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Attachment 03 LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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: We’re resuming the Los Gatos Planning Commission meeting of Wednesday July 25th and we will go to Item 4 on our agenda, which is 15921 Rochin Terrace, Architecture and Site Application S-18-002 requesting approval of the demolition of an existing single-family residence and construction of a new single- family residence on property zoned R-1:8. This is APN 523- 25-009. The property owners are Patrick Hancir and Monica Zaucha, and the Applicant is Davide Giannella of Acadia Architecture, and the project planner is Sean Mullin. May I have the hands of the Commissioners who have visited the subject property? Are there any disclosures by Commissioners for this item? I have one. I visited the location and spoke with Mrs. Stacy Bulsart (phonetic), whose house was under extensive renovation. We did not discuss the pros and cons of the property, but she did point it out to me. Mr. Mullin, would you give us a Staff Report? SEAN MULLIN: Thank you, Chair Kane. Before you tonight is a request to demolish an existing single-family residence and construct a new LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 single-family residence at 15921 Rochin Terrace. The subject property is located on the southwest corner of Rochin Terrace and Rochin Court and is developed with an existing one-story, single-family residence. The parcels immediately adjacent to the subject property are within the Town’s boundaries, however, some county properties are located in the surrounding neighborhood subdivisions along Linda Avenue and Rochin Terrace. The project is being forwarded to the Planning Commission to determine whether the proposed contemporary modern architectural is compatible with the surrounding neighborhood subdivisions as it relates to the Residential Design Guidelines, as detailed and discussed in the Staff Report. Additionally, the Staff Report provides a summary of the reviews and recommendations of the Town’s consulting architect and the Applicant’s response to these recommendations. A Desk Item has been distributed to the Commission, which includes a letter from the Applicants to their neighbors, signatures gathered during the Applicants’ neighborhood outreach efforts, and additional public comments received after publishing the Staff Report. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 Based on the analysis detailed in the Staff Report Staff recommends approval of the Architecture and Site application, subject to the recommended conditions of approval included in Exhibit 3. This concludes Staff’s presentation. We are available to answer any questions. CHAIR KANE: Thank you, Mr. Mullin. Are there questions? Commissioner Burch. COMMISSIONER BIRCH: Thank you. On page 4 of 9 of the Staff Report that we received there is a table outlining adjacent properties. Are any of these properties listed as… The more immediate neighborhood, are any of those county properties? SEAN MULLIN: The property at 15902, which is listed with the zoning designation of R-1:8 pre-zone would be county. COMMISSIONER BIRCH: Okay, thank you. CHAIR KANE: Other questions of Staff? Commissioner Hudes. VICE CHAIR HUDES: Related to 15902, which is county, are we aware of any requirements on the part of the county for neighborhood compatibility, and since Los Gatos is part of the county as well, was there any input into the contemporary design of 15902? LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 SEAN MULLIN: I’m not aware of any requirements for compatibility analysis, and regarding the architecture that’s being applied to that residence, the Town would not have any input unless the work was extensive enough to trigger a petition for annexation into the Town. VICE CHAIR HUDES: Just as a follow up, would residents have been informed of that construction and that design that they could participate in a county process? SEAN MULLIN: I’m not aware of a process for the county for that. VICE CHAIR HUDES: Okay, thank you. CHAIR KANE: Other questions? Seeing none, I’ll open the public portion of the public hearing and give the Applicant an opportunity to address the Commission for up to ten minutes. Whoever is speaking for the Applicant, give me your name and address, please. PATRICK HANCIR: Hello, my name is Patrick Hancir. The address is 15921 Rochin Terrace. Before I begin I just wanted to state that I’m going to start out the presentation and then hand it over to Davide the architect, and then I’ll conclude. JEFF TAKEUCHI: I apologize. Today is my anniversary of all things, and I have a wife over at Nick’s waiting for me. I know it’s not standard in the schedule, LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 but I wanted to speak on behalf of the Applicant; I’m just a neighbor. Any chance I could just give a quick two-minute speech? I know it’s not standard or anything, but (inaudible). PATRICK HANCIR: If I could add, he wrote us a letter of support, but it came… CHAIR KANE: No, you can’t add. No. Wait. JEFF TAKEUCHI: I know it’s not standard (inaudible). CHAIR KANE: You’re going to get a 30-second matrimonial exception. Go ahead. JEFF TAKEUCHI: Thank you very much. My name is Jeff Takeuchi; I live two houses down from the proposed remodel at 15941 Rochin Terrace. I’ve lived in Los Gatos for 26 years in this residence, and to my knowledge the house in the proposed project has not been remodeled at all. My wife and myself have looked at the plans with Mr. Hancir when he came around the neighborhood showing them to us, and we do support the look, design, and feel of it. I know it’s not traditional fitting the neighborhood, but we do like it. I think it would update and complement some of the houses around. CHAIR KANE: Happy Anniversary. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 JEFF TAKEUCHI: Thank you very much; I appreciate it. I can kind of go on, but you got the idea. We do fully support the design of the house. CHAIR KANE: And that time will not be taken from yours, sir. JEFF TAKEUCHI: Thank you very much. PATRICK HANCIR: Hello, my name is Patric Hancir; I’m a software engineer at a healthcare company. My wife Monica is a doctor at the Veteran’s Administration; she would love to be here tonight, but she has to work, unfortunately. We have two wonderful kids, as you can see, ages two and five. It’s always been our dream to build our own home, and after a long search we have finally found the perfect neighborhood in which to raise our children. Here is a picture of the extended neighborhood. As you can see, there is only one entry, which is north onto Linda Avenue from Blossom Hill Road. Every time that someone walks or drives into the neighborhood they first see the houses on Linda Avenue. A couple of the houses on Costances Court are also very prominent. There is a great deal of architectural diversity in these houses and it is this experience that forms one’s impression of the neighborhood. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 The styles of the extended neighborhood include Spanish, Mediterranean, Tudor, bungalow, cottage, Craftsman, ranch, mid-century modern, and contemporary. If we lived in an open area people in the immediate neighborhood may take several different ways in and out, so they would have a different visual experience. The only shared visual experience would be that of the immediate neighborhood itself. However, in a closed area like this everyone must travel along Linda Avenue every single time, and so they have the same shared experience, and that’s of the extended neighborhood as a whole. We also did a tremendous amount of community outreach. Early in the design process we distributed this written invitation to an open house where we introduced our design plans, began a dialogue with our neighbors, and included our contact information. We had very good attendance with eight people stopping by to talk. Several times during the design process we went door-to-door around the neighborhood to discuss the house and to show the updated plan. From these conversations we learned that the most important issue was the views, so we reduced the overall building height. We received very positive feedback and many people signed our letter of support for the design. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 Our most extensive conversations were with the owners of 15931 Rochin Terrace, our next-door neighbors, and they are here tonight as well. They had some privacy concerns as well as questions about how their view would change. We exchanged many emails back and forth and we also talked in person. We worked together to find a resolution and they are now in support of the project and have written us a letter of support to the Commission. For the home design we opted for a combination of functionality and appearance in design, with a strong emphasis on being green. Very early in the design process we worked with an arborist to determine the safe distance from a very, very tall redwood tree in the back yard, and this really informed our design to maintain the safety of both the large protected tree as well as the foundation of the home. We also chose materials such as natural transparent stained wood in order to soften the appearance of the home, tie in with the surroundings, and reflect the common architectural elements of the neighborhood. The low profile of the house preserves the beautiful views of the scenery and minimizes shadows that might be on the neighbors. This is of particular importance to our next-door neighbors as well some others. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 A vast majority of the area of the roof will be covered with solar panels, and we chose a roof material such that they can integrate seamlessly and look very nice. The shed roof slopes away from the street in order to minimize visual impact, and also to face the southwest for better efficiency. We took water conservation and energy efficiency very, very seriously in our choices of heating and cooling and the plants and so forth. Now I’m going to pass it over to Davide. DAVIDE GIANNELLA: Hi, I am Davide Giannella, the architect. In approaching the design of this house, obviously being aware of the zoning guidelines, I think the desire of any architect should be to design something that fits and marries the character of a certain area. The approach that we took was not to flatly mimic a certain feature of the existing surroundings. We thought that a more sensible approach was to really interpret the proportion, the size, and the masses of the existing buildings around it rather than copying features that were maybe designed and built 50 years ago. To make a building that responds to the surroundings and yet is also alive, meaning coming from LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 nowadays with this technology and lifestyle, we really analyze both the geometrical patterns of the surrounding homes. For example, you can see many of the two-story homes around there have a two-story volume, kind of boxy over the garage, and a single story attached to it. We kind of inverted this approach by having the garage being the single story, which allowed us also to double its use as a terrace, and the two-story portion being pushed back on the side that way to create a mass that is more homogeneous as opposed to the L-shape that many of those other homes might have. Part of the initial approach was, even though we have an allowable maximum height of 30’, was to be as low as possible considering that it is a two-story home and yet on a corner lot, and so what we did is we have sloped roofs. We don’t have any flat roof except for a terrace, but with a shallow slope and sloping backward, that saved about 5’ of maximum height; we are at 25’. This is what we are proposing, and this is what it will look like if we were to have an additional (inaudible) gable roof or hipped roof; we would be almost at 30’. Also, this is the side view of that. Again, we are stepping down, trying to use a low profile, not to compete with the adjacent homes and also with the big tree LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 behind us. Again, you can see the difference if we were to maximize the house size and height. Square footage-wise also, we are not at the limit; we are a little bit less than that. So really, the elements that we used were layering. We are stepping the house in both vertical and horizontal planes, so the reason I have two-story continuous walls is we have a strong first floor roof that breaks the house into two parts so that it aligns with the adjacent homes that are single stories. The top of plate really aligns pretty much with the other homes. Window proportions are very similar to those, kind of square-ish, not exactly square (inaudible) elongated, no corner windows, and no excessive glazed surfaces. Wall materials, (inaudible) materials like the other homes have, so stucco, wood siding, some small accent tones, everything earthy tones so that it would blend with the surrounding. We even made sure the fencing around the house is (inaudible) as the finishes, so to integrate it with the side and to break the mass. We also respected the privacy. We have very few windows facing on the front, except for the large ones that you see, which are just the stairwell, so there are no rooms behind those large windows. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 But again, I would like to emphasize that the actual approach should be one where the spirit of the site is respected, the atmosphere, so if this neighborhood is seen as cozy, charming, warm, I think those are the characteristics that any passer-by will see of this house, being playful, warm, and not imposing, not monumental. As you can see, the entry is kind of recessed and of a regular size. We’re not trying to give too much importance to the double height volume by breaking it with a clerestory, which works to bring cold air inside in the summer, so it’s operable, so it really works as a green feature, and stepping back the other volumes behind it so you can have a big, flat surface facing any direction. Just a quick note, a few months ago for Career Day I was at the (Inaudible) Middle School in Los Gatos, and among other projects I showed this one, this rendering, or a (inaudible) version, and the kids acted very happy about it, and one kid said, “It looks like a playful project, a playful house,” and I think that’s the character. It’s nothing cold, overly modern, or stark; it has some warmth and coziness, even though it has shapes that are a little more contemporary. Thank you. PATRICK HANCIR: Thank you, Davide. We received a lot of positive feedback. We did get a couple of complaints LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 about the roof in particular, and so in the interest of time I will address many of those during the question and answer session, but there is one that I would like to talk about right now. The married couple at 15911 Rochin Court have written letters of opposition stating that, “The contemporary design of 15902 Rochin Terrace in the immediate neighborhood should not factor into