninety) days from the date of installation completion. All trees 24" box or larger and field grown specimen trees shall be similarly guaranteed for a period of 1 (one) year from date of installation. 8. Upon completion of planting operations, contractor shall apply an approved pre-emergent herbicide (Ronstar or equal) as weed control per manufacturer's specifications. In addition, a min. 3" inch layer of approved mulch shall be installed over the finish grade of all planter areas. 9. MAINTENANCE PERIOD: Contractor shall maintain the site for a period of 90 calendar days after acceptance by owner. Maintenance shall include weeding of all shrub and ground cover areas removal of all trash and debris from planter areas and hardscape areas; pruning and trimming of all plant materials required; replacement of all dead or dying plant material & 2 applications of fertilizer. 1" = 1 0' -0" Quantity 1 1 1 5 7 3 6 10 .THOMAS SCHERER .. ASSOCIATES Landscape Arcftilecture ·"P.O. Bax 68, Aptos, CA 95001 Tel (831} 688'8913 Fax (831) 688-3135 sheer titll' ' Planting -Plan Details & Notes Cl <( 0 Wo:<e ()~() ZOu:> wgo Oo:~ -we:> 00> w 0 (/) o:,_O I.C)__j ,.- co ..-- revisions co .... .... ' 0 .... ' 0 .... 1.() z a.. <( Lt, 1-27-2016 TJS ·-,&. . 4-6-16 TJS date 11-16-2015 ·drawn· TJS sheet ·no of 1 From: Lance Tate [mailto:lance@urbanwest.com] Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2016 8:36 AM To: Rita Kelly; David.M .Kelly@kla-tencor.com Cc: Erin M. Walters; Nicole King; Kelly Mozumder Subject: Overlook -Privacy Screening and Planting Schedule Good morning Rita and David, RECEIVED APR I? 2016 TOW N O F LO S G ATOS PLAI\INING Dl\flSlOi\l Below is a link to an updated planting schedule showing the addition often, mature, 15'-17' podacarpus gracilior trees (they can grow up to 25'). Additionally, we had a rendering done showing the privacy the addition of these trees will provide. If you have any questions please let me know. https ://fortbay .box.com/s/ssumwu98rkpgg5x696vwo6rpjxnkucxs Regards, Lance Tate II managing member URBAN WEST L L C 408 .399 .4950 x2 II 408.399.4960 fx II 858.401.9810 mobile urbanwest.com II @lancetate II linkedin.com/in/lancetate EXHIBlT 1 9 From: Lance Tate [mailto:lance@urbanwest.com] Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2016 8:50AM To: kay thompson Cc: Kelly Mozumder; Nicole King; Erin M. Walters Subject: 18151 Overlook, Los Gatos Kay, RECEIVED APR 1 / 2016 ~ "'l t+ -t::> S"' f0\11/r..J OF LOS GA-r .,_, PU.I'-'N'N" I OS ' " ... u Dl'JJSiatJ I hope this email finds you doing well. I just received your opposition letter regarding our project and while I wish it was a letter of support, I understand your concerns. I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to meet with you prior to bringing your concerns to planning. As I said the day we met, I wish there was a solution that would address your concerns as well as our ability to build a sellable home. Unfortunately, we have not found that solution. The purpose of this email is to reiterate a promise I made to you when we met. In the event that our project passes in its current form, I will do everything in my power to alleviate the perceived impact of our new home on your property. I would like you to be as involved or hands off in that process as you would like but I want you to be happy with the final product. As I shared with you and your daughter, I am a born and bred local and as such, the satisfaction of my fellow Los Gatos residents is important to me. I hope I get the opportunity to show you how easy and collaborative my team can be when it comes to a new build project. Again, thank you for the opportunity to address your concerns early in the process. Enjoy your week. Regards, Lance Tate II managing member URBAN WEST LLC 408.399.4950 x2 //408.399.4960 fx II 858.401.9810 mobile urbanwest.com II @lancetate //linkedin.com/in/lancetate Eri n M. W a lte rs Fro m: Sent: To : Cc: Subject: Kelly, Davi d M <Davi d.M.Ke ll y@k la-tencor.co m > Tue sday, April 12, 2016 3:40 PM Lan ce Tat e; Ri t a Kell y Er in M. Walters; Nicole King; Ke ll y M ozumder RE: Overlook -Priv ac y Scree n in g and Pla nting Sche dule RECEiVED APR 11 2016 TOVVN OF LOS GATO S PLANNING DIVISION Thank you for making th e sin cere effort to address the privacy issue presented by the submitted building plan . The only acceptable remedy would have to include that the top of the windows fa cing o ur property be no higher than that of the top of the sliding door on the ex isting structure. Thi s remedy is the only re medy that ha s a very h igh probability of being sustained following the sale of this property by Urban West . Other remedies such as, but not limited to, frost i ng of the windows and/or tall trees are too easily altered by the subsequent owner(s). And we have noted several instances over the 13 years that we have lived in this ne ighbo r hood of trees being removed and homes being modified w ithout our inte re sts being sought as a part of those decisions. And those changes in most instances were done with the permission of the town. So any remedy short of p hysica ll y li miting the height of the windows facing ou r property, in a very practic al sense , is not in the control of anyone on th is email once the sale of the property has been exec uted by Urban West . That inc ludes Urban West, the town of Los Gatos or us . Only 3 years ago we went through a major remodel of our home u sing the same ar chitect as Urban West ha s used . We were advi sed and then re stricted from having the remode l of our home significantly depart from the existing exte ri or features . So mo st of the remod el was centered around opening the back of the home up to the ya r d using glass French doors and add ing a porch to take advantage of the privacy offered from that side of our property. The design of the submitted bui lding plan by Urban West remove s much of the benefit we sought and obta ined from our remodel. Regard s, Dav id Ke l ly 9 Chestnut Avenue Los Gatos, CA 95030 From: Lance Tate [m ailto:l an ce@ urbanwest .co m] Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2016 8 :36AM To : Rita Kelly <r it ake ll y 1@c omcast .ne t >; Kelly, David M <David .M .Ke lly@kla -ten cor.com> Cc : Erin M. Walters <ewa lters@ losgatosca.gov>; Nicole Ki ng <nico l e@ ur banwest.com>; Kelly Mozumder <ke l ly@ urbanwest.com> Subject: Overlook -Priva cy Sc r eening and Planting Schedule Good morning R ita and David, 1 Below is a link to an updated planting schedule showing the addition of ten , mature, 15'-17' podacarpus gracilior trees (they can grow up to 25'). Additionally, we had a rendering done showing the privacy the addition of these trees will provide. If you have any questions please let me know. https ://fortbay.box .com/s/ssumwu98rkpgq5x696vwo6rpj x nkucxs Regards, Lance Tate II managing member URBAN WE ST LLC 408.399.4950 x2 II 408.399.4960 fx II 858.401.9810 mobile urbanwest.com II @ lancetate II linkedin .com/inllancetate 2 LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A P P E A R A N C E S: Los Gatos Planning Commissioners: D. Michael Kane, Vice Chair Kendra Burch Charles Erekson Melanie Hanssen Matthew Hudes Tom O’Donnell Town Manager: Laurel Prevetti Community Development Director: Joel Paulson Town Attorney: Robert Schultz Transcribed by: Vicki L. Blandin (510) 337-1558 ATTACHMENT 3 LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 P R O C E E D I N G S: VICE CHAIR KANE: We’ll now consider Agenda Item 4, 18151 