Item 5 - Exhibit 08 - Applicant Response to Consulting Architect Report1475 SOUTH BASCOM, SUITE 208, CAMPBELL, CA 95008 • TELEPHONE (408) 871-1071 • FAX (408) 871-1071
May 22, 2019
Supplemental Response to Town of Los Gatos’ Consulting Architect’s
letter dated March 29, 2019
15925 Quail Hill Drive
Architecture and Site Application S-19-012
Prepared by: Tom Sloan AIA
Metro Design Group
The following is a response to Comment #5 from a May 8th 2019 Staff Technical Review
Letter requesting a Justification Letter that addresses staff’s concerns about the project’s
compliance with the Hillside Development Guidelines & Standards as described in the Issues
and Concerns section of that report.
Beginning on page 3 of the report, Mr. Cannon indicates that the “proposed house has an
identifiable style with authentic details executed in high quality materials”. Furthermore, Mr.
Cannon states that the site will have “substantial landscaping proposed to buffer views of the
house”; and “from a pure architectural design standpoint, it would be difficult to fault the
proposed design”.
On Page 4 of the report, Mr. Cannon states that there are “some specific elements of the
Hillside Development Standards & Guidelines which may not be adequately met by this design”.
The following dialogue is an explanation of how the project has been designed to address each
of the specific elements of concern:
E. Objectives of the Hillside Development Standards and Guidelines.
The following objectives are intended to implement the Town of Los Gatos vision statement for
its hillside and to ensure that all development is in compliance with the goals, policies and
implementing strategies of the General Plan.
4. Maintain the natural appearance if the hillsides from all vantage points including the valley
floor.
To the greatest extent reasonably possible, any and all earth movement operations of the
site has been limited to the excavation for the proposed building footprint and a driveway to
access the sites required parking areas. This project proposed no site retaining walls beyond
the building or driveway area with exception of a patio and walkway from the guest parking
area up to the residence. The majority of this site and the proposed building will not be seen
from the valley floor, including any of the Town’s designated viewing platforms.
EXHIBIT 8
The Owner and Architect both acknowledge that it is important to not alter the site by
creating a large building pad derived from retaining walls. The Owner’s objective is to have a
home with an “architectural style that is typically constructed on a flat building pad”. The site
does contain a level building pad where an existing home is located. Whereas this location is
clearly the most desirable for the owners and would score high on the constraints analysis, it
also adversely impacts the surrounding neighbors and would not meet the objectives of the
Hillside Development Standards and Guidelines.
The owners clearly understand the importance of maintaining the serene beauty of the
hillsides and have sacrificed having an amazing view by instead locating their home on the
lower portion of the lot having a slope that provides many advantages in protecting the hillside.
The two, very visible residences that currently occupy the site will be removed and a new
residence located close to the corner of Drysdale Drive and Shady Lane will be constructed. This
new location will have ample visual mitigation for the street and create open space along the
ridge line above the property.
The site will not be altered in any unnatural way. The driveway cuts across the site parallel
to the site’s natural contours in order to limit grading quantities. The cut slope will be
modulated and shaped with rounded contours in order to emulate the natural hillside that exists
today.
9. Ensure that the development does not dominate, but rather visually blends and achieves
harmony between the natural and built environment.
Inasmuch as a large portion of the bulk and mass of this building is below grade and the
building forms have been further redesigned to step in cadence with the slope of the site,
ensures that this development will visually blend and harmonize with natural environment.
Furthermore, many new trees have been positioned to provide a soft transition between the
new development and the surrounding environment.
Story poles, erected on site cannot be viewed from any of the Town’s designated viewing
platforms, specifically the closes site located at the corner of Blossom Hill Rd. and Los Gatos
Blvd.
Again, whereas there are two existing homes that dominate the site from the ridgeline will
be removed, this project proposes the removal of these existing structures and returning the
hillside to its original state.
V. Architectural Design
A. Design objectives
The standards and guidelines in this section are intended to encourage architectural design that
is:
1.) In harmony and visually blends with the natural environment
3.) Compatible with the surrounding neighborhood and respectful of neighbors, and
4.) Respectful of the rural character of the hillsides.