the neighborhood context at all, because it is on county land.” They have also said that, “None of the houses in the neighborhood on Los Gatos land have flat roofs.” And I’m going to skip ahead to here. The contemporary house at 15902 Rochin Terrace, as has been stated, did not have to go through the Town process, but let’s just imagine for a moment that it did. Its immediate neighborhood is different than ours. The styles in its immediate neighborhood include styles such as Mediterranean, Tudor, Craftsman, ranch, and mid-century modern. The mid-century modern also has flat roofs. These different styles are all right next to each other all in a row. Their contemporary style fits in with the eclectic nature of their immediate neighborhood and is not an aberration. The Residential Design Guidelines define an aberration as a house that “…was constructed with little LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 consideration to its neighborhood architecture and style.” I think that their design clearly fits in with their immediate neighborhood and is therefore not an aberration. Section 3.2.1 also states that roof pitches in the nearby neighborhood should be considered. I couldn’t find what the definition of “nearby” was, but I just wanted to mention that the mid-century modern house is only 300’ away from our property, and so I don't know if that fits in with the nearby definition or not, but they also have flat roofs. And again, as Davide mentioned, our roofs are not actually flat. The first floor roofs are 5:12 and the second story roofs are 2:12 and 1:12. Here you can see the picture of the mid-century modern house with flat roofs, and also the contemporary house that’s under construction. I’ll skip ahead here and go to the conclusion. In conclusion, we feel that the extended neighborhood should be given more weight than it normally would be. The extended neighborhood is eclectic with many different styles, including mid-century modern and contemporary houses with flat roofs. The contemporary style in the immediate neighborhood is not an aberration. CHAIR KANE: Sir, you need to wrap it up. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 PATRICK HANCIR: Oh, I’m sorry. We took great care to make sure that we featured the common architectural elements and that the trend in Los Gatos and our own neighborhood has been towards more and more architectural diversity. CHAIR KANE: Thank you very much. We have questions for the speaker. Commissioner Badame. COMMISSIONER BADAME: I’m going to be looking for a very focused response to my question. Can you elaborate on how your design is compatible with the immediate neighborhood? When we look at immediate neighborhood it’s actually defined in our Residential Design Guidelines, and being that you have a corner lot there are 11 other homes that are part of your immediate neighborhood, so if you could focus on how your home is compatible with the immediate and not the extended neighborhood. PATRICK HANCIR: Sure. Well, first off we have a precedent—and I’ve made the case—that the home on 15902, although it’s on county land, is in our immediate neighborhood; and I also tried to make the case that they didn’t just ignore and do whatever they want. If they had been on Town, then they would have fit in with their immediate neighborhood and it kind of daisy-chains along, LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 so we’re following along on their precedent, which is a contemporary house as well. COMMISSIONER BADAME: So I hear you to say the one house, but the ten others… PATRICK HANCIR: No. Also, maybe Davide would like to answer this as well. I think he did a very good job and it’s a very good question that it’s not just a matter of mimicking a particular style, but of looking at the different architectural elements that are shared there, and just because we don’t have the same roof as them does not mean that we’re not… We took a lot of care in looking at the shared common architectural elements and trying to play to those as well. DAVIDE GIANNELLA: Yes, for us it was a matter of aligning—I don't know if you have the diagram here—some of the top-of-plates here. Considering we are on the lowest spot we didn’t take advantage of that to have a taller house, we still kept as low a profile as possible. We set back the building as much as possible out of respect to the tree, we broke the mass into many layers so it wouldn’t be massive in any way, and we kept all the main features like doors and windows to standard heights and proportions. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 We employed earthy tones and window materials that are compatible as far as color and finishes, like wood siding and frames that really work with the neighborhood. Perhaps the only differentiating feature is the shape of the roof, which is a sloping roof. We just decided it was much more efficient, with photovoltaics and with not increasing the height of the building, to just slope it toward the back. We actually are also collecting rainwater for the landscaping, so it’s actually a very technologically functioning house and it has a purpose. CHAIR KANE: Okay, sir, you answered my question. I’m looking for compatibility. Thank you very much. CHAIR KANE: Other questions? And we need to keep in mind we need to hear speakers from the audience, so let’s have questions for the Applicant right now. Commissioner Hanssen. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: The consulting architect for the Town looked at this twice, and after the first time it appeared that you made a number of the changes he recommended and THAT was documented in your letter. In the second letter that he sent on May 15, 2018 and that was in our packet he had a list of recommendations on page 6, and you sent a response about a month later and LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 addressed some but not all of those, and normally we would hear why you wouldn’t address all of them. For example, you had talked about why you wanted to keep all the wood siding even though he said take it off the top upper parts and just leave it at the bottom, and you talked a lot about why you use standing seam metal roofing instead of the other roofing materials. But the other recommendations that he had in terms of aligning the slope of the different roof pieces and stuff, you just gave a whole discussion about shed roofing. So my question is what is your response on those other items, because normally you would say we could do this or we couldn’t do it and why, and I didn’t see that in there on Items 1-4, unless I didn’t read it right. PATRICK HANCIR: I apologize if I didn’t answer that in a sufficient way. The first time that we submitted the TCA said that our house was compatible…was very well designed for its particular style, and he gave a couple of recommendations. He said of all the recommendations he had that the shed roofs were one of the things he could see leaving them as is, and so he was basically approving of that. Then the second time came through and he kind of had different thoughts on the matter, so it was a bit confusing. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: That didn’t really answer my question. I read all your description about the shed roof in there, but he had very specific direction to reverse the main shed roof slope, to lower the second floor eave on the front elevation, and simplify the roof forms and slope directions. He had drawings of how you could do that, and it wasn’t going to be to eliminate the shed roof, it was just to make some changes to make it more compatible with the neighborhood, so that’s the answer I was looking for. PATRICK HANCIR: Well, I’d be happy to answer; that’s a good question. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Okay. PATRICK HANCIR: In terms of reversing the shape of the shed roofs, our shed roofs are facing southwest and we’re very much into having solar panels, and by reversing them they would then face northeast and we basically couldn’t have solar panels; they would be extremely inefficient and wouldn’t really work. That was the main reason why we decided not to do that. I think those were the main reasons not to do that. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Okay. CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Hudes. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 VICE CHAIR HUDES: I’ll hold off till we hear from the public. CHAIR KANE: All right, Commissioner Badame. COMMISSIONER BADAME: Per Exhibit 14, we received correspondence that your preliminary plans that were signed off by the neighbors did not include the roof, and the roof happens to be one of the most controversial issues, so can you elaborate on the omission, or the perceived omission, and did you attempt to follow up with the neighbors? PATRICK HANCIR: Absolutely, and that’s a very good question, something I was going to get to in the question and answer session. In the very beginning we wanted to be as proactive as possible and talk to the neighbors as soon as we had even just a rough design. What Davide provided to us was the front cross-section of what you see here, and from this in retrospect I can now understand why somebody might think that that’s flat even though it went back. My wife did a very good job of trying to point out to people that this is actually sloped back and tried to explain it to her, and as we went around the neighborhood several times in the later months we then had updated plans and showed them to anybody who was interested and wanted to see them, and then we explained them more and more, so we had very LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 good community outreach. I think some of the confusion might have come from the very first, which was just a front cross-section. COMMISSIONER BADAME: Thank you. CHAIR KANE: Other questions for the speaker? Seeing none, thank you. I now invite comments from members of the public. If you have not already done so, please turn in a speaker card, and when you are called to speak remember to state your name and address for the record, and adjust the microphone. You will each have three minutes. Joan Kjemtrup. JOAN KJEMTRUP: My name is Joan Kjemtrup and I live at 15950 Rochin Terrace, and this is at the end of the cul de sac, and I support this application to build a new home on Rochin Terrace. I like the architectural design and I think it makes the neighborhood more interesting. I’ve lived in my house—it was built in 1963—since the homes on Rochin Court were built in the 1970s and there is a variation in the design. Now, the housing on Rochin Terrace is mixed. Some add another story. A few, including mine, which is on the end of the cul de sac and not shown on the plans, are the original. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 The original house owned by the Rochins for whom the street was named on Rochin Terrace and Linda Avenue is in the process of being remodeled and has a flat roof, and as far as the neighborhood, as we mentioned, it doesn’t matter whether it’s in county of Los Gatos, nobody knows that; I didn’t even know it was still in the county. So I just want to say I hope you approve this application and I’m looking forward to this new addition to the neighborhood, which I think will add a nice touch to the neighborhood. CHAIR KANE: Thank you very much. Questions for the speaker? Thank you. Vita Parsi. VITA PARSI: Hello, my name is Vita Parsi. My husband and I have lived in Los Gatos for the past seven years. We’re at 15908 Rochin Court. Our property is pretty much like one house across from the proposed new construction. I’m here today to represent myself and three other neighbors who couldn’t make it today; two of them actually signed originally not knowing this was a flat or shed roof or whatever they are calling it, and then later on when they found out they have sent letters of opposition afterwards. Our main opposition to this construction is the roof. We don’t think that it comes and blends with the rest LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 of the neighborhood. Some people may call it modernization, but I love Los Gatos and our neighborhood the way it is; I’m not looking to modernize it in this way. They talked about the roof being this way because the height is not going to be as much, so it doesn’t obstruct the view of the mountains. It still does. I took a picture today with the story poles and it is blocking the mountain views, the views of the mountain, but that’s not what I’m here for. My main objection to the project is the roof. The property at 15902 is in the county line. As neighbors we had no say in it. It is being expanded in different phases, so nobody even… Like I thought they were just fixing their landscaping, and then the next thing I realized was that it is being expanded, and they did some flat roof addition to the back and there’s now some flat roof addition to the front, but we have no say in it. I am here to plead to you as members of the Planning Commission to save our neighborhood. We love the neighborhood the way it is. We love the old style of this neighborhood. One thing that I do want to bring to your attention is by approving this modern flat shed roof style you are opening the door for all the other new construction in the Town of Los Gatos that is going to happen in the LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 future, and they’re going to all refer to this construction as being the house that was permitted, so again, I’m here to ask for your help to save our neighborhood, and that’s it. CHAIR KANE: You have 30 seconds. You’re not up yet. VIDA PARSI: So again, just wanted to bring to your attention the two other people on the form that they had signed, Lauren Swanson and Lloyd and Nancy Thompson, but later on when they realized that this was about the height and a new building and it was the structure they did want to bring their opposition; they have sent a letter. And the other thing, this is a corner lot; it’s a little bit elevated from the level of the street. It’s going to stick out like a sore thumb. CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Any questions for the speaker? Thank you very much. I don’t think I have any other cards, so the Applicant will have five minutes to add and/or rebut. PATRICK HANCIR: Sure. Thank you very much. I would like to take this time to rebut some of the questions about the complaints that we have had. I’ll start with what Vida was saying. Vida came to our open house where Monica showed her the front cross- LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 section, and Monica said that she was very nice and they got along very well. Monica also mentioned that the roofs slope back, even though as I mentioned before, that was the case. Vida talked about the story poles and her views, she mentioned that many times, and at no time did she mention the style or the design at all. Later I went to their house and spoke with her husband Sharom (phonetic) for about 20 minutes; he was very nice and we really enjoyed talking. I showed him the views from the house height compared to the one that you see on the bottom left corner there, something to show that we wouldn’t be obstructing the views much at all. I had updated designs in my hand and offered to show them to him, but he said he wasn’t even interested in seeing them and gave the impression that the design was not even important. He reiterated once again that he was waiting for the story poles to go up. Based on their response and from other people we actually proactively lowered the overall height, and their letter was talking about the flat roof architecture representing the quaintness of the neighborhood and the land shouldn’t count. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 In terms of responding to their argument about the quaintness, once again I’ve tried to make the case that unlike normal situations where the immediate neighborhood is the overwhelming factor, that we should put more emphasis into the extended neighborhood, and in this case there are many, many different styles, close to ten different styles, and the Residential Design Guidelines are seeking to encourage architectural diversity. Then at the very last second, probably within the last 24 hours, two more people that she was referring to, Lauren Swanson and Lloyd Thompson, I’ll address them now. Lauren came to the open house, once again saw the front cross-section, Monica clarified with them about this, and we said that we were trying to preserve the views. Later we baked cookies and went over to talk to him with our children and showed him the updated design and the street-level profiles, and he never once mentioned anything about the designs being not to his liking. However, now he’s saying that he doesn’t like the roofline. As far as Lloyd, he did not come to the open house, but I talked to him and his wife for a very long time and he taught me about the history of the neighborhood. We showed him the updated design and the street-level profile of the houses. He was very much in LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 favor and he signed our letter at the time, having seen it. However, now his letter is saying that the two-story design will stand out a lot more than the one-story house, and we feel that that’s contradictory to all the other things that we have heard from many of the people saying that they want to have a traditional gabled roof, which would be even 5’ higher, so that’s kind of a contradiction. Then the other thing I would mention is that both Lauren and Lloyd’s emails to Sean originated from the same email address and they both cc’d Sharom as well. Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that, but it just leads me to believe that there was some coordination that was going on here as well. Other things that I’d like to say is that we understand that not everyone likes this particular style, but as the Commissioner said before, we have to adjudicate based on the rules, and we have followed every rule and regulation as well. Even though the neighbors didn’t necessarily get a say in the county proposal I’ve tried to make the case that it would have a strong chance of passing on its own, because its immediate neighborhood has a mid-century modern house with flat roofs and it has a greater architectural style than we do. I’ll yield at this time. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 CHAIR KANE: Yes, sir. DAVIDE GIANNELLA: Just one element to emphasize about mass and height. Really it’s almost contradictory considering this house. If you look at the second floor over the garage it’s pushed back so much that half of the house is almost a one-story house. The other half, the real two-story portion, only the stairwell glass is two-story, everything else looks down, so we are more than 5’ less than what we could. The mass is very little. CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Questions for either of the speakers? VICE CHAIR HUDES: I have some questions in different categories, but I’m going to start with a question about neighborhood compatibility. You quoted Mr. Cannon that, “The house is well designed within its chosen architectural style,” and then you went on to talk about the improvements. You didn’t mention that in that same section he said, “It would however be a strong departure from the character of the surrounding neighborhood.” Then in his previous letter he said, “The proposed design creates a substantial dilemma, is well designed and would be a good addition to some neighborhoods, however, in this context it would seem to LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 not be consistent with the Residential Design Guidelines and Town’s strong emphasis through those guidelines on neighborhood compatibility. I’d like you to address in a little more detail why this is compatible with the neighborhood, and with the emphasis primary on the immediate neighborhood as in the design guidelines, and in particular you did cite certain elements about proportion size and mass. I listened carefully to your presentation, I understand those, I don’t need to hear that again, I understand that; those relates more to building code. You also described “cozy, warm and charming,” and while those are interesting attributes, they are difficult to evaluate in an objective way, so I’d really like to understand from objective standards of architecture how this is compatible with the neighborhood. PATRICK HANCIR: Sure. One thing I’d like to add before passing the time to Davide is that we worked very closely with Staff on this, and one thing that the TCA did not account for is the contemporary house, he was making the case that it should not count, but we’ve talked with Staff and they kind of said that that he was incorrect on that, and we can talk to Staff about that as well, that it should count and it does set the precedent, even if it’s on county line. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 Another thing that we did is we have a conventional roof in between the first and second stories as well, which is a 5:12, and from street level as you’re walking along you don’t even see the top story house. What you would experience as you’re walking around is this conventional type roof on this coming around the bend and stuff like that. DAVIDE GIANNELLA: Like Patrick was saying, the first floor roof is actually a traditional hip roof. It turns the corner and stays like all the other homes sloping in that direction. The only shed roof is at the very top, which you will not even see from street point; you will see the gutter lines at the edge of it. Responding to your question of how we correspond to the neighbors in a more practical way, we have a two- story house just behind us, and that’s where we put the two-story volume of our house, even though we are much lower than that one. To our left we have a single-story home, and that’s where we have the majority of it being a single-story with a garage and the lower addition on top of it. So we responded by really balancing, as you can see from the street profiles, to the height and the mass of the adjacent buildings. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 The only missing element perhaps is a traditional hip roof, which everybody seems to be seeking. Adding that will really make this a big, two-story box so visible in the corner, and there are other homes like that across the street. We have a two-story one with a very high pitched roof just over the garage that looks like an addition over a garage, so we tried to break the mass both horizontally and vertically so it wouldn’t be imposing. VICE CHAIR HUDES: I’m not sure you’ve really answered my question. I think you’ve somewhat defended the basis for the design, which I concur with the architect about the quality of the design, but I’m trying evaluate neighborhood compatibility… DAVIDE GIANNELLA: Yes, I’m getting to that. VICE CHAIR HUDES: …and so if you could please get to that point quickly. DAVIDE GIANNELLA: We reduced considerably the size of the windows that are very close to the adjacent home’s windows. The larger ones that you see are the ones in the front, the two over the stair, and those are exactly the same size as a lot of those sliding glass doors that the neighbors have, like 7’ tall, 8’ wide, 7x8, something like that, that’s exactly a copy of those sizes. The other LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 windows that you see on the front are very small, like 2x2, like other residential homes around us have. Garage door initially was glass. We listened to the TCA and now it’s a wood siding. We reduced the parapet of the garage so that we lowered its mass by using cables. We introduced warmer materials with wood siding, which at the beginning the TCA did not oppose, and those are present in a lot of adjacent homes; there is a mixture of stucco and wood siding. The difference is that this is a more contemporary type of wood siding, but other homes also around there have this mix. VICE CHAIR HUDES: Okay, I’ve picked up a bit of that. In terms of the windows, specifically you spoke about the size of the windows, but there are other things: the style of the windows, the number of lights in the windows, the materials used for the windows, the casings around the windows, are you representing that they are very similar to what’s in the neighborhood? DAVIDE GIANNELLA: We analyzed the neighbors and there is really a variety. There are aluminum windows, vinyl windows, some wood windows, and these are contemporary wood-aluminum clad windows, so they have the beauty and warmth of wood inside and the durability of aluminum outside. We thought of adding some casing around, LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 but it was more like putting a lipstick to mimic some of the adjacent homes when we didn’t feel it was needed, and to us it was really a matter of proportion and size of the opening to solid ratio. VICE CHAIR HUDES: Okay, thank you. I have other questions about the roof, but I’ll let other people go. CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Badame. COMMISSIONER BADAME: I’ll ask one more question about the roof. So you want a metal roof as well. Is there a metal roof anywhere in the immediate neighborhood, or even in the extended neighborhood? PATRICK HANCIR: I believe that the house at 15902 will also have a metal roof; I’m not 100% sure about that. We made that choice based on all of the benefits and the technology that go into that, and I could list many, many reasons why it is technologically better, but again, in terms of seeing seen, with the current design the top story roof is hardly visible whatsoever. If you’re looking from the street level you wouldn’t even be able to see it, and it’s going to be completely covered with solar panels that integrate completely flush, so it’s not even really a concern what it’s made out of. COMMISSIONER BADAME: Thank you. CHAIR KANE: Other questions? Commissioner Hudes. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 VICE CHAIR HUDES: Back on the roof, you said the roof is not a flat roof, correct? PATRICK HANCIR: Correct. VICE CHAIR HUDES: Would you describe it as a low-angle shed roof… PATRICK HANCIR: Yes, that’s exactly… VICE CHAIR HUDES: …a standing seam metal construction? PATRICK HANCIR: Correct. VICE CHAIR HUDES: And so with that characterization, in the 39 homes is the one that’s on county property the only one that has that construction? PATRICK HANCIR: Well, as I said, also there’s a mid-century modern house that’s… VICE CHAIR HUDES: Does it have a standing seam metal roof? PATRICK HANCIR: No, it was built in 1953, and part of the reason here is that one of the things that the Residential Design Guidelines states is that change should happen over time. I don’t remember the exact section, but as technology gets better and better we should embrace that while still making it look nice, and we shouldn’t stay with old technology from the 1950s and 1960s when there’s something that’s functionally much better. This is a design LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 that’s both functional and beautiful, so we tried to combine the two. VICE CHAIR HUDES: Not arguing that. Standing seam metal roofs go back to the 1800s. With regard to the letter and the comments from Mr. Cannon on the roof, again you state that, “The TCA also said that the shed roof forms are busy and chaotic.” What he actually said was multiple shed roof forms are busy and chaotic. How many different roof planes are there on this house, and how does that relate to the surrounding neighborhood in terms of the number of roof planes? DAVIDE GIANNELLA: We really have three different roofs: the lower one that separates the two stories; first and second floor; and the hip roof that wraps around, and that relates really closely to any other house around the area. The upper roof is one single, big plane that slopes all back toward the back, the shed roof. It has a sort of jogging profile, because it follows the house footprint, but it’s all one single plane, and then we have one-third roof sloping toward the side of Rochin Court. So those are the three planes. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 We have two different slopes, a shallower one at the top, 2:12, and 5:12 the other ones that are at the lower level. So it’s really two shapes, two slopes. The TCA in his first review didn’t mention anything about the roof that we didn’t change when we did the second submittal. We adopted all his recommendations from the first review. CHAIR KANE: Other questions for the speaker? Commissioner Janoff. COMMISSIONER JANOFF: Two questions. Would you be amenable to simplifying the shed roof planes in accordance with what the TCA is recommending? If he’s looking for a single roof plane front to back, I’m looking at it kind of cants a little bit differently on the two-story versus the backside of the house. Would you be willing to create a simpler single plane? PATRICK HANCIR: Sure. That’s a very good question. The point that I would like to make is we would be not amenable to putting in a conventional, traditional roof, because you want the design to be cohesive. For example, if you had a Tudor house and you wanted to put a flat roof on that it wouldn’t be cohesive or make any sense. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 COMMISSIONER JANOFF: Excuse me; I’m not suggesting that you create a gabled roof or anything else. It’s still a shed roof; it still has a low angle. The only question is would you… PATRICK HANCIR: I understand; I was getting to that. I’m saying as long as it’s a roof shape that’s in the contemporary style we would be amenable to making small changes for sure; we’re not married to this particular thing. COMMISSIONER JANOFF: Thank you. One additional question. You mentioned the solar panels. Are you saying— and this is with regard to, say, an asphalt shingle versus the standing seam—that 100% of the low angle roof is covered or intended to be covered with panels, such that once the panels are in you can’t tell what the underlying surface is? PATRICK HANCIR: I did attach a picture to one of my first proposals, and in those pictures you literally cannot see anything below that. We have not gotten to the point to know how much area that needs to be covered, but we want to have an electric car and we want to have a lot of coverage as well, and so we would take great care into the… If it wasn’t 100%, it was only 80-90%, it would be the LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 ones… We would definitely cover anything that would be visible to people on the street. COMMISSIONER JANOFF: Thank you. DAVIDE GIANNELLA: I’ll add one thing. Regarding the conversation about sloping the shed towards the street, the opposite direction that the TCA had recommended in the second review, considering the photovoltaics, they would then become really apparent and visible from the street as opposed to now, besides the bad orientation sun-wise, but by sloping backward you won’t then see the photovoltaics which are on the upper roof at all. CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Hanssen, you had your had up? COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Yes. Commissioner Janoff’s questioning was going where I was trying to earlier. Now, I understood your point about the southwest perspective. We have solar panels on our house and the front of our house faces north, and so you want to put them facing backwards. But I’m looking at this and I can see that of the different three roofs you’re talking about at least two of them are going different ways, so it seemed to me if you’re willing to simplify it, maybe you can’t turn the upper one this way because the sun’s over here, but maybe you could take the lower one and turn it this way so that they’re going in the LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 same direction. I think if you’re willing to make a few adjustments like that it would go a long way towards addressing the consulting architect’s concerns. PATRICK HANCIR: That’s a great recommendation and we would be amenable to that. One of the reasons why we weren’t concerned about that is we have a lot of area on that main roof and we thought that would be enough for our solar panels, but that’s a very good suggestion; we would be absolutely amenable to that. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Okay. CHAIR KANE: Other questions or comments? I have one. We’ve been focusing on the houses in the neighborhood with flat roofs, and I was wondering if you are aware of, in the Residential Design Guidelines, “Some houses were constructed with little consideration to the neighborhood style and characteristics. Others were remodeled with little sensitivity to existing architectural style. These aberrations will not be considered when analyzing a neighborhood.” I’m wondering, and it’s a slightly rhetorical question, but how familiar are you with these Residential Design Guidelines? Because I feel like we’re planets apart. PATRICK HANCIR: I’ve literally read the Residential Design Guidelines, all 86 pages of it, about LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 three or four times, and I did call that out in my presentation. What I was trying to say was the contemporary house did not have to go through this design process, but let’s pretend for a moment that it did, and I still feel that it would have a good chance of passing if it had to go through its own residential, so it’s not an aberration, because within its own immediate neighborhood it had a house with flat roofs, which is the mid-century modern house, so I think it itself would pass, and therefore sets the precedent (inaudible). CHAIR KANE: I do not want to argue with you, but not only did I read it, I wrote it, along with Commissioner O'Donnell and the Mayor. We took a tour of the neighborhoods, the Town Council and Planning Commission, and what Larry Cannon was saying is the word you’ve used before on confrontation. He said, “The immediate neighborhood is important, because these neighbors will be confronted.” No observed, but confronted, by an aberration, and they have to live with it, and so that’s why the 2-2-5 was used for the house on the street and the corner lot was designed according to the diagram we both referred to, and that’s why they’re important, because the confrontation of the people who live around the aberration, and I’m LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 wondering if you are familiar with that, or how could I mitigate my concerns with that? PATRICK HANCIR: That’s a very good point and thank you for bringing it up. We’re trying to make the argument that we do not believe that it is an aberration, and we are also trying to make the case that because of the nature of the enclosed environment that all of the neighbors are confronted not just with the houses in the immediate neighborhood, but the entire extended neighborhood as a whole, so it’s kind of a cohesive… And there are many, many different styles within the whole neighborhood, so we don’t feel that it would be right to single one particular one out. CHAIR KANE: I have one final question. Mr. Giannella, your office is in Los Gatos. DAVIDE GIANNELLA: Yes. CHAIR KANE: But you and I have not had business before. Have you been before the Planning Commission before? DAVIDE GIANNELLA: Yes, for historical renovation, yes. CHAIR KANE: And did I work with you on… DAVIDE GIANNELLA: No, that was maybe three years ago; I don’t remember meeting. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 CHAIR KANE: But you are familiar with these Residential Design Guidelines? DAVIDE GIANNELLA: Yes, when I was hired for this project Monica and Patrick came to me exactly explaining what the limitation would be, and we discussed and studied the guidelines, and truly, honestly, I came for informal reviews with the planners of the Town many times, and Monica and Patrick showed the drawings to the neighbors, and I felt (inaudible) on my sensibility, maybe wrongly, that you can respond to a certain surrounding with creativity, being able to adopt certain elements without really copying exactly what’s there; otherwise nothing can ever be different, we can just make photocopies almost. CHAIR KANE: I appreciate the philosophy, but in going through the guidelines did you see any one house that faintly resembled the project you are presenting to us tonight? DAVIDE GIANNELLA: Yes, the one that is being… CHAIR KANE: No, sir, in the guidelines. DAVIDE GIANNELLA: No, but I believe, to be honest, that when the guidelines were written there were less of these more transitional, contemporary, more modern homes at that time, and so there wasn’t a typical style that was represented at all. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 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 CHAIR KANE: It was written in 2008. Frank Lloyd Wright had been around for a long time. DAVIDE GIANNELLA: That is true. (Inaudible). CHAIR KANE: I’m just saying in these guidelines can I find a house that looks like yours? DAVIDE GIANNELLA: I think the house responds to a site (inaudible) respond to a certain zoning requirements, and so I believe every design organically, like Frank Lloyd Wright will do, comes out of the situation that is unique because of that. CHAIR KANE: Thank you, sir. DAVIDE GIANNELLA: Thank you. CHAIR KANE: Do we have any other questions for either of the speakers? Then I thank you. PATRICK HANCIR: Can I add one more thing to that? There is the mid-century modern house that is there as well, and that has flat roofs as well. CHAIR KANE: I don’t want to debate. I’m just saying is there anything like that in these guidelines? PATRICK HANCIR: There is not one in those guidelines. CHAIR KANE: Thank you, sir. I turn to the Commission for questions of Staff, comments, or a motion. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: (Inaudible). LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 45 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 said thank you before and he came back. You’re right, Tom. I’m closing the public portion of the public hearing, turning to commissioners looking for a comment, questions of Staff, or a motion. Commissioner Badame. COMMISSIONER BADAME: I’ll make a comment. To the Applicant’s point, the Residential Design Guidelines do encourage architectural diversity, and I’m not opposed to modern architecture. But they also require that visual unity be maintained to protect the character of the neighborhoods, and that’s addressed on page 62. The current design, it stands out, and this is a corner lot and it makes it even more pronounced, so I cannot support the application as presented tonight. CHAIR KANE: Other comments? Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I agree with my fellow commissioner on that point. I also wanted to say that Larry Cannon’s letter of May 15th, on pages four and five, particularly on page five, he lists issues and problems that I think in large measure have not been addressed. It appears to me that although these gentlemen are very knowledgeable, and I appreciate the work they did, they’re very intelligent, they seem to have a feeling that LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 46 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 so much passage of time has occurred that clearly we must do it differently. The problem is that’s not right. The problem is as long as the rules are as they are we are supposed to pay attention to those rules. I agree with Mr. Cannon that this house somewhere else might be fine, but in this neighborhood I don’t find it the least bit compatible with the immediate neighborhood, and as we all know, that’s what we’re supposed to consider: the immediate neighborhood, not the larger neighborhood. CHAIR KANE: I would share with you my support for that, Commissioner O'Donnell, and I was thinking in one sense the case is wrapped up for me by the Staff Report saying that the Town Architect said this was a very good design for some neighborhoods. That’s what the Staff report said, but the letter from the Town Architect said essentially this is a very fine house and would be fine in some neighborhoods, but not in this one, and I agree. I mean I think the house is superb, it’s marvelous, but our job is to protect, preserve, and develop consistent with the rules, and I’m having trouble getting this one inside the rules. Commissioner Hudes. VICE CHAIR HUDES: I may have some views different than the Chair with regard to what kind of house LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 47 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 is permitted under the Residential Design Guidelines. I don’t have a disagreement about the importance of neighborhood compatibility as it’s written in the design guidelines. I did have a question for Staff though actually before we get into debate, and that is how are we to take into account county properties when we’re evaluating neighborhood compatibility issues? I notice that the county property is on the square footage chart. Is it also to be taken into account for neighborhood compatibility? SEAN MULLIN: Thank you. It is within the immediate neighborhood and would be considered in the decision. CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Hanssen. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I know the design guidelines specify the immediate neighborhood, but I actually drive through that neighborhood a lot because I go over to Union Safeway and sometimes the traffic bad at Blossom Hill. I actually did that today and I drove around and around and around it, and other than the specific two houses that were mentioned by the Applicant, I could not find any house that had this kind of architecture. I mean they’re all older homes, but they all have the gabled roofs and they have the same general look and feel. They’re LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 48 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 different architectural styles, but they all don’t have the completely modern look and feel. That being said, I don’t know that it really changes the neighborhood incredibly to do that, but this is also a corner lot, so I’m struggling with this one, because it’s visible clearly not only from the front but on the side, and as was said, it comes up a little bit, and it is very different than anything in the immediate neighborhood, and I would not count the county house, because we don’t have jurisdiction, and we we’ve had these situations before where there’s a county house that’s 4,500-5,000 square feet and our guidelines say you can have 3,500 square feet, so we can’t necessarily use that as a barometer of where the neighborhood could be going. I also wanted to comment that as far as the standing seam metal roof, although I think that the arguments made for the sustainability aspect of it were very strong, and I understand the point about the solar panels, having done solar panels, I know we put solar panels on our house and we had to hurry up and get it done for a specific reason, and that is because the fire code regulations were changing so that you have to have at least a 3’ perimeter around your solar panels, so you can’t LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 49 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 actually cover the whole roof, because the fire codes require you to have a 3’ border for fire safety. That being said, I’m on the fence about this one, but if it’s strictly a matter of neighborhood compatibility clearly not only in the 11 houses or so around there, but also in many of the streets around it, you’re not going to find houses like this. CHAIR KANE: Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: If it’s appropriate I’d like to make a motion; I think we’ve all had an opportunity to talk. CHAIR KANE: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I would move that we deny the application for the reasons stated by my fellow commissioners in support of a denial; and also in particular because the issues raised in Larry Cannon’s letter of May 15th, particularly on page five of the bullet points, have not been responded to; and visually having inspected the site and knowing the definition of immediate neighborhood, it is not compatible; just visually it is not compatible, and so that’s the basis of my motion. CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Do we have a second? Commissioner Badame. COMMISSIONER BADAME: Second. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 7/25/2018 Item #4, 15921 Rochin Terrace 50 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: All right, discussion? Commissioner Burch, do you have anything to add to this? COMMISSIONER BIRCH: Everyone has so articulately stated. I fully agree with my fellow commissioners. I drove around the neighborhood too. It’s a beautiful home; I just feel it’s not compatible with the immediate neighborhood. CHAIR KANE: Okay. You are not usually so silent, so I was worried. COMMISSIONER BIRCH: It’s been a long day. CHAIR KANE: Any other comment or discussion? Seeing none, I’ll call the question. All those in favor of the motion, say aye. I count unanimous hands. The application is denied at this point. Mr. Paulson, are there appeal rights? JOEL PAULSON: There are appeal rights. Anyone who is not satisfied with the decision of the Planning Commission can appeal that decision to the Town Council. Forms are available in Clerk’s Office. There is a fee for filing the appeal, and the appeal must be filed within ten days.