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Attachment 3LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/11/2018 Item #3, 221 Almendra Avenue 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, Chair Matthew Hudes, Vice Chair Mary Badame Kendra Burch Melanie Hanssen Kathryn Janoff Tom O'Donnell Town Manager :Laurel Prevetti Community Development Director : Joel Paulson Town Attorney:Robert Schultz Transcribed by: Vicki L. Blandin (619)541 -3405 ATTACHMENT 3 LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/11/2018 Item #3, 221 Almendra Avenue 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: CHAIR KANE: So we move to the public hearings portion of our agenda and consider Item 3, which is 22 1 Almendra Avenue; Zone Change Application Z -17 -001; property owner is Joey McCarthy; Applicant is Bess Wiersema; requesting approval of a zone change for 0:LHP, Office with a Landmark and Historic Presentation Overlay, to R -1D:LHP, Single -Family Residenti al Downtown with a Landmark and Historic Preservation Overlay. This is APN 510 -14 -044. Our Staff Report tonight will be provided by Mr. Safty. RYAN SAFTY: Thank you. Good evening, Commissioners. Before you tonight is a request for a zone change from Offi ce with a Landmark and Historic Presentation Overlay to Single -Family Residential Downtown with a Landmark and Historic Presentation Overlay, located at 221 Almendra Avenue. The property was originally developed with a Residential use in the 1900s, but was converted to a n Office use. The proposed zone change will be consistent with the pattern of land use and zoning in the surrounding Residential neighborhood. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/11/2018 Item #3, 221 Almendra Avenue 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 For these reasons, and the analysis provided in the Staff Report, Staff recommends that the Plann ing Commission make the required findings in Exhibit 4 of your Staff Report and forward a recommendation of approval to the Town Council. This concludes Staff’s presentation, and we are happy to answer any questions. CHAIR KANE: Thank you, Mr. Safty. Ma y I see a show of hands from Commissioners who have visited the property under consideration? Are there any disclosures? Are there questions for Staff? Commissioner Hanssen. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I just had one question; it was kind of a history question. We always like to see the zoning line up with the General Plan, and clearly this is an application that’s going in that direction, but I did note that all the General Plan designations for that entire area off of Santa Cruz are all Medium -Density Resident ial in the General Plan, but then there are quite a few of these properties that are actually General Plan Residential , but they’re Office, and I was just wondering how that came to be, because it’s considered a Residential area from our General Plan. Was that a trend that started many years ago, and is that something we should be considering versus just this one property? LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/11/2018 Item #3, 221 Almendra Avenue 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 JOEL PAULSON: I’ll jump in, and then if Mr. Safty has anything additional. All you should be considering is this application. Ther e are a number of areas —and this happens to be one that has a lot of them — where you had probably uses that were Office , but the Town would have made a General Plan amendment, probably decades ago, and said ultimately we want this to be a Residential area off of North Santa Cruz, and so that’s why they have a General Plan designation of Residential . Up the street there are two properties that converted to houses, and one option there is to do a Conditional Use Permit, and so they actually were approved with Cond itional Use Permits, but they still have the Office zoning. As of late we’ve been encouraging , based on recent decisions , where we have these conflicts between zoning and General Plan designations , that the applicants actually make those conform with each other. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Okay, thank you. CHAIR KANE: I meant to say to my fellow commissioners regarding the Zone Change Application, our job is to recommend approval or denial to Town Council, to continue the matter to a date certain with specifi c direction to Staff. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/11/2018 Item #3, 221 Almendra Avenue 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 Are there other questions for Staff? Seeing none, I will turn to the Applicant. Ms. Wiersema, will you be representing the Applicant tonight? Give us your name and address. You will have ten minutes. BESS WIERSEMA: I promise to tak e less than ten. I think this one is pretty straightforward. Bess Wiersema, representing Studio 3 and the property owner, Joey McCarthy. I think that Ryan probably provided you guys with all the information about the property, pretty straightforward. We ju st always, as you know, provide you with some project data so you understand what can happen on this property when it is converted. We are intending to return it to its Residential use from its current designation. If you look at the FAR tables and charts , I think we’re talking about potentially as a future for this project as a single -family residence, or obviously in keeping with FAR, if you go around the neighborhood the house of about 2,500 square feet on this property , I think , is reasonable, so I thi nk that returning this also is consistent with newer homes and existing homes in the immediate and expanded neighborhoods. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/11/2018 Item #3, 221 Almendra Avenue 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 Interestingly, we sit right on the line, and you can see we share a side property line with the Bank of America, and then these cont inuous parking lots that kind of wrap around and aren’t so fantastic back behind, so we’re the first house in the Residential zone. It definitely feels Residential , I think, when you walk by it, with the exception of the drive -through prescription window o r whatever was there in the 1940s. These two adjacent properties were converted —I think that was what Joel was talking about with the use permit —some time ago, and new custom , single -family homes were built on those. This is just a little bit of the histo ry going all the way back. Original use, Residential ; built in 1900; modified use Commercial in 1941. It is consistent; it seems to be in the 40s and 50s with all the houses that we deal with in my office when houses got converted to commercial use, so it’s kind of interesting during that time; obviously something was going on downtown that allowed that. Our requests are to rezone from Commercial to Residential . Per the guidelines and rules, any future Architecture and Site application will show the require d two onsite parking for the Residential use. Based on the finding the property has served two functions, first as a LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/11/2018 Item #3, 221 Almendra Avenue 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 home and then as commercial space, and we’re just asking to return it. This property does have some parking space allocated in the PAD, and no variance is requested; we’re just holding those as part of the project. If you do have questions about that, I don’t think that they came up much in the Staff Report and they may be somewhat irrelevant now, I don't know, Ryan, but we can talk about tha t , should you have questions. Just to remind you of the look and feel, we have the bank to the left, and then the two newer houses are the upper right -hand corner and the lower left -hand corner, and then the quirky one at Almendra, which I love that front porch on that project. Surrounding neighborhood photos going around. You guys obviously know downtown; I think we all kind of do. This is our existing property. Obviously I don’t think that came in 1900, but nice, simple form. Backside of the projects. Ex isting footprint. You can tell it’s very Residential ; it even matches some of the adjacent buildings. We do have existing floor plans and elevations if you want to see that if you weren’t able to make it. That just concludes my very brief presentation toni ght. I don’t think we’re discussing anything of unusual character for this particular one. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/11/2018 Item #3, 221 Almendra Avenue 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 CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Are there questions for the speaker? Seeing none, I want to thank you for your comments and invite members of the public who wish to speak on thi s item. I f you haven’t already turned in a card, do so now, and I have one card from Mr. Dean Turkal. DEAN TURKAL: Hi, my name is Dean Turkal; I live at 22045 Hutchinson Road, Los Gatos, so a long way from you guys here. But my wife actually does own a property where Thai Spice is downtown, so she’s not here and asked me to come in and ask a question. Pretty much she wants to know whether, if you do change this ordinance, would it affect any noise or traffic ordinances as well for the businesses in the area? That’s my only question. CHAIR KANE: Well, we’re not necessarily in response mode. Do you want to say anything, Mr. Paulson? JOEL PAULSON: Staff will respond after we close the public hearing and you’re in deliberations. CHAIR KANE: Okay. You un derstand that? DEAN TURKAL: No. CHAIR KANE: We don’t do Q&A during the public, but when we’re done with that we’ll do some A. Questions for the speaker? Thank you very much. DEAN TURKAL: Thank you. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/11/2018 Item #3, 221 Almendra Avenue 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 CHAIR KANE: I will recall the Applicant, who will ha ve up to five minutes to rebut anything that she’s heard, or add any additional information. BESS WIERSEMA: No. CHAIR KANE: Then I will open my mike and close the public portion of the public hearing, and look to my Commission for questions, comments, or someone make a motion. Commissioner Badame. COMMISSIONER BADAME: I’ll try a motion. This property was originally developed for Residential use. Residential use is principally permitted within the R -1D zone, so therefore I move to forward a recommendation of approval for Zone Change Application Z -17 -001 requesting approval of a zone change from O:LHP to R -1D:LHP, and I can make the finding s per Exhibit 4. CHAIR KANE: Do we have a second? Commissioner Burch. COMMISSIONER BURCH: I’ll second. CHAIR KANE: Is there any discussion? Seeing none, I’ll call the question. All in favor, say aye. Opposed? Passes unanimously. Are there appeal rights on this matter, Mr. Paulson, and also would you give us an answer to the question we received from the public? LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/11/2018 Item #3, 221 Almendra Avenue 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 JOEL PA ULSON: Yes, thank you. There are not appeal rights, as this is a recommendation to the Town Council. In regard to this action, it does not affect parking, traffic, or anything else on any other parcel, except for this parcel specifically.