Item 03 - 125 wheeler Ave - Desk Item & Exhibit 28TOWN OF LOS GATOS ITEM NO: 3
DESK ITEM PLANNING COMMISSION STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: September 14, 2016
PREPARED BY:
APPLICATION NO:
LOCATION:
APPLICANT/
CONTACT PERSON:
PROPERTY OWNER:
Jocelyn Puga, Assistant Planner
jpuga@ losgatosca.gov
Architecture and Site Application S-16-039
125 Wheeler A venue (located on the north side of Wheeler
A venue, east of Los Gatos Boulevard)
Tony Jeans
Jeffrey Avilla and Darcy Viale-Avilla
APPLICATION SUMMARY: Requesting approval to demolish an existing single-family
residence and to construct a new single-family residence on
property zoned R-1:8. APN 532-26-065
EXHIBITS: Previously received with August 24, 2016 Staff Report :
1. Location Map
2. Findings (one page)
3. Recommended Conditions of Approval (12 pages)
4. Project Data Sheet (one page)
5. Applicant's Letters of Justification, received May 18, 2016
(two pages)
6. Applicant's Arborist Report, received on May 18, 2016 (28
pages)
7. Town's Consulting Arborist Report, received June 6, 2016
(five pages)
8. Town's Consulting Architect Report, received June 15, 2016
(five pages)
9. Neighbor Correspondence, received June 30, 2016
(four pages)
10 . Applicant's Response to Neighbor Correspondence,
received August 15 , 2016 (four pages)
11. Neighbor Letter of Objection, received July 18 , 2016 (120
pages)
12. Applicant's Response to Neighbor Letter of Objection,
received August 15, 2016 (one page)
13. Neighbor Letter of Support, received July 18, 2016 (one
page)
14 . Color and Material sheet, received July 19, 2016
(one page)
15. Public Comments received by 11:00 a.m. August 18, 2016
16. Development Plans, received August 9 , 2016 (12 pages)
17 . Additional Neighbor Objections, received August 18, 2016
(27 pages)
Planning Commission Staff Report -Page 2
125 Wheeler A venue/S-16-03 9
September 14, 2016
REMARKS :
Previously received with August 24, 2016 Desk Item Report:
18. Comments from the applicant , received from 11 :01 a .m. on
August 18, 2016 to 11 :00 a.m. on August 24, 2016
19 . Revised conditions of approval (replaces Exhibit 3)
Previously received at the August 24, 2016 Planning Commission
Meeting:
20. Applicant's Modified Elevations, received August 24,
2016 (one page)
Previously received with the September 14, 2016 Staff Report:
21. Letter from the Applicant, received August 30, 2016 (six ·
pages)
22. Letter from the Applicant Discussing the Meeting with
the Neighbors, received September 1, 2016 (one page)
23 . Modified Conditions of Approval from the Applicant,
received September 2, 2016 (one page)
24. Letter from the Adjacent Neighbors Discussing Concerns,
received September 6, 2016 (one page)
25. Additional Letter from the Adjacent Neighbors, received
September 7 , 2016 (seven pages)
26. Public Comments received from 11:01 a.m. August 24,
2016 to 11 :00 a.m . September 8, 2016
27. Revised Development Plans, received September 6, 2016
(13 sheets)
Recei ved with this Desk Item Report:
28. Comments from the property owner, received from 11 :01 a.m .
on September 8, 2 016 to 11 :00 a .m. on September 14, 2016
Staff received the attached correspondence from the property owner (Exhibit 28) after distribution
of the staff report.
/l/l;:JJ
Appr'Oved by:
Joel Paulson, AICP
Community Development Director
Planning Commission Staff Report -Page 3
125 Wheeler Avenue/S-16-039
September 14 , 2016
JSP:JGP :cg
N :\DEV\PC REPORTS\2016\ Wheeler! 25 .9-14-16.desk.docx
September 11, 2016
Town of Los Gatos
110 E. Main Street
Los Gatos, CA 95030
Dear Commissioners,
RECEIVED
SEP 1 4 2016
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
PLANNI NG DIVISION
Jeff Avilla
125 Wheeler Ave.
Los Gatos, CA 95030
408.859.6641
avilla.jeff@gmail.com
As the owners of 125 Wheeler Ave we wanted to share our insights and approach to building a
new home in Los Gatos along with our concerns managing a single neighbor's demands for the
125 Wheeler project.
We appreciate the small town neighborhood atmosphere the town of Los Gatos is renowned for.
My appreciation comes from growing up in Los Gatos and graduating from Los Gatos High
School. For the last 30 years my wife's family has lived in Los Gatos and has built 3 homes in town
during this time. As returning residents, we not only understand the importance of collaboration
with neighbors but also the need to support the small town image by doing so.
Over the past 5 years my wife and I have been trying to move back to be close to her family so we
can help take care of them. Her mother and sister-in-law have health issues, which makes it
difficult for them to walk. When the 125 Wheeler property became available just a short distance
from her family home on Alpine, we could not believe our luck.
We knew the 125 Wheeler property would need to be torn down and rebuilt given its structural
condition as well as being an eyesore to the neighborhood. The listing even stated "bring your
architect" before buying. Our neighbors knew this fact as well, especially 129 Wheeler. Both 125
and 129 Wheeler homes were on the market at the same time closing within 30 days of each
other.