Overlook Road. It’s Architecture and Site Application S-14-056, requesting approval to demolish an existing single-family residence, to construct a new single-family residence, and to obtain a grading permit on property zoned R-1:8. This is APN 510-40-146. The property owner is Ronald Tate. The Applicant is Urban West, LLC, Nicole King. The project planner is Erin Walters, and Ms. Walters, will you present the case? ERIN WALTERS: Yes, good evening. The Applicant proposes to demolish an existing two-story house and construct a 2,300 square foot, two-story residence. The project also includes an 800 square foot cellar and a one- car garage. The proposed contemporary Craftsman-style residence has a maximum height of 28’3”. Proposed materials include wood shingles, stone veneer, and a composite roof. The color and materials board is located behind the Commissioners. The project meets all technical LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 requirements, including parking, setback height, floor area and building coverage. This application is being forwarded to the Planning Commission because of neighborhood concerns regarding parking, mass, height, privacy and neighborhood compatibility that could not be resolved. The Applicant has worked with the adjacent neighbors during the past two years to try to address the concerns. I will bring up each concern. One is parking. Neighbors have expressed there is not adequate parking onsite. The project does meet Town Code requirements for two dedicated off-street spaces; in this case it’s one covered space and one surface space. With respect to mass, the properties located to the east and north are at a lower elevation than the proposed subject site. Neighbors have concern that the mass of the home is not compatible with the neighborhood. The proposed residence will not be the largest home in the immediate neighborhood with respect to square feet or floor area. In order to reduce the mass of the house, the second story is set back approximate 25’ from the first story front elevation. With respect to height, the neighbors have expressed concern that the house is too tall for the LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 neighborhood. The proposed height is approximately 4’ taller than the existing two-story structure onsite. With respect to privacy, the right side and rear neighbors have expressed concerns. The rear neighbor has provided photos showing how the proposed two-story elevation in the rear can be seen from their rear patio. The Applicant has worked with the rear neighbor and has proposed looking at implementing additional plant vegetation that’s included in your Desk Item tonight, and there is a diagram here that shows how that would look with a photo simulation. The Applicant has also looked at window layout for the side elevations and manipulated that, so that it would provide the most privacy to both the side neighbors. With respect to height and mass with the two- story, the neighbors still have concerns regarding neighborhood compatibility. Staff can take any questions. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Before the questions—I did it again—may I see a show of hands of the Commissioners who have visited the property site? Are there any disclosures? Questions for Ms. Walters? Commissioner Burch. COMMISSIONER BURCH: What specifically were the neighbors’ issues for parking? LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ERIN WALTERS: Two neighbors have expressed concerns that because the proposed project has a one-car garage that that wouldn’t be adequate parking for the site. Town Code doesn’t require covered parking; they only require two dedicated parking spaces, which this project provides. COMMISSIONER BURCH: Then their concern was that parking would overflow onto the street? ERIN WALTERS: That’s correct. COMMISSIONER BURCH: Oh, okay. Then just one other question. You said that the Applicant had addressed some of the privacy concerns with some proposed trees and with some mitigation on the windows. Have those been reviewed by the neighbors, based on your knowledge? ERIN WALTERS: The neighbors have reviewed the proposed plans as you have seen it. The neighbors have reviewed the side elevations and locations of windows, but they still have concerns with respect to privacy, height and mass. The rear neighbors have reviewed the proposed vegetative proposal, as well as met and discussed the reason why the rear egress window is placed where it is on the second floor due to the bedroom, and they feel that that is inadequate to meet their concerns. COMMISSIONER BURCH: Okay, thank you. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Hanssen. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I had a couple of questions; thank you. The one-car garage kind of caught my attention, and a couple of the residents flagged that as a concern. I noted that the architect’s report found it does look better from a front curb appeal perspective. The architect didn’t use those words, but it looked nicer. I did also wonder about even though they can meet the parking requirement by having uncovered parking, is that typical to have a five-bedroom, four-bath house with a one-car garage? That just seems odd to me. Is there precedent for that in the neighborhood? ERIN WALTERS: There aren’t single-car garages in the neighborhood. As you see, the existing structure that’s there has a two-car garage that’s right in front of the existing home, and that’s actually not encouraged by our current Residential Guidelines, so as you say, the consulting architect did comment that he felt that it provided a better front elevation. Our code doesn’t speak to requiring covered parking, so it can be accomplished through surface parking. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: But you’re saying in terms of neighborhood compatibility, there are other houses in LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 the neighborhood that are of similar size and scale that have a one-car garage? ERIN WALTERS: There is not another single-car garage in the neighborhood. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: That’s what I thought, looking at the neighborhood analysis, that most of the other garages were 400-500 square feet, and this was 244, so it seemed like it would be different. There were a couple of other things I wanted to ask. One was about a couple of neighbors mentioned something about fencing, and I couldn’t see that in the drawings, that they wished that there wasn’t any fencing and that there isn’t any in the neighborhood. Do you know what the status is on that? I didn’t know if that was a valid… ERIN WALTERS: I believe it was for the front yard, and Staff was able to speak with the neighbor and discuss what the proposal was. There isn’t any proposed fencing that would prohibit someone from parking along the side of Overlook. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I thought their concerns were more about privacy, like a fence in between the houses or something. ERIN WALTERS: Oh, I’m sorry. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: It may or may not be valid, but you don’t remember there being a fence, that that was the only house that had a fence between the houses or something? ERIN WALTERS: Mmm-mmm. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Okay. Then the last thing, there was a question about the request for a Grading Permit. I didn’t see anything in terms of Grading Permit criteria in our findings, so maybe if you can explain. ERIN WALTERS: Let me check on that right now. