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Attachment 2LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A P P E A R A N C E S: Los Gatos Planning Commissioners: Mary Badame, Chair (Recused) D. Michael Kane, Vice Chair Kendra Burch Charles Erekson Melanie Hanssen Matthew Hudes Tom O’Donnell Town Manager: Laurel Prevetti Community Development Director: Joel Paulson Town Attorney: Robert Schultz Transcribed by: Vicki L. Blandin (510) 337-1558 ATTACHMENT 2 LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 P R O C E E D I N G S: CHAIR BADAME: I will be recusing myself from Item 7. My residence is located within 500’ of the proposed application. Vice Chair Kane will be leading the hearing through the adjournment, and I leave you in good hands. Thank you, everyone, for your time tonight. VICE CHAIR KANE: We turn our attention to Item 7 on tonight’s agenda, 360 Bella Vista. This is Subdivision Application M-15-005. It is Architecture and Site Application S-15-053, Lot 1; and S-15-054, Lot 2. The Applicant is requesting approval to demolish an existing two-family residence, subdivide one into two lots, and construct two new single-family residences on property zoned R-1:8. APN 529-22-038. May I have a show of hands of Commissioners who have visited the site? Ms. Moseley, will you be providing us with a Staff Report tonight? MARNI MOSELEY: I will be. Sorry, I was answering questions out in the lobby there and got distracted. The existing site currently contains a two-family dwelling, which is also referred to as a duplex, either way LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 works, as well as one illegal secondary dwelling unit that was constructed sometime around 20-30 years ago; it was never legalized. The existing structures total approximately 3,300 square feet, in addition to an oversized two-car garage. The Applicant is proposing a subdivision and would create two approximately 11,000 square foot lots that would conform to Town Code in regard to front depth and area, and would be similar in size to those in the immediate area and neighborhood. The subdivision would require the demolition of the existing structures in order to implement, and so that is part of the Applicant’s proposal this evening. The two new homes would both be two-story, and would be similar to those farther down on Bella Vista. I don’t have the exact height number; I believe it’s about 28’-29’ feet tall for the residential units. The residences would be 3,322 and 3,265 square feet, with oversized two- car garages as well. The Applicant is proposing to remove nine protected trees; five of those trees are in direct conflict with the proposed structures and would be required to be removed as a result of the improvements. Four of the additional trees would conflict with the rear yard LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 landscaping and future use of the rear yards, so that can be considered by the Commission as far as whether those are appropriate for removal. Staff did follow up with the consulting arborist in regard to whether it would be appropriate to remove those trees. She defined those as high water users, and so if the Applicant were to implement a more appropriate drought tolerant landscaping as replacement canopy, she would find that Town Code would support those removals. The consulting architect did review the proposed designs, had a couple of minor changes, and provided feedback in regard to how he felt the proposed larger residences fit into the context of that neighborhood, similar to how the Bluebird Lane development fits in with the Caldwell streetscape around the corner. His justifications were in regard to the second floor setbacks, as well as the large single-story front porches as far as helping those integrate into the immediate neighborhood. Staff’s concerns on this project relate predominantly to neighborhood compatibility in regard to the massing from the street and the streetscape of the two- story residences, as well as the size of the homes in relation to those in the immediate neighborhood. These LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 would be the largest homes within the immediate neighborhood, and so Staff does have concerns about that. The 3,322 square foot residence would be the max that would be permitted, so any additional square footage wouldn’t be allowed without an exception to FAR, so that’s something to consider; what you see is what you get. That’s one benefit of that proposal, but when you look at creating that kind of massing on that street, is it appropriate? That concludes Staff’s report. We are here if you have any questions. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you, Ms. Moseley. Are there questions of Staff? Yes. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: You made some references; I was trying to just get a count. Not counting the houses on Templeton, just the houses on Bella Vista, how many of those have two stories? It looked like there was more one- story than two-story. MARNI MOSELEY: The home at 380 Bella Vista is two-story, as is 385. Yes, it kind of steps down, so some of that is cellar but it’s hard to distinguish where that line is. And then those are outside of my map here, but farther down. Actually, there’s a chart in here. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Maybe I missed it. I apologize. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MARNI MOSELEY: That’s okay. I forgot about it, too. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I was looking at page 4, and it had the FAR analysis and the lot size and stuff, but it didn’t… Oh, there it is. It’s right on there; I’m sorry. MARNI MOSELEY: That’s okay. But I have a map here of those addresses, if you’d like me to put them up. You want me to do that? I have scribbles on there, but it gives you addresses in relation to where they are. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: The existing house, since it’s a duplex, from a housing stock in the Town perspective is considered one house, or is it considered two? MARNI MOSELEY: It’s considered two residential units. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Two residential units? MARNI MOSELEY: Mmm-hmmm. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: But it’s on one parcel? MARNI MOSELEY: Correct. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Okay, thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you, Commissioner Hanssen. Commissioner Hudes. COMMISSIONER HUDES: I had two questions. One is about traffic. I know there have been hearings on other projects on that street with the curve and safety and all LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 that. Would this subdivision and development add to the traffic on that street? I imagine the total square footage is larger, but the nature of the units, would it add additional traffic on that street? MARNI MOSELEY: As far as I’m aware of, the number of residential units is staying the same, and so the traffic is actually the same. COMMISSIONER HUDES: Thank you. The other question was about trees. I was going through all the detail, and there’s a wonderful oak tree in the front. Is that preserved? MARNI MOSELEY: Are you referring to Tree 1? COMMISSIONER HUDES: I don't know. MARNI MOSELEY: Tree 1 is being preserved. COMMISSIONER HUDES: Thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Other questions of Staff? Commissioner Erekson. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: Let me return to the traffic. I want to be sure I’m following what you're saying; I’m trying to wrap my head around it. If I don’t change the number of residences, even if I change the number of “bedrooms,” or the square footage, we conclude that there’s no traffic impact? LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MARNI MOSELEY: Based on ITE numbers, that is correct. JOEL PAULSON: If I can just jump in one piece, and I don’t have the data in front of me. There are different traffic generation numbers depending on type of unit, so apartments, condos, townhomes, single-family, different ITE rates, but typically their differences are so small, when you’re going from two units to two units, which is the case here, it would not trigger any of our thresholds for any traffic study or any traffic impact. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Aren’t there three units on the property presently? JOEL PAULSON: There are two legal units and one illegal unit. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: But traffic-wise there are three units. JOEL PAULSON: That’s another way to look at it, as well. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Traffic-wise there are three units, so now you’re going to go from three units to two units. Might there be a traffic reduction? JOEL PAULSON: There very well could be, yes. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 VICE CHAIR KANE: Other questions of Staff? Thank you, Ms. Moseley. VICE CHAIR KANE: I’ll now open the public hearing. The Applicant and/or his representative will have ten minutes, and I have cards for Mr. Brady and Mr. Black. You’ll have a total of ten together. MICHAEL BLACK: Commissioners, good to see you again, and thanks again for staying up so late for this one. I’m the Applicant, Michael Black. Behind me over here is the Brady family, and Chris Spaulding is also going to be speaking. Just to let you know the relationship of this project. Since we are subdividing it, the Brady family is planning to move into Lot 2, and then we, my development company, will be buying Lot 1 from them and developing Lot 1 as a single-family house to sell. I think John Brady would like to speak a little bit on behalf of the family. JOHN BRADY: Thank you, Mike. Good evening, Commissioners. Being here just kind of reminded me that eight years ago approximately at this time I was doing the same thing, pursuing a permit to build our home up on Foster Road. I live at 20103 Foster Road, this is the McCarthy development up the hill, and my experience there was LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 wonderful, and we got everything into order. If you know anything about that property you’ll know that we place a lot of emphasis on quality and we take these decisions and these developments very seriously. This is the fourth home that I will build for personal reasons. The reason we were attracted to this site was because