Our objective in building a new home was based on the following criteria to follow the Los Gatos
2020 Single and Two Family Residential Design Guidelines:
1. Preserve the Los Gatos small town image. We wanted a balanced approach to building a new
home so as not to conflict with the local neighborhood. This is why we specifically hired a
builder/designer with over 30 years experience with building homes in Los Gatos. We also
wanted a builder/designer well versed in the policies, codes and guidelines required to
preserve the Lost Gatos culture. Since Tony Jeans has been building in Los Gatos for over 30
years and has built his own home nearby, we are confident h e shares our same objectives.
Page I I EXHIBIT 2 8
2. The style of home must consistent with other homes in the neighborhood; hence why we
selected a Craftsman style home like the other six in the neighborhood. This was confirmed
by your town architect in her letter of recommendation, which states, "the 125 Wheeler home
style and size fits into the neighborhood' and "the embedding of the second floor area within
the rooffonn will limit its visual bu/]('
3. The home plans would require no design exceptions to town policy or guidelines in style,
allowable living space to lot size, height or setbacks not already established by town policy or
the neighborhood.
4. Be pro-active working with our neighbors during the design phase. incorporating and also
compromising whenever possible before and even after the preliminary plans were submitted
to the town.
When we started this project, our primary concern was the privacy issue with 127 Wheeler Ave
(the home in the flag lot directly behind 125 Wheeler). The existing 125 Wheeler second story
bedrooms are only 20 feet away and look directly into 127 Wheeler's front door, kitchen and
living room windows. Solving this significant privacy issue required pushing the new 125 Wheeler
home forward in line with the other surrounding homes per the town's guidelines. We also
changed windows sizes and locations as well as the balcony as 127 Wheeler was the most impacted
of all the neighbors. Their letter submitted to the planning commission confirms their support of
this conditional change.
Other concessions made include removing unwanted trees and replanting others, incorporating
drainage systems to pump water to the street, lowering the height of the house by 2 feet, moving
windows for privacy and widening the driveway to eliminate on-street parking (requests froml27,
129 and 136 Wheeler). These are just a few examples of how we have been pro-actively working
with our neighbors.
The only neighbor resistant to working directly with us has been 129 Wheeler Ave. (home to the
right of 125 Wheeler). Tony jeans approached the Greens to share information, but they instead
decided to create their own campaign against building a new home. They have stated that "they
do not want a new home built and will do anything to prevent it from happening," simply because
they believe their rights supersede all other neighbors.
Their strategy to stop this project was to artificially create an exhaustive list of over 15 objections
that include every perceivable concern both small and large claiming everything could to make a
large list. Sadly many of their arguments against 125 Wheeler Ave are either based on
misrepresenting facts such as the house size, contour of the lot, and required setbacks to making
false statements such as "we are robbing them of their total light and views".
They have also taken liberties to interpret the town building guidelines for their sole benefit, such
as style, setbacks and mass by making comparisons to the most congested Blossom Hill
development in order to exaggerate their point. Per the town's 2020 Residential Design
Guidelines our neighborhood is defined as and "Informal Urban" not a "Subdivision" as they
claim.
·Page 12
The Green's are simply trying to create as much concern and turmoil with the neighbors and/or
the Planning Commission to either stall or shut down the 125 Wheeler Ave project.
Because of this, they have shared false and misleading information with neighbors in order to
obtain letters of support against the project. We have since shared the correct facts with these
neighbors and 5 of the 6 immediately adjacent neighbors now support what we are proposing to
build.
Tony has been attempting to work with the Green's but they are less supportive to the process
than they appear. Regardless of the concessions we have made to address their concerns, they
continue to demand more. We feel they will not be happy unless all of their demands are met or
they have successfully shut down the project. A point of validation of this was during the August
24 PC meeting the Commission Chairman asked Mrs. Green "what did she really want?" from the
long list of demands." She did not clearly answer this question. And now their most recent
suggestion of a 16 ft setback would destroy our project. This is simply not a compromise -but
really an unreasonable demand.
We have addressed their concerns of privacy, size, trees and drainage yet they continue to
misrepresent and confuse the other issues. For example, the FAR percentages noted throughout
their letters and presentations are incorrect as they include both non-livable space and cellar
space. They claim that the 125 Wheeler FAR is the largest in the neighborhood but this simply is
not true.
The true tacts are that 129 Wheeler has a larger FAR calculation of 33.81 % (lot size of 6,577 and
house size of 2,224) compared to 125 Wheeler (lot size 8,000 and house size 2,586) for a FAR
calculation of 32.33% .The 125 Wheeler home is only 362 feet larger on a lot that is 1,423 feet
larger. The shadow study results noted by the Green's are completely misleading given the time
of day; in fact this is actually incorrect data.
They have shown very little regard to their immediate neighbors, such as 127 Wheeler's privacy
needs or even what is best for the overall neighborhood! To remove the house on Wheeler which
has been an eyesore for years is not only good for the neighborhood but the town as well.
Given that the 125 Wheeler project plans conform without any exceptions to the town policies and
guidelines, we ask that you vote to support the recommendation by the staff[with the support of
the Consulting Architect] to approve this project.
Sincerely yours,
Jeff & Darcy Avilla
Page 13