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: And that was my last question. VICE CHAIR KANE: Other questions of Staff? Seeing none, thank you very much. I’ll now open the public portion of the hearing and give the Applicant an opportunity to address the Commission for up to ten minutes. I’m not sure who will be speaking, but I’m about to find out. LANCE TATE: Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Lance Tate. Nicole King was supposed to be speaking tonight, but she actually gave birth to her first child this morning at 2:00am, so sorry, it’s me. I represent Urban West. We’re actually a family- owned Los Gatos-based realty company located at 22 South LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Santa Cruz Avenue in Los Gatos. I will jump right into the details, because Erin did such a good job of describing the project in general. This is the existing home as it stands right now. As you can see, the two-car garage up front dominates it. This is the home that we’re proposing. It’s a Craftsman-style home. As I told my architect on the way in— I’m a real estate developer professionally—this is probably the most widely accepted architectural style that we found. Basic facts here. The home is 2,326 square feet above grade, with an 819 square foot cellar. The proposed site plan, and our proposed floor plan. I’ll jump right into the neighborhood concerns. As Erin said, the primary concerns are parking, neighborhood compatibility and privacy. Briefly, these are a few finished homes that we’ve done under the Urban West brand in Los Altos and Mountain View; just to give you a feel for the architecture in reality. I know the rendering sometimes doesn’t look as real as what we paid for. I want to speak first to the character of the neighborhood. As you saw in the report, the contributing architect, Larry Cannon, actually felt that the property and the project as proposed are compatible with the LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 existing neighborhood. One of the things you’ll see from this drawing is that we are at a higher grade than our neighbors, especially our neighbor to the right, which is Kay Thompson, who I don’t believe is here tonight. So we are somewhat at a disadvantage just by a condition that we didn’t create and the fact that there is a change in elevation on Overlook as you move up the hill in our direction. Here are photos of surrounding homes. The first thing we did to make sure that we were more compliant with the neighborhood is we are adhering to all of the design suggestions that Larry Cannon made for us, most prominently the columns. We’ve gone from a concrete fiberboard shingle to a real wood shingle. Additionally, we have changed the materials on the house so that it is all shingle. One concern that was brought up was the height of the house. One of the concerns that were brought to my attention is that the elevation, our final finished grade, is actually moved up a foot. There’s a reason for that, and I brought my civil engineer with me this evening. If we get to questions we can broach that, but the broad strokes of it is that we raised the elevation of the house to protect three mature trees that exist on the property, the most LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 prominent being the one directly behind the structure proposed and the existing structure. This project as planned, as proposed, actually in our opinion improves the privacy as the project sits today. There’s a large balcony on the second story of the existing structure that sits off of the living room; it’s a reverse floor plan and the living room is upstairs. In our proposed plan we’ll actually be moving the living space down to the second story and eliminating the large deck right now. In a conversation with Ms. Thompson at her house, she mentioned the fact that on numerous occasions she’s seen her neighbors standing on that porch outside looking into her back yard. The main room that will be on the top floor with our new proposed structure will be the master bedroom. I don't know about you guys, but I have my windows drawn in my master bedroom at all time. I like to keep that as private as possible. In our opinion the elimination of the deck and moving the main living floor to the first floor and making the master on the second floor is an improvement in privacy. We’ve also eliminated a significant number of windows along the right side of the property where Ms. Thomason lives, and we’ve also moved the property back one LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 foot from the existing footprint of the second story. In a lot of ways I feel like just proposing what we are, that we’ve improved the privacy for Ms. Thompson. The second issue is the privacy for the Kellys. Seeing the story poles up, they have a very significant concern, and we made it our major priority to address that as soon as we could. What we’re proposing is ten 15-17’ tall Podocarpus gracilior. I don't know what the layman’s term is for that. We actually are purchasing them from another partnership, we purchased these for screening on another site, so we will be bringing actual 17’ tall trees to the site, and they’re 17’ today. By the time we actually bring these out, they can grow up to 20-25’, so we’ll be bringing out fully mature trees. I just wanted to give you a comparison here. The picture on the left is the picture that the Kelly’s took showing the height of the proposed structure with the story poles, and as you can see in the second picture, the 17’ trees would provide a significant amount of coverage and a significant amount of privacy. This is just another view. And this is the planting plan showing where we will be replacing the trees. To come back to the character of the neighborhood, again, Mr. Cannon, the contributing LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 13 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 architect, feels that the proposed home is compatible with the neighborhood in design, massing and style. His recommendation (inaudible) located in an established neighborhood, the mix of single-family homes and multi- family housing complexes, all one- and two-story heights. Like was said, we’re replacing a two-story home with another two-story home. It is 4’ taller than the existing structure, but it is a two-story home, and the Craftsman style I do feel fits well with the existing neighborhood. The other thing is we took a lot of design considerations in planning this home to be considerate of the neighbors and surrounding privacy and compatibility. One of those things is roof pitch. There are other two- story homes, and the window placement has been carefully designed to not be invasive in the neighbors’ properties. I have to reiterate, we are compliant with all of the Town’s technical guidelines. Thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Questions? Commissioner Hudes. COMMISSIONER HUDES: One of the suggestions (inaudible) brought it up here is the frosted glass. “Staff suggested the Applicant consider using obscure glass in the second story rear elevation windows. Applicant will use for LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 the bathroom window, but would like to keep the master bedroom egress window clear.” So is it just one window that the Applicant will agree to… LANCE TATE: Correct. If you’re looking