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Draft Mins 04.11.18 110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 408-354-6832 www.losgatosca.gov TOWN OF LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT MEETING DATE: 04/25/2018 ITEM NO: 1 DRAFT MINUTES OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING APRIL 11, 2018 The Planning Commission of the Town of Los Gatos conducted a Regular Meeting on Wednesday, April 11, 2018, at 7:00 p.m. MEETING CALLED TO ORDER AT 7:00 P.M. ROLL CALL Present: Chair D. Michael Kane, Commissioner Mary Badame, Commissioner Kendra Burch, Commissioner Melanie Hanssen, Commissioner Kathryn Janoff, and Commissioner Tom O’Donnell Absent: Vice Chair Matthew Hudes PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Commissioner Badame led the Pledge of Allegiance. The audience was invited to participate. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS/COMMISSION MATTERS Conceptual Development Advisory Committee Commissioner Badame - CDAC met 4/11/18 and discussed 16940 Roberts Road. VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS None. CONSENT ITEMS (TO BE ACTED UPON BY A SINGLE MOTION) 1. Approval of Minutes – March 28, 2018 MOTION: Motion by Commissioner Badame to approve adoption of the Consent Calendar. Seconded by Commissioner Burch. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. PAGE 2 OF 6 MINUTES OF PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING OF APRIL 11, 2018 PUBLIC HEARINGS 2. 16666 Topping Way Architecture and Site Application S-17-011 APN 532-09-018 Property Owner: Arthur Lin Applicant: Dennis Norton Design Project Planner: Sean Mullin Requesting approval for demolition of an existing single-family residence and construction of a single-family residence on property zoned R-1:8. Continued from March 14, 2018. Sean Mullin, Associate Planner, presented the staff report. Opened Public Comment. Arthur Lin - He is the property owner, his architect has worked with the Town’s consulting architect on three issues shown in Exhibit 25: roof form complexities, design sensitivity to the surrounding neighborhood, and window treatments. They lowered the entry from 13 feet tall to 11 feet. The two pop-out windows are meant to hide the garage, and they will put another pop-out on the right side to balance it. They prefer to keep the window treatments simple. Kathyn Derby - She lives next door to the subject site. She liked the original two-story design, because all around her neighborhood, including Marchmont and Topping Way, everyone is going to two stories, and the original design was appropriate for the size of the lot. She is happy to see people come in and put money into the neighborhood, because Topping Way was a mess. Daniel Mohr - He also lives next door to the subject site and agrees with everything his wife, Ms. Derby, had stated. He is tired of the house next door not moving forward, because it is blight on the neighborhood, and it is frustrating. Arthur Lin - His lot is the biggest in the entire neighborhood, including Marchmont, but the person behind his lot has issues and is still not happy, even though they reduced the home from a two-story to a one-story. Closed Public Comment. PAGE 3 OF 6 MINUTES OF PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING OF APRIL 11, 2018 Commissioners discussed the matter. MOTION: Motion by Commissioner Burch to approve an Architecture and Site Application for 16666 Topping Way, subject to the following amendments: The highest point of the garage roof shall match the home structure behind it, so it is one single roof line; the porch columns shall be one which has been deemed appropriate for the neighborhood by the Town’s consulting architect; trim shall be put around the windows to enhance them, and projecting sills shall be encouraged; and the two pop- outs shall match in size. Seconded by Commissioner O’Donnell. Chair Kane requested the motion be amended to include that the motion’s three bullets be subject to the Community Development Director’s approval. The maker of the motion accepted the amendment to the motion. The seconder accepted the amendment to the motion. Commissioners discussed the matter. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. 3. 221 Almendra Avenue Zone Change Application Z-17-001 APN 510-14-044 Property Owner: Joey McCarthy Applicant: Bess Wiersema Project Planner: Ryan Safty Requesting approval of a zone change from O:LHP (Office with a Landmark and Historic Preservation Overlay) to R-1D:LHP (Single-Family Residential Downtown with a Landmark and Historic Presentation Overlay). Ryan Safty, Associate Planner, presented the staff report. Opened Public Comment. PAGE 4 OF 6 MINUTES OF PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING OF APRIL 11, 2018 Bess Wiersema - They intend to return the project to its residential use from its current commercial designation. They intend to redevelop the property in the near future. Dean Turkal - He asked whether if the zone is changed, it would affect any noise or traffic ordinances for the businesses in the area. Closed Public Comment. Commissioners discussed the matter. MOTION: Motion by Commissioner Badame to approve a Zone Change for 221 Almendra Avenue. Seconded by Commissioner Burch. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. 4. 248 Jared Lane Architecture and Site Application S-16-054 APN 532-34-071 Property Owner/Applicant: Sam Pan Project Planner: Sean Mullin Requesting approval for construction of a new single-family residence and removal of large protected trees on vacant property zoned HR-1. Sean Mullin, Associate Planner, presented the staff report. Opened Public Comment. Steve Yang - The Town’s consulting architect deemed the Spanish design appropriate in terms of bulk, materials, and the ability to blend into the surroundings. The LRDA is 6,000 square feet, but with a 20-foot side setback there is only about 3,000 square feet available for the actual house, which why they have built 32 percent outside the LRDA. The driveway slope is higher than 15 percent but meets the Fire Department’s standards. The house is approximately 2,800 square feet in size, which is compatible with the neighborhood. PAGE 5 OF 6 MINUTES OF PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING OF APRIL 11, 2018 Ralph Houp - His back yard would look up at the garage. He asked that the applicant be allowed to situate the house deep into the ground so he would not see as much of it, especially as the trees would be removed. He is not able to see the story poles, b ecause they are behind the trees, and asked if there is a way he could see what the view would be without the trees. Annajean Anderson - Uplift Family Services, which is on the south side of the subject property, is concerned that the proposed house would look directly down onto their property. They have 20 kids on the property 24/7, and their privacy would be impacted. She agreed with Mr. Houp in hoping the applicant would be able to build deeply into the ground. Allen Rudolph - He lives on the property immediately north of the subject site. During construction of their northern neighbor’s home there was a great deal of traffic, with people parking on Jared Lane and creating hazardous situations; it should be conditioned that no cars be allowed to park there. Jared Lane will serve three families, so there must be absolute ingress and egress in case of an emergency to get people out and emergency vehicles in. Mary Martin - She would get a full view of the proposed house and is very concerned about scale, because 33 percent of it is outside the LRDA, and the number of trees that are being cut down. She said the house sounds massive, and they cannot see the story poles because of the trees. Michael McDonough - He lives immediately next to the proposed site. The applicant has been eager to work with them and be a good neighbor. He has received quite a bit of questions from the community as to where the signage is located, so no one can see the signs. He did not get a notice of the meeting, even though he is a direct neighbor. During the rains last year there was serious flooding coming down through the streams that got into his yard. Ninh Le - He is the project civil engineer. The garage is located in the cut sections of the hillside. It will be difficult to see from the west side, especially from a lower elevation, because of the retaining walls. The site would have three retention ponds that can accommodate a ten- year flood at the bottom, and he has designed a swale along the south frontage to capture any water coming down. They will require the contractor to post signage that construction parking is not allowed on Jared Lane during construction. The project proposes removal of trees on the west side, but there are quite a few trees left near the property border on the left side also. Closed Public Comment. PAGE 6 OF 6 MINUTES OF PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING OF APRIL 11, 2018 Commissioners discussed the matter. MOTION: Motion by Commissioner Badame to continue the public hearing for 248 Jared Lane to the meeting of May 23, 2018. Seconded by Chair Kane. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. OTHER BUSINESS 5. Report from the Director of Community Development Joel Paulson, Director of Community Development • Town Council met 4/3/18; reconsidered the Alberto Way project and continued it to the meeting of May 1, 2018; and rescinded the Alcoholic Beverage Policy. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 9:38 p.m. This is to certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the April 11, 2018 meeting as approved by the Planning Commission. _____________________________ /s/ Vicki Blandin