It is the job of this architect to balance the owner’s objectives and goals within the
limitations of the zoning code as well as the HDS&G. The project has responded to the site
constraints and taken advantage if the opportunities that are present in order to create a design
that harmonizes with the surrounding natural environment and is respectful of the neighbor’s
views and privacy. The plans have been shared with the adjoining neighbors and no immediate
concerns appear to be present.
It has been over 15 years since the HDS&G document was completed and subsequently
several homes have been developed in the surrounding area and specifically along Shady Lane.
The bucolic, rural character that once dominated the hillsides of Los Gatos has progressed to
allow other architectural styles of higher quality.
The proposed residence, driveway and patio areas contains an average footprint that along
with minimal site development and the removal of the existing homes and hardscape will result
in 82% of the site as being undeveloped and in a natural state.
E. Building Height
Standards:
1.) The maximum height for homes in hillside areas shall be 25 feet. Building height shall be
measured in compliance with provisions of the Town’s Zoning Ordinance.
2.) The maximum height of a building’s tallest elevation shall not exceed 25 feet measured from
the lowest part of the building to the highest part, except building s above a ridgeline or that
are visible from a viewing platform where the maximum height from the lowest to the highest
points shall not exceed 28 feet.
Excessive building height adversely impacts and alters a building’s ability to blend into the
natural hillsides. Without an overall (lowest to highest) height limitation, a building could
maintain a modest height above the natural grade but continue to sprawl vertically upon the
site giving a visual impression from afar as being an excessively tall building. Additionally,
limiting a building’s overall height can reduce the footprint area of a building and encourages a
building design that is parallel to the site’s topographic contours.
The height limit for this residence is 25 feet high above natural grade with an overall height
limit of 35 feet from highest to lowest point. Story Poles were set up on the site to emulate the
outline of the highest roof lines that surround the building. From the closest viewing platform
located at Los Gatos Road and Blossom Hill Road, a camera using a 300mm telephoto lens was
not able to capture a view of any story poles. The photo below is taken from Drysdale Drive
showing the story poles in place and has been enhanced to illustrate the overall building
massing.
(Fig. A)
This site’s narrow building area runs perpendicular to the relatively steep topographic
contours and greatly constrains the ability to construct a floor area that meet’s the owner’s
programmatic goals and objectives. The proposed building technically may not meet the overall
height limit of 35’ but was thoughtfully designed to comply with the intent of this standard. The
garage doors are in effect imperceptible and do not in any way create a visual impact. Whether
the garage entrance is removed or remains as currently designed will not change the visible
character of the building.
The proposed residence has several floor levels that step in cadence with the slope of the
site in order to maintain harmony with the site’s natural contours. Although a portion off the
site will be graded along the east and west sides of the building (up to the maximum limit of 4
feet), the natural appearance of the hillside will not be perceptibly altered. The purpose for this
localized site grading is to lower the overall height of the retaining walls at the light wells.
A unique design technique of obscuring the location of the garage doors provides exceptional
mitigation by rendering the garage as an extraneous element.
By meandering the retaining walls along the driveway up to the Garage entrance it
obscuring any view of the garage door opening. Additionally the garage opening is surrounded
by landscape above and on each side to framing it as a landscape element rather than an
element of the main residence.
F. Minimize building bulk and mass
One of the primary concerns of Los Gatos residents is that some new houses in the hillsides
appear overly large and bulky, resulting in high visibility from surrounding properties and the
valley floor. The design standards and guidelines in this section address this issue.
Standards:
1.) Buildings shall be designed to minimize bulk, mass and volume so as not to be prominently
visible from a distance or from surrounding properties.
It is important to understand the stated objectives for each of these standards within the
HDS&G vision statement. The hillsides are a valuable resource that is visible from anywhere in
town. The open, wooded rural character of the hills must be retained for future generations to
enjoy.
Due to the slope of site and the narrow lot width, a large portion of residence is located
partially or wholly below the grade. As viewed from above the site, the visible walls that facing
uphill area less than 5 feet above the surrounding natural grade. The principal façade facing
downhill is 17 feet above the adjacent grade. The building massing steps uphill while providing
an interior volumes that meets the owner’s objectives and goals. The massing is also broken up
into simple segments that reduce the overall appearance of mass and bulk. New trees will be
strategically planted to mitigate any and all visual impacts that the new building might
otherwise create.