at the rear elevation, it’s a smaller window. COMMISSIONER HUDES: What is the thinking for not wanting to agree to frosted windows in the bedroom? LANCE TATE: Well, for your master bedroom, you’d like to look down in your yard, if you’re upstairs, to watch the kids. COMMISSIONER HUDES: You would say it’s not normal to… LANCE TATE: No. No, it’s not normal to frost a window like that. VICE CHAIR KANE: Other questions? I have one for Mr. Tate. I thought I heard you say that the house was 4’ taller than it presently is in order to save the trees. Did you combine those two statements? LANCE TATE: If I did, it wasn’t intentionally. VICE CHAIR KANE: So why is the house 4’ taller than it currently is? LANCE TATE: The house in its existing form was built in the late-sixties. I mean it’s low plate heights; I LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 think they’re 8’ on both the first and second story. What we’re proposing is a 9’6” plate on the first story, and an 8’6” plate on the second story. VICE CHAIR KANE: That puts it taller than the others… LANCE TATE: Correct. VICE CHAIR KANE: …because the others were historical? LANCE TATE: Well, the existing house is just… I mean that was just how they built houses when it was built. VICE CHAIR KANE: I think you’ll hear something about neighborhood compatibility on that. It’s certainly reflective in a couple of the letters. Some of the Commissioners have talked about parking, and a five-bedroom house means a lot of people, and you’ve got a one-car garage. Some of the letters we got from the citizens talks about turning the place into a parking lot. Can you address their concerns and mitigate them in any way? LANCE TATE: Well, I mean quite honestly I think not having the second garage bay is actually going to ensure that there is parking in the proposed parking structure. I don't know about you guys, but my garage is storage for my wife. I haven’t parked in any of the garages LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 16 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 that I’ve lived at, so I really do believe that having that second uncovered spot is going to ensure that the car is parked where a garage would be under normal circumstances, and I’d go as far as saying that the one-car structure might actually be more likely to be used as a parking space as opposed to storage, because of the size and limits. VICE CHAIR KANE: Because they’re going to need it. LANCE TATE: Exactly. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Questions? Seeing none, thank you very much. I’ll now invite comments from members of the public. Anyone who wishes to speak, please turn in a card if you haven’t already. I have one from Chris Spaulding. You’re the architect, in case we have questions. David Kelly. DAVID KELLY: I’m David Kelly, 9 Chestnut Avenue; I have a house behind where this house is being constructed. Our concern is a privacy concern. Unlike the previous thing on the agenda—that whole community didn’t want a neighbor—we would like to have a neighbor and a new house behind us. First, I’ve got one score to report. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 VICE CHAIR KANE: No! Which way are you voting, because I’m going the other way? DAVID KELLY: Los Gatos High School played Saratoga High School in volleyball. Our son is on the volleyball team, so we missed the match to be here, just so you know, but they beat them, which is really good. Saratoga has the best striker in the state, this guy named Joel, he’s a really good striker, and Los Gatos High School won the game. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. This is killing your time, but go ahead. DAVID KELLY: That’s okay. The one thing I wanted to point out is that we have had discussions; there has been a rapport between us to try to work through a remedy. Our concern is mostly what the window height is. My wife is going to talk about that when you call her up. But the window height itself is higher than where the sliding glass door was on the back of the house that’s behind us today, and that makes it so that they can actually peer right in through the back of our home, right into the living room, and my wife will talk about that too. When we did our remodel three years ago, we actually did the same thing, complied with everything; we did a major remodel to our house. We had the same LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 18 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 architect, Chris Spaulding, who was our architect also. The way we set it up is we had to work ours such that it stayed consistent with the existing structure size, and then we set it up so we could take advantage of the backyard privacy we had, so we opened up the back of the house. Now with this thing, the way it’s set up and the way the window is, it peers directly into the back of our house, because we have French doors and the whole bit. For us, there’s going to be a new owner for the house. They’re going to build it, they’re going to sell it, and then we’ll lose control of any configuration that is put there that’s temporary, frosted windows, vegetation, so we think the only remedy that is possible is to keep the height of the window down to the same level that the top of the sliding glass door was for the existing structure, and something like that we think is a proper remedy. It’s the same level of privacy we have today, and it should support what they need in terms of the home that they’re building now at that location. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. DAVID KELLY: Want to see the pictures? Even though the house is only 4’ higher, which I don’t have a problem with how high the house is, this piece of plywood and another one behind this over here, this is where the… LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 VICE CHAIR KANE: Well, time is up. Thanks to the volleyball score, but let me see if we have a question. Commissioner Hudes. DAVID KELLY: Sorry about that. COMMISSIONER HUDES: I have a question. I know that some of the objections were neighborhood compatibility, mass and scale, and height and privacy. DAVID KELLY: Right. COMMISSIONER HUDES: Do you have concerns with the first two? DAVID KELLY: Just privacy. COMMISSIONER HUDES: Just privacy. Okay, thank you. DAVID KELLY: Privacy is our concern. VICE CHAIR KANE: You seemed to have approached this in an affable manner; you have a dialogue going the folks. DAVID KELLY: Yes, we do. VICE CHAIR KANE: What have they said about what sounds like serious concerns you have with the window? DAVID KELLY: Most of their remedies that they proposed have been ones that I consider are temporary. The vegetation they’ve offered, and the frosting of the windows, both of those I feel the next owner can actually LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 change at will. We’ve had a lot of remodels done around our house and our property, and we’ve watched all kinds of things get changed without our involvement and without our consideration. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Question to Staff: How much of that could be conditioned as a Condition of Approval? JOEL PAULSON: You can condition any of that as a Condition of Approval, but once the project is finished those Conditions of Approval are no longer valid, so I believe that’s what Mr. Kelly is speaking to. DAVID KELLY: That’s what our concern is, yes. JOEL PAULSON: We have had some cases where we do go back. Frosted glass, particularly, we’ve had a couple of instances of that where new owners have changed it out and we have compelled them to put it back in. VICE CHAIR KANE: So we can? If we chose to do that, we can do it? JOEL PAULSON: You can do it, but I’m telling you… VICE CHAIR KANE: If they take it out, we can ask them to put it back in. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 21 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JOEL PAULSON: You can, if something is brought to our attention. Changing out a window only requires a Building Permit. VICE CHAIR KANE: Staff could bring that to your attention. JOEL PAULSON: Mr. Kelly, I’m sure, would bring it to my attention. VICE CHAIR KANE: I’m sure. Other questions for the speaker? Thank you, sir. DAVID KELLY: You’re welcome. Thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Now for something entirely different, Rita Kelly. RITA KELLY: Hi, I’m Rita Kelly and I’ve lived in our home for 13 years. I love it, and I love my neighbors. If I get a little upset, I’m sorry, but I’m very distressed by this whole planned project. Then sitting on my porch, and you can see the plywood up there is the window. I think that Los Gatos represents itself as a town that wants to maintain its character and puts rules in place for the things that we do in terms of changing our homes an property, however, I think sometimes there are limits that do not accurately protect the neighborhood LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 22 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 character and the people living there, and this is the case with this remodel on Overlook. The proposed plans create a structure that’s too tall for the neighborhood and negatively impacts the homes around it; especially mine, as you can see from the photos. In the proposed plans the 4’ actually look like a completely additional level; it’s huge. You’re welcome to come up to my house and look from the perspective of sitting on my couch and around my porch. It also will let the new owners, whom we don’t know, since this is being built to flip, to look right into our back yard, our guest cottage, and my family room. When the story poles went up, I looked up from my sofa where I was sitting and the guys were looking right at me. It was very distressing. So although there are a lot of privacy plans that they are proposing, none of them are permanent solutions that I can control, so I’m forever being affected by what they do to this house. I’m also really upset because there wasn’t any consideration for my family or me when the plans were developed, and I even know Chris the architect, because he did our house two years ago. There’s no reason in my mind that the remodel had to create additional height. I’m sure it would have been very possible to make a beautiful home LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 23 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 that Urban West could flip at the existing height of the structure. In fact, I would have been happy to let Chris and Urban West come into my home, from my point of view before they made the plans, so that we could come up with something that’s mutually agreeable, because as my husband David said, we would like to see a new house be built so that we’d have more neighbors. In addition, there were several trees removed after a flurry of digging took place in the back yard of our property, which I still don’t understand, especially since we have a half-dead tree in the back of my property that I’m not allowed to take out until I pay another independent arborist to authorize that I should. It seems to me that allowing this house to be built at the proposed height sets a bad precedent that over time will change the character and feel of our neighborhood as the homes change owners. We will have more giant homes, creating an atmosphere much like San Jose, and I don’t think we should let that happen. It is especially disappointing that someone that’s not even going to live in the house is imposing it on us. They’re merely making a remodel to cash in on the appeal of our neighborhood. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 24 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Questions for the speaker? Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Let me focus for a second on that height of that back window. Your husband was saying he would like that window lowered to the height of the previous window. Do you agree with that? RITA KELLY: I don’t want the house that tall. I think it’s too big. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: So moving the window is not what you’re concerned with, it’s lowering the height? RITA KELLY: I mean if there was some way to make it so that the window wasn’t peering directly into my yard, that might be acceptable, but I just think the house is too big; it’s too tall. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: That’s what I’m trying to separate. You’re saying even if they could do something with the window, and let’s not speculate what that is, that would not satisfy you in the sense that you think it’s too tall, too high? RITA KELLY: It seems like it’s…it moved back, it’s bigger, it’s more massive in terms of intrusion in our yard. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Okay, thank you. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 25 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Other questions for the speaker? Thank you. Kim Roper. KIM ROPER: My name is Kim Roper; I am the Kelly’s neighbor at 9 Chestnut Avenue. I’ve been in the Kelly’s house. This picture doesn’t really do it justice at all. I would suggest you take her up on her offer to just walk into her house. You start walking into the house; right at the kitchen you just see this window. It would break my heart if I had someone like that over in my yard. It’s a private area, and this just changes the whole neighborhood, so I’m here to support her. We touch corners, our property, and I have to go into my yard to see. Before, I never used to be able to see the house, but they did a lot of digging and equipment early on when they got the property. That has changed; I’ve been able to see it, but I don’t see it as much as they do. I really suggest you go and look from her house. That picture doesn’t do it justice. Thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. You’re the second person who has made mention of the digging and the commotion and the tree removal. What was that all about? KIM ROPER: I don't know when the house sold, but all of a sudden…but we heard all this digging for a couple LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 26 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 of weeks, and power equipment in the back. We took a walk along to the front of the house, and we didn’t know what was going on. My husband asked some of the workers and they were very… I don't know if they didn’t speak English or whatever, but we tried to find out what was happening, because it was going on for a while. I don't know how long ago that was, at least a year ago, if not more. I think it’s longer. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Other questions for the speaker? Thank you very much. One question, Commissioner O’Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: On that work, did trees come down that you could see during that work? KIM ROPER: I didn’t see it physically come down, but I know I can see more of the house today from my yard than I used to be able to see before all that noise was going on. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: And is it your opinion that’s because some of the tree foliage or the trees are not there? KIM ROPER: That’s probably what happened. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Thank you. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. I’ll close the public portion of the hearing. The Applicant has five minutes for rebuttal and to explain the tree mystery. LANCE TATE: The tree was actually damaged during… When we acquired the property the back of the property was pretty overgrown, and during some maintenance of that we did injure the tree roots in the back yard and went through the proper permitting process to remove the injured tree. That explains that. I did want to touch on two other problems. I do actually have what I feel would be a permanent solution, by putting the foliage coverage in the control of the Kelly’s. I would be willing to plant the trees on their property, and get some sort of estimate from a landscaper of their choice or our choice of what the cost would be of maintenance for the next ten years, and escrow that cost for the Kellys. So then they would be in control of the trees in perpetuity. One solution. The other, the frosted window, I can’t speak to that. I personally wouldn’t go through the hassle and expense of removing a frosted window to put in a clear one, especially in an area such as my bathroom, but again, we don’t have control of that. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 28 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 But I do think it might be a stretch to assume someone would cut down ten 17-foot tall, probably 20-foot tall, mature trees. One of the reasons that we did this in full disclosure is when we saw the impact in their yard, it wasn’t just the impact that the house was going to have on their yard, but I also want to provide privacy for the eventual owner of our property, so the planting of the trees serve two purposes, but I’d be more than willing to plant them on the Kelly’s property and absorb the burden of maintenance for those trees for the next ten years. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Commissioner Hudes. COMMISSIONER HUDES: Did you discuss or consider the possibility of lowering the window in the bedroom by 4’, or whatever the difference is from the height of the previous sliding door? I don't know what that number is, actually. LANCE TATE: I think we discussed it briefly. I was under the impression that we wouldn’t meet the… Well, it would be on the floor, essentially, wouldn’t it? Yeah. VICE CHAIR KANE: Are we done, Commissioner? COMMISSIONER HUDES: So you’re saying it’s not feasible to lower the height of that window? LANCE TATE: Correct. It would be a very odd looking window inside the house. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 29 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER HUDES: How tall is that window? LANCE TATE: Chris, do you know? CHRIS SPAULDING: Chris Spaulding, architect. That window, the head height, the top of the window, is 7.5’ off the floor and it’s a 5’ tall window, so it’s about a 2’ sill. COMMISSIONER HUDES: Would it be possible to do a shorter than 5’ window there? CHRIS SPAULDING: Yeah, but that would just bring it down to… If you had a regular 6’8” head, that would bring the top down 10”, but it wouldn’t change your eye level. To effect the view out the window, the top of the window would have to come all the way down about 4’ off the floor, which would look odd on the outside and would look ridiculous on the inside. You can’t have a window that starts at 4’ and goes to the floor. COMMISSIONER HUDES: Just asking if you considered options to do that? CHRIS SPAULDING: It’s not a practical solution. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Burch. COMMISSIONER BURCH: I have a couple of questions; one is a clarification. I understand that window is the code-required fire escape, correct? LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 CHRIS SPAULDING: Yeah, we need an egress window, and we could always put it on the side of the house, but that would create an impact on the Thompsons that we can’t mitigate, because it’s only 10’ from the property line, whereas towards the back we have like 50’ or 60’ that we can do planting. COMMISSIONER BURCH: Well, okay. So in my attempt at finding a compromise here, can you guys turn to sheet A- 5? The top, left diagram shows the… It’s kind of hard to see on mine even with my glasses, but by adding the cellar it looks like we’re raising the floor plan of the house from grade 2’. Is that floor plan the… CHRIS SPAULDING: The finished floor… COMMISSIONER BURCH: Yeah. CHRIS SPAULDING: …was raised 1’ from the existing house. COMMISSIONER BURCH: From the existing. CHRIS SPAULDING: And that was a function of getting the drainage to work, and there are three trees that we’re trying to protect that can’t have any cut within that 5’ diameter tree protection zone. The civil engineer is here; Amanda can speak to this. To have the finished grades around the house drain properly and save those trees, that was the lowest finished LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 floor that we could do. It had nothing to do with the basement. COMMISSIONER BURCH: Okay. So then my last question is also in taking a look at this diagram I was trying to think about how we could mitigate that impact on the back neighbor. You have an extremely long car/garage/porch into a mudroom, and if I laid my dimensions out right, your mudroom is 5’ deep. So I’m curious if you would consider sliding the second floor forward perhaps 3.5’? It would take you to a little bit over a half of the mudroom. You would still have articulation on the front of the house from the first to the second floor, but you would be bringing in the back of the house, therefore essentially just by looking at angle of sight, bringing that window height down somewhat? You see what I’m saying? So if you take the second floor plate, slide it forward over the mudroom, maybe leave 18” for some roof articulation between the first and second floor on that front plane, you’d bring in that second floor plate, like I said, with just angle of sight. It brings the impact of that window down, and then perhaps that with some vegetation. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 32 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 I’m not going to speak for the neighbors; I’m just trying to throw out some compromises that maybe would start a dialogue between you guys. I’m not going to ask to solve that right now. I’m going to ask if you would consider that to be something perhaps you take back to your neighbors and review with them, including bringing the overall size of the windows down a bit? Again, I’m not asking you to answer, because you can’t answer for your neighbors, so even if you say yeah you’ll do it, I don't know if it solves their problem. LANCE TATE: They’re here. You can ask. COMMISSIONER BURCH: I don't know if the Chair is going to let us do that sort of dialogue, but Chris has certainly been here in front of us plenty of times to know I like to find compromises, so perhaps that’s a dialogue that you could open up with them, and I’m sorry I’m taking all the other Commissioner’s time, so I’ll let them go ahead. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Commission Erekson. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: I was just going to ask Mr. Spaulding a question, but it’s kind of moot. I’ve seen him perform lots of times in a very positive way. Well, we have a unique circumstance where you did the redesign of the Kelly’s home, so you have high familiarity with the LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 33 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 problem that’s trying to be solved, because you worked at both places, do I’m assuming that you exhausted all of the design options to solve the problem. That’s a vote of confidence in you, but are there other ways that you could imagine? You don’t have to identify them. You understand what I’m asking? You have high familiarity with both situations, and you didn’t find out about the problem tonight, so I assume you explored other solutions, and if you have and there aren’t any, then there may or may not be any reason to continue the item, chasing what would be an elusive solution. CHRIS SPAULDING: I could certainly do a redesign where I push the building mass of the second story towards Overlook more, which would help, but it would certainly not completely mitigate the problem. It would help the problem, but not make it entirely go away. That’s why I agree with Lance that the best way to make it go away would be landscape screening, and if the Kellys are worried about that going away, then we can put it into their control. It seems like a fairly reasonable solution. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: That’s fair, yeah. You understand what I was asking you, if there are design solutions, and you’re telling me likely not. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 34 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 CHRIS SPAULDING: That would completely eliminate it, no. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: Right. CHRIS SPAULDING: Or that would force it onto the other neighbor, yeah. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: There’s an old saying, which is, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” If it turns out you don’t get this approved, you may go back to the drawing board and see if there is invention. We’re talking about four things, one of which is the elevation of the floor, which is 2’ higher. CHRIS SPAULDING: One foot. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Well, ultimately it’s possibly 2’, I think. You’ve told us good reasons why it is that; one is drainage, two are roots. You also talked about the heights of the floors. What’s the ceiling height of the first floor? CHRIS SPAULDING: 9’6”. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: And what’s the height of the second floor? CHRIS SPAULDING: 8’6”. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: So we know, for example, that if push came to shove, they don’t have to be that. I LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 35 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 was just trying to get areas that can change the height of the building. Kendra talked about sliding the part forward and you said that’s possible, you’d have to look at that. Then going to the size of the window, what is the size required by the code for the exit window? CHRIS SPAULDING: It’s 5.7 square feet clear opening dimension, so a casement window, and the sides to get the stretcher through is about 2.5’ wide by 4’ tall. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: And the present design calls for a window that is how tall? CHRIS SPAULDING: 5’ tall. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: So that’s something else that can be done. I’m not suggesting. Lord knows, you’re much better at what you’re doing. I don’t do what you do at all, but I’m just trying to find out what the areas are that we could do something with, because I personally think that the height of the building is a little much. It’s not a criticism of your design, but from the neighbors’ standpoint I can understand that. When we close the public hearing we’re going to talk about height, and probably also talk about the window. But before you’re through, I just mention that to you, because once we close the public hearing we’re not going to LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 36 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 hear from you anymore, so if you have anything to add on one or more of those subjects, now is the time to do it. LANCE TATE: We’d be willing to reduce the window size as long as it remains within the code, absolutely. We’re pretty much open to anything that makes the home something that someone would want to live in, while protecting the privacy and the interests of our neighbors. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Other questions? Commissioner O'Donnell, let me try this. I’m going to close the public hearing. Commissioner O'Donnell is right that I can close the public hearing, and I can also reopen it. I want to close it for right now. Close the public hearing, boom. I want to ask my fellow commissioners, I’m faced with a Staff Report that recommends denial of the application, and if I were to go in that direction, and if others would go that direction, then the whole project gets shut down. I was wondering if you’d be agreeable to asking them if they want to try to go back and get a redesign as opposed to a vote, not knowing how that might come out? COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Since I was going to ask a question on that line and I didn’t get a chance, no, I’d like to get an answer to my question. VICE CHAIR KANE: What’s your question? LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 37 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: You open the public hearing; I’ll treat you to my question. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Other Commissioners? COMMISSIONER BURCH: Pending Commissioner O'Donnell’s question, for the sake of the Applicant moving this forward, I would want to continue it, but I would want to continue it to the point where if they were going to do that, we’re going to come back with a mutually agreeable solution, we’re not going to come back to this thing. VICE CHAIR KANE: That was my intent. COMMISSIONER BURCH: Okay. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Hanssen. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I had the same feeling as Commissioner Burch, that rather than deny the application it would be better to see the Applicant resolve the concerns of the neighbors by continuing it, as long as they come back with a compromise that they’ve created. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Good. I’m going to reopen the public hearing and ask Commissioner O'Donnell what is his question? COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: All I was trying to do is we can continue this, and this is a question to you… We can continue this, and I think that’s a good idea, but it would be helpful certainly to me, and perhaps others… I LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 38 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 don’t want to go through an idle exercise if your attitude is look, we’re kind of where we are and that’s…you talk about a couple things. If we deny it, you at least get an appeal. If, on the other hand, you think you can do some things that we don’t know about, and maybe you don’t know about, then I’m all for that. So I guess I’m just trying to find out, you seem to be agreeable to trying to do something. LANCE TATE: Absolutely. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Then fine, I think the Chair is absolutely right. We can close the public hearing. LANCE TATE: Always take a maybe before a no, so absolutely. Thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Before I close it again, do we want to give guidelines for them to work on, or do you think they already have them? Are you clear on our clarity? LANCE TATE: Crystal clear. VICE CHAIR KANE: All right. In that case, I’m going to close the public hearing again. Do we need a motion? Commissioner Burch. COMMISSIONER BURCH: I’m going to make a motion to continue Item 4, Architecture and Site Application S-14- 056 to a date certain, and I will look to Staff to tell us… LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 39 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 I don't know, are we just going to put them all on May 25th? Is that our continuance date? JOEL PAULSON: That would be your continuance date knowing that two of you won’t be here. COMMISSIONER BURCH: No, the 25th we’re going to be here. It’s the 11th. The 25th we’re good. JOEL PAULSON: Right. Continue it to the 25th, if you’d like. COMMISSIONER BURCH: I’m going to look for a head nod, because the public portion isn’t open, if the 25th is enough time to… VICE CHAIR KANE: We’re not going to negotiate with you. COMMISSIONER BURCH: Yeah, I don’t get any say in that. I’m so sorry. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Let me just ask this: Part of the reason we continued to the 25th was that two of us wouldn’t be here, plus a third person has to be recused. That gets pretty dicey. If in fact I’m the only one that has a problem with the 11th, but our regular Chair, we have no reason to believe she wouldn’t be here, I don’t care, the 25th is great with me. I just am sympathetic to the Applicant if they can do it more quickly, but if it’s the 25th, it’s the 25th. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 40 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 VICE CHAIR KANE: So do we have a motion? COMMISSIONER BURCH: Yes, that was my motion. VICE CHAIR KANE: Do we have a second? Commissioner Hanssen. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I will second the motion. VICE CHAIR KANE: Any discussion? Commissioner Erekson. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: While I would support the motion to continue it, we had very little deliberation and discussion amongst the Commission. We asked a lot of questions. Commissioners ask questions, and they get answers to those questions, but one can’t conclude that they continue to have a concern, so it’s not clear to me if the direction we’re giving them is about the height of the structure, the window, or we don’t like the vegetation solution. I feel a little unprepared to vote on the motion when at least I’m not clear about what the direction is and what the consensus of the Commission is, and so I feel if I can’t figure it out maybe I fell asleep during part of it or something. I want to be sure that we’re clear as a Commission what the direction we’re giving him is, because depending upon whether we’re concerned about the height of the building or the size of the window or something; those LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 41 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 suggest potential different solutions to a good architect like Mr. Spaulding. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Let me try this. I made reference to a Staff recommendation to deny based on height and mass of the residence in comparison to the neighborhood. So I’ll go back to the four points that were mentioned before. One is to comply with the codes, guidelines and standards. The other is to listen very carefully to the Town Architect. The other is listen very carefully to your neighbors. And finally, listen very carefully to Staff. If Staff takes your project and comes up with a different opinion, that would bring you a long way home, but your neighbors and the architect and the codes also matter. Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: It might be helpful as to what Commissioner Erekson is saying if we had an opportunity to say what we think. Since I’m now speaking, I would first say that yes, I’m very interested in the height of the building; I’d like to bring that down. Secondly, I’m very interested in the exit window; I’d like to do something about that. But that partly is also dependent upon whether you followed Commissioner LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 42 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Burch’s suggestion that might obviate the exit window problem, I don't know. You slide that second story back, or front really, you’re moving forward, maybe that would solve it. Interested in the invasion of privacy that has been described to us by that window, but it could be solved in more than one way. So yes, I guess my major concerns are two: height of the building, and the lack of privacy because of that window. VICE CHAIR KANE: Those are his. You’ve heard others of us talk about others of concerns. Commissioner Hudes. COMMISSIONER HUDES: I would like to add some concerns that I do not have, and that is neighborhood compatibility. I think the architecture is very compatible with the neighborhood. And one that was mentioned in the Staff Report, which was mass and scale, and I don’t believe we’re hearing that issue from the neighbors. I am concerned about the privacy issue that is directly related to the height and to the size of the window. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Other comments? Commissioner Erekson. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 43 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER EREKSON: I don’t need to repeat everything that Commissioner Hudes just said, but that’s what I would have said. Because there were four issues that the Staff pointed out, so it wanted it to be clear that we didn’t hear issues about neighborhood compatibility and the mass and scale issues, and I share the exact opinion of Commissioner Hudes. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Burch. COMMISSIONER BURCH: And just because there is one more point, I’m going to say I’m also not concerned about the parking. I don’t disagree. I have a two-car garage, half of it is filled with my husband’s junk, we only fit one car in it, and to be quite honest, you just can’t control down the road if people park in the street or not. I think there’s adequate parking on the site, so I think that hit the last point to me. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Hanssen. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I also don’t have concerns about the parking per se. The only concerns that I see that are left are a general concern about the height, and then the neighbors’ privacy concern, and they kind of go together. I think if they came back and the neighbors were satisfied with the solution, I think I’d feel comfortable. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016 Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road 44 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you very much. Well, that constitutes our motion. We have a second. Let me call the question. All those in favor? Passes unanimously. Appeal rights, Mr. Paulson? JOEL PAULSON: There are no appeal rights since you continued the item.