it’s in Los Gatos. We moved here six years ago now, actually, and we came from Saratoga. But my wife, being the mother hen that she is, she’s brought all of her three children and their spouses back to Los Gatos, and we love that. With a growing family… My daughter had her two children here earlier tonight, and they made so much noise we had to get them home, but we wanted you to see them with us, because they’re part of the reason we’re doing this project. In fact, they’re the only reason we’re doing the project. My son in law, who you’ll meet in a second, we’re going to partner this project together in what seems to me to be the most viable way for young people to own homes now in this expensive area we live in. So Los Gatos was a key component to the selection of the site. Another big factor was the lot is so large. It’s 11,000 square feet per lot, which is 30% larger than any lot on the entire street, based on Marni’s charts. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 Another factor that we loved about this property is that there is no housing across the street, so our view north towards the bay, towards San Francisco, and west towards town is unobstructed and therefore that was a nice attraction to us. With that, I’ll just introduce my son in law, Mike Drew, father of two-and-a-half grandchildren. MIKE DREW: Hello, everyone. Thank you for staying up so late for us. John took a lot of my words, but I wanted to make sure I said something as a future homeowner. My wife, and one on the way, coming in May; and my daughter to be five years old daughter in May; and two year old son in May; are all home sleeping now, so they wanted to be here. I grew up in Los Gatos on Bachman Avenue, and this will be my fifth Los Gatos residence, so I love this town and I look forward to moving into and using all the square footage hopefully that we can to have our families there and start traditions all over again. Thank you. CHRIS SPAULDING: Chris Spaulding, architect. I just want to make a quick outline of why the houses are located and how they’re located. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 This site doesn’t have any houses across the street, as he just mentioned. We got Bluebird Lane, large houses behind us. Neatly to the south, to the right of the property, is a single-story house, but we have a nice wall of oak trees between the two houses, so we lift the existing driveway there to protect those oaks, to get our new two-story house farther away from that existing house. You’ve been out at the site, so I’m sure you saw how that line of oak trees really provides a nice shield between the properties. Then on the north side, the opposite side, the left side of the lot, we also put the driveway along the property line to move the new house as far as possible from the adjacent house and also have another second story setback. So from the adjacent house to our proposed house, we’ve got about 40’ of distance between the houses, which is pretty good for two houses side-by-side. Farther on that parcel we have a detached garage back where the existing building is to take that mass out of the house and place it back where there’s already a building that they’re used to, so that was the intent of the placement. Then Michael wanted to say one more thing. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 MICHAEL BLACK: I did want to let you know that we did do a neighborhood awareness package. We gave it to 16 of our neighbors; it has the elevations, the site plans, response letter and included self-addressed stamped. We’ve received three responses. My immediate neighbor to Lot 1 is Carol Hamilton, and she’s sitting over here. Her primary concern is the view outside of her kitchen looking across the front porch, the front house area, in between the oak tree and the house in looking at the view of the hills. This evening I’ve let her know that we plan to increase the setback of Lot 1 by 8’, as well as Lot 2 by 3’ to help preserve her view. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Commissioners, questions for Mr. Spaulding, Mr. Blake, Mr. Brady, or Mr. Drew? Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I have a question for Mr. Spaulding. I’m looking at A-5, which I think is the streetscape, and although there are on that streetscape two houses that are already two stories, one of them is 25’ and one of them is 21’; other than that you’ve got a 14’, 15’, 15’, and 21’. The two houses you’re proposing are both 27.5’, and comparing it to the project behind you strikes me as not a very good comparison. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 I can understand why you want a two-story house, but I guess I’m troubled by the disparity between the neighborhood and these. One, they’re big houses. Two, they’re tall houses, high. So I just wanted to give you comments on that. CHRIS SPAULDING: I wasn’t trying to compare them to the ones behind, I was just saying that behind us there are larger houses and there’s a wall of trees separating them, so what I meant was we’re not really affecting them in a bad way, is what I meant to say. My job was just to try to take two-story houses, what my clients want, and try to fit it in as best I can per the guidelines of the Residential Design Guidelines, which says to step the houses down and move them as far apart from the smaller house as possible, set the second story back, that sort of thing, so that’s what I did. VICE CHAIR KANE: Other questions? Seeing none, thank you. I’ll now invite comments from the public. Mr. Tillman. You’ll have three minutes. Give us your name and address. PAT TILLMAN: Pat Tillman, 150 Maggi Court, and we live down the hill from where this project is. I also live with the Chairperson, Mary Badame, maybe you know it, LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 maybe you don’t, but she’s out of here, but I get to talk anyway, because this is right in our neighborhood. There are a couple of paths that go up to Bella Vista, and I must walk our dog there five, six, eight times a week. I go right past that house; I’m very familiar with that house. I’m not a fan of this project, so I wanted to speak, and I am. To start with, a little bit out of order, Exhibit 1 is part of the package. There’s a diagram of this lot. I don't know who produced this, but I assume the Applicant produced it. There was another diagram that was placed up there that I thought one of the Town personnel placed, and the diagram that was placed up on this screen was quite a bit thinner than the one that’s Exhibit 1, and that kind of bothers me a little bit, because accuracy is important in this, I think. This may be a large lot compared to that neighborhood, because that’s a neighborhood of very small homes. This lot seems to have been divided, and to stuff two homes, each of which is comparable to the duplex… This duplex is parallel with Bella Vista, so what they did was they’re going to level that and put two homes of that size with their butt up against the road. So now we have two homes that are easily double the size going up facing Bella LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 Vista. So instead of this one home that’s kind of cross- ways, it looks kind of cute, you’re going to have two of them sticking out, and it’s kind of intimidating. I mean I don’t live left of right of them, but I walk by it and I like the neighborhood, it’s a very quaint neighborhood, and they’re so jammed in here. I mean 3,300 on one house and another 3,200 on the other one, and one of them has a basement. We’ve got a lot of room, plus you’re going to add another 1,270 square feet in garages in the back. This is an intimidating project, and I think the distance between these homes is 20’, so they basically have to have an easement between each other to get into the garages. It’s pretty big. Mass and scale compatibility, it’s not there. This is a big unit, and I think I’m running out of time already? VICE CHAIR KANE: You have about 15 seconds. PAT TILLMAN: Well, if the Commission likes this Bluebird stuff, if that’s the new theme of Los Gatos, then so be it, stuff them all in. That’s what these guys are doing. This is another Bluebird project and it doesn’t belong there. VICE CHAIR KANE: That is your time. Thank you. PAT TILLMAN: Thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Carol Hamilton. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 CAROL HAMILTON: My name is Carol Hamilton, and I live at 368 Bella Vista Avenue, and my house abuts Lot 1 at 360. I just want to say Michael has told me when I got here that they were going to move back the house next door to me, and I think that’s great, and I appreciate that. Needless to say, when they first put up the poles and I looked out, I couldn’t believe it. It was overwhelming to me that 3,200-and-some square feet compared to my 1,200 square foot house that would amount to looking kind of like a shed. But I know that we all have to move forward, and so it’s the way it is. I also worry about the shading. My house is small, and when you put a two-story house that high next to it, I’m just wondering how much light I’ll have in the winter when the sun is in the lower side. It wasn’t too long ago that I was visiting the City of San Mateo, and as I went through the neighborhoods I was really interested in seeing the consistency they kept in the housing. They were all pretty much the same size; there were a few exceptions, but they were basically the same size. And even the houses that looked new still fit in and conformed to the neighborhoods. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 That’s really what I’m talking about today is conformity, trying to keep things instead of standing out looking more like the neighborhood that it’s in. The other things is I think our property values might be very close to, and maybe even less than, San Mateo, I’m not sure. I guess what I’d like to say tonight is I personally feel that Los Gatos needs to step back, take a deep breath, and figure out exactly what we want in the future, and it wouldn’t hurt to maybe ask the rest of the residents here in town what they’d like to have. Thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: One second, Ms. Hamilton. Any questions for Ms. Hamilton? Commissioner Hanssen. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Thank you for your comments. What ideally would you like to see happen with that property? Are you opposed to any development on it? CAROL HAMILTON: Oh, no, I think that we need development, but I think the homes are just too large, way too large. They’ll just stand out, and when people drive by, that’s what they’re going see is two big houses, and they’re so, so far forward that they actually almost sit out in the street. I mean I know they’re going to move them back, because Mike told me they were going to, but before, when I saw the first packet, the house was going to LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 completely obliterate my view of the hills. And when they built Bluebird Lane, the views went away from the hills, and I got two free trees from the developer. If I can still see the hills, I’ll be mighty happy. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Okay, thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Any further questions? I’ll invite the Applicant and his team to come back and make any additional comments. You will have five minutes. MICHAEL BLACK: I’d like to go over just a couple of comments that were made. First of all, the accusations of a Bluebird similarity. These are 11,000 square foot lots. Those are 4,000-6,000 square foot lots; it’s night and day. The only item that we’re really fighting on this project is the overall massing. What I’d like to let you know is on Lot 2 we’ve got a 10’ second story setback on the front. On the sides we have a 2’ setback and another 5’ setback. These houses are designed to step back in the second story, which helps alleviate massing. The other thing that we’re trying to do is move the houses back, not only for Carol, but also to preserve the oak tree in the front yard. I think a great solution for Lot 1 is to move it back. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 Another option that we have discussed, if the overall massing is part of the issue, after talking to our civil engineer earlier today, we can move both of our finished floor elevations down 6” without creating other issues for site draining. All these areas of moving houses back, of lowing the house 6”, also helped create better reduction of shadows for our neighbors, as well as everything else. I’ve been onto the site probably two dozen times in the past year—we’ve had renters over there—just to go over traffic impacts. We’ve had a family of four in one house, and in the other two units we’ve had two couples; that’s six drivers. Coming onto it now with a family of four in both of them, there is most likely going to be four to five drivers altogether, so the traffic impact isn’t really an impact at all. In another nutshell, the two dozen times that I’ve been there, I have to admit, the majority of the people do not look at the houses on the left. What they are concentrating on is the gorgeous view to the right. The Town did a great job of clipping the eucalyptus trees up, the view is even better than it has been in years, and like John alluded to before, it’s one of the reasons why we have LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 these projects and why we have second-story balconies in the front, so we could enjoy the view in the front. We’re open to anything. I’ve already told you that we’re willing to be conditioned to an 8’ setback and a 3’ increased setback for both properties. Let us know if there’s anything else we can do. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Questions for the speaker? Commissioner Hanssen. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I appreciate your comments about the massing. One of the things that haven’t even been discussed is the square footage. I just did a quick calculation and came up with, just based on the houses on Bella Vista; the average of the houses is less than 2,000 square feet. You’re asking to build two houses that are more than 10% bigger than the very biggest house on Bella Vista. Are you willing to consider other designs that are substantially less square footage? That would be more in keeping with the neighborhood. That’s a question I have. MICHAEL BLACK: Well, that’s great, but if you look at the Staff Report and neighborhood analysis, and add the averages of the lot square footages, the average lot square footage is 7,700 square feet. The average house size is 2,289 square feet, and that comes out to an FAR of .30, LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 which is exactly where we are right now at our project, and this is from the Staff Report. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Erekson. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: The house being proposed for Lot 1 will have how many bedrooms? MICHAEL BLACK: It will have four bedrooms and one office. We do a lot of research with the clients, potential buyers, and real estate agents. In this size project where it’s 1,100 square foot lots, what we try to do is… There are more and more stay at home moms and stay at home dads who are using home offices a lot more, so what we have is four bedrooms upstairs, and one bedroom/office downstairs. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: But you show it on the diagram as a bedroom, correct? MICHAEL BLACK: Yes. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: Lot 2? MICHAEL BLACK: Same thing. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: So it’s not six bedrooms, including the basement? MICHAEL BLACK: There is one in the basement, excuse me. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 COMMISSIONER EREKSON: So it would be six bedrooms. Okay, so that’s a total of 11 bedrooms, right? MICHAEL BLACK: Yeah. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: So in the existing legal structure, how many bedrooms are there? MICHAEL BLACK: I believe it’s six total. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: So there are three bedrooms in each side? MICHAEL BLACK: There are three bedrooms in the right unit, which is the main house. There are two bedrooms next to it, and there is one studio in the back, which is the illegal one. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: So there are five bedrooms in the legal structures? MICHAEL BLACK: Yes. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: So you’re going from five bedrooms to 11 bedrooms? MICHAEL BLACK: Yes. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: While it’s fine for you to hypothesize that someone might use a bedroom for an office, you’re essentially more than doubling the capacity to house people on the site, correct? MICHAEL BLACK: Yeah, that is correct. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 COMMISSIONER EREKSON: And the current garage sits on the site? MICHAEL BLACK: Yes. There’s only one garage. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: Right. And it has how many… MICHAEL BLACK: It’s actually a two-car garage that’s extended. I think it’s been overbuilt in the back. And it has a carport as well in the front. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: I assume the 700 square foot is intended to be a three-car garage? MICHAEL BLACK: Yes, it’s a tandem on the left. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: So you would or would not anticipate there would be more people… Never mind. Thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Hudes. COMMISSIONER HUDES: I appreciate that you’ve initiated some neighborhood outreach, and we’ve heard from two neighbors tonight. Have you heard from the neighbor at 354, which is the small house on the other side? MICHAEL BLACK: No, we have not. I take that back. Three fifty four, I believe I got an email from them. Excuse me. I did. They asked for me to mail out a neighborhood awareness. It turns out that the owner’s children live in the front rental, and somebody else rents LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 the back. So they actually asked me to mail out a neighborhood awareness form, and that’s what I did, but I haven’t heard from them. COMMISSIONER HUDES: The other question I had was about changing the setbacks. Is this a done deal? Is it something you’re thinking about? Are there drawings to support what you’re suggesting now? MICHAEL BLACK: When we go through this, what happens is we’ve got our submittal, and then these plans were submitted back in January, and so we can’t resubmit something, but what I’d like to do is yes, please condition us to an 8’ increased setback on Lot 1, and please condition us to a 3’ greater setback on Lot 2. And you’re more than welcome to condition us to a 6” reduction in the finished floor height for the grade of both lots, Lot 1 and Lot 2. It’s been determined by our civil engineer that we can reduce both those as well. COMMISSIONER HUDES: Thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Burch. COMMISSIONER BURCH: So a quick question. I was just listening to what my fellow commissioners are talking about with some of their concerns, and reading Mr. Cannon’s letter, and I don't know what motion is going to be made or whatever, but if needed, would you and your architect be LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 willing to look at that second floor massing and how to maybe minimize that, and be willing to come back and look at that rather than have the other Commissioners worrying about the massing? Is that something you would consider doing? MICHAEL BLACK: Well, you have the floor plans in front of you. It’s very important in talking to real estate agents as well as future homeowners like Mike Drew right here, he has three children, he’s got a family, he wants everybody upstairs; that’s why there are four bedrooms upstairs. If you look at the floor plans, there is not a square foot that is unaccountable. It’s one of those things where it’s a big lot, and I feel for our neighbors, but on the other hand, she has a very small house on a very large lot. It’s frustrating. Her typical size house is more for a 6,000- 8,000 square foot, and I told her earlier tonight she’s really lucky and she’s blessed to be on such a large lot with her house. I think we know evolution, and I think we know that if somebody did buy that house down the road that somebody would probably do something similar to what we’re proposing right now. It’s just the fact of development and progress in this town. COMMISSIONER BURCH: Okay, thank you. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 VICE CHAIR KANE: Other questions for the speaker? Mr. Black? MICHAEL BLACK: Yes. VICE CHAIR KANE: You referred us to the Staff Report on the small FARs? MICHAEL BLACK: Yes. VICE CHAIR KANE: We have a standard for neighborhood compatibility; it’s called 225. It refers to the two houses to the left, two houses to the right, and the five across the street. You don’t have five across the street. What you do have is two to the left and two to the right, and what I think you’re hearing from the Commission is those houses are 1,100, 1,170, 2,200, 1,800, and yours are 3,300 and 3,200. You’re hearing issues of neighborhood compatibility. We talked about Mr. Cannon’s letter. You read his concerns about largest house in the neighborhood, which you would also find in the Residential Design Guidelines. Do any of those give you thought for reconsideration? Bella Vista is a nice, little, quiet, high school bike riders going up and down, it’s about 10’ wide. What do you think? MICHAEL BLACK: I think you’re right. I think that if you go out there at 8:00 in the morning, and I know LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 there are a lot of kids that actually ride their bikes down there, but it’s kind of a thoroughfare, so this nice, cozy little neighborhood, it actually has a lot of cars going down to the back parking lot and stuff like that. That’s why big back yards are really a blessing, and that’s why we have two-story houses proposed here. So that’s one of the things. In terms of the FAR, two doors down from us we’ve got .27, and another one is .28. To get down to a .27 or a .28 is 200 square feet for us. What does that get you if we chop 200 square feet off the back? VICE CHAIR KANE: I really wasn’t referring to the FAR. I’m referring to largest house in the neighborhood when yours is practically three times larger than your neighborhood, 1,100 versus 3,300. I’m using rough numbers, but the point of the Commission is not the FAR, it’s the Residential Design Guidelines on largest house in the neighborhood, and we’ve got two of them. Other questions for the speaker? MICHAEL BLACK: Vice Chair? I would like to say that out of all these, we do have the largest lot besides one. Two 1,100 square foot lots. I don’t see any other 1,100; there’s one 1,400 square foot lot. It’s hard to penalize a builder as well as a homeowner for purchasing LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 the largest lot in the street. Even with the subdivision, it’s two 1,100 square foot lots. We’re working with you. We’re willing to minimize it. We’re willing to reduce heights, whatever it is, to help get that massing down, but I’ve got a homeowner right here who’s paid a lot of money for this dirt, and when going to the Town he asks for the Residential Design Guidelines and he asks for the FAR sheet, and he might not be going through all the motions, but he looks for it. Okay, I can build up to 3,200 square feet. That’s what happens when a homeowner goes to the Town in preparation for buying a lot. VICE CHAIR KANE: Mr. Black, you’ve answered my question. Thank you. I will close the public portion of the public testimony and look to my fellow commissioners for motions, discussions, questions. Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I think the houses are just too big. I’m sorry if the homeowner misunderstood our rules, but neighborhood compatibility is clear as a bell, and these two houses are not compatible at all with the neighborhood, and 6” isn’t going to do it, so I wouldn’t have any problem turning this one down. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 We could send it back and see they get a redesign, but near as I can tell that doesn’t appear to be their intention. These are very big homes for this neighborhood. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Erekson. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: While I respect the standards for traffic that were referenced earlier, and while I understand that we have at least one known owner of the property, all houses are sold over their lifetime, so on a street that already has significant traffic challenges, we’re going to, aside from the square footage, double the capacity of bedrooms, and bedrooms drive the number of people that can live in a place, generally, and we’re going to double the capacity for parking cars. So while I understand by standards it may be a minimal increase, we the Commission voted almost unanimously to not approve another subdivision in large part because of traffic concerns. We’re doing another potential subdivision here, in my opinion, and what they’re proposing is to I think significantly complicate the traffic issues on a street that already has challenges for me when I drive my car there, and it’s scary when I ride my bike there. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Other comments? Commissioner Hanssen. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Just adding on to what Commissioner Erekson said, when I was on the Transportation and Parking Commission I remember the Bella Vista neighborhood had come to the Transportation and Parking Commission for traffic calming for exactly the reasons that were outlined. It’s not all the people in the neighborhood; it’s a lot of the cut-through traffic because of people on Los Gatos Boulevard. But nonetheless, there’s a huge crowding issue in that whole area. Traffic is basically not moving at all, and when people are having to come for traffic calming, it just says that things have gotten too big and too out of control. I think that these houses are too big, and adding this much square footage and stuffing it into a neighborhood that’s so much smaller doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Hudes. COMMISSIONER HUDES: When I look at the issue of neighborhood compatibility, I like to think about it not only in terms of the physical terms of the house, but the way the neighbors think about how this is changing their neighborhood. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 And not hearing any positive comments from neighbors, there was outreach, tells me something, that this is not compatible with the neighborhood in the broader sense, so for that reason, again, I feel that the neighborhood compatibility is a very, very large issue with the project as it is proposed. VICE CHAIR KANE: Other comments? I’ll throw in some of my own. I appreciate the desire for the family to get what it wants, but it seems like a lot of provisions are just being ignored. Staff makes the salient comment, “The project was referred to Planning Commission because the proposed residences will be the largest in the immediate area.” That’s in our Residential Design Guidelines; we can’t ignore that. We can’t ignore Staff’s comments. We can’t ignore the letter from Mr. Cannon. This is what we talked about last week with somebody. You want to build a house? Comply with the ordinances, make Mr. Cannon happy, make Staff happy, and listen to your neighbors. I don’t feel that’s happening right now. I look to the Commission for a motion. Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER BURCH: I want to ask a question of Staff first before we move forward. As we’re taking a look LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 at this can we vote separately on the Subdivision Application and the Architecture and Site Application? I’m hearing a lot from my fellow commissioners about the massing, so perhaps we could separate those two, if my fellow commissioners agree with that. Can we do that? MARNI MOSELEY: Yes. That’s why Staff provided the findings and the conditions separately for you for each application. COMMISSIONER BURCH: All right, thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: If I understand it, we’ve got three pieces here: demolish, subdivision, and construction, right? We could move forward on demolish, if that helps. JOEL PAULSON: Do the subdivision first. A&S includes both parts, the demolition and the two new houses. VICE CHAIR KANE: Okay. I’m concerned about the subdivision, to tell you the truth, because maybe they’d want to build one house on the original property. But if you want to approve the subdivision, I guess we can entertain that first. Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: It’s really two motions, because Staff recommends that we consider it that way, and I think that makes sense. Staff has also told us that you shouldn’t approve demolition until you get your Architecture and Site Application taken care of, and I LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 think that makes sense. I’m going to do the two together; I think that that’s easier. The first motion would be that we approve the subdivision, and we make the required findings pursuant to the guidelines of the California Environmental Quality Act that this project is categorically exempt pursuant to Section 15315, Minor Land Divisions, and determine that none of the findings required by the Subdivision Map Act Section 66474 to deny subdivision application can be made, and that we approve the Subdivision Application M-15-005 with the conditions contained in Exhibit 3. Now, I can either make both motions and find out if I can get a second, or I can make the first motion. I’m going to make both motions, and if I don’t get two… JOEL PAULSON: Do one at a time. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Okay, I’ll do one at a time. So that’s the first motion; I need a second. COMMISSIONER BURCH: I will second that motion. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Let’s take a vote. All in favor? All opposed? Motion passes 5-1; Commissioner Erekson saying nay. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Then the second motion I would make relates to the Architecture and Site, and the Staff recommendations that we deny that based upon the size LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 of the residences, mass and scale in comparison to those in the immediate area. We’ve discussed that and we’ve expressed amplification of those reasons, and for those reasons I would move that we deny the Architecture and Site Applications based on the size of the residences, and the mass and scale in comparison to those in the immediate area, and the potential impact on the traffic. So that’s the motion. VICE CHAIR KANE: Do we have a second? Commissioner Hanssen. COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I will second. VICE CHAIR KANE: Okay, discussion? Commissioner Burch. COMMISSIONER BURCH: I