2.) Buildings shall be designed to conform to the natural topography of the site and run with
the contours. Blending with the existing terrain reduces the appearance of bulk.
In harmony with the sloping site, the several floor levels were designed to step in cadence
with natural terrain. The sites narrow width leaves less than 64 feet of width to construct the
residence running parallel to the contours. The building’s massing is therefore condensed side
to side and requires constructing into the hillside with stepped floor levels as illustrated in (Fig.
B) below. This is similar to other approved buildings such as the residence shown in (fig C1) on
the following page.
(Fig. B)
Guidelines:
1.) The Building Design should incorporate but not be limited to, the following techniques to
efficiently reduce the appearance of mass, bulk and volume:
b.) Avoid architectural styles that are inherently viewed as massive and bulky
I recognized early on in the design process that the owner’s desire for a classical building
style, normally constructed on generous flat properties, was going to be a challenge on this
sloping site. I was prompted to visit a few buildings also on Shady Lane that were recently
completed and with the HDG&S being enforced. Below are just a few samples of these buildings
which all deploy high quality classical elements within the architecture. In Particular is the
building shown in Fig. C1 that similarly steps up the hill with several floor levels and due to site
conditions cannot run its massing parallel to the site’s contours.
Fig. C1
The building below utilizes high quality building methods and materials, to break up the
massing. The vertical façade looms close to the roadway and utilizes landscape to soften the
visual impact.
(Fig. C2)
d.) Minimize volume; avoid large volume buildings.
The owner’s request for a capacious entryway is mitigated by surrounding this space on
each side with conventional, two-story massing containing bedrooms. On the downhill facing
façade, the entryway is mitigated by receding the upper floor level back such that the lower
floor level stands out and equal in height with the flanking architectural massing. This lower
level massing runs parallel with the topographic contours and is horizontal in proportion.
G. Roofs:
Standards:
1.) Roof forms and roof lines shall be broken into smaller building components to reflect the
irregular forms of surrounding natural features.
The residence has been designed to meet the owner’s object of a classic Beaux Arts style
residence with a flat roof. This style of building is normally characterized as rectilinear and
boxy. Conversely, the proposed residence has been redesigned such that it successfully
modulates the building’s massing into several individual elements; articulating each floor level
with horizontal moldings. The roof forms have large cornices that project outward and cast
shadow across the wall plane. Additionally the plan modulates inward to also break up the
massing and roof areas. The result of these design elements is a building that appears to step
vertically in cadence with the hillsides topography as illustrated in (Fig. B)
2.) The slope of the main roof shall generally be oriented in the same direction as the natural
slope of the terrain.
Whereas the style of the building dictates the use of a flat roof rather than a roof line that is
pitched at an angle, the flat roof lines step in cadence to follow the angle of the site’s slope. As
viewed from the roadways a sloping roof could add additional bulk and would likely not be
perceivable anyway. This concept can be seen in (Fig C2)
H. Architectural Elements:
Guidelines
1.) The use of large windows and glass doors should be kept to a minimum to reduce the
daytime glare and nighttime lighting emanating from large glazed areas and to increase heating
and cooling efficiency. Of particular concern is the glare that impacts neighboring properties
and is visible from the valley floor.
Whereas the style of the home generally necessitates larger windows and French doors, the
amounts of glass and the orientation of the building will never cause a glare that will impact the
neighboring properties or the valley floor. The building is at an elevation that cannot be seen
from the valley floor. The locations of existing and new trees being planted in relation to the
location of the surrounding neighbor’s homes assure a generous amount of privacy. The
windows on the upper floor level will be modest is size and not mulled together to form a large
single glazed opening.
2.) The use of architectural features that increase visual prominence should be avoided.
Massive, tall elements such as two-story entries, turrets, and large fireplaces should be avoided.
Such elements on the downhill façade of the house are of particular concern.
Whereas the style of a classical home traditionally has a large entry door, the Entry for this
residence has been subsequently re-designed to be subdued and concealed in shade behind a
projecting porch element. This building does not feature any tall elements that dominate any of
the building’s facades as it did prior to redesigning the building to incorporate the consulting
Architect’s recommendations. The Living Room fireplace is integrated into an exterior wall of the
residence and only rises above the roof to the minimum distance required for the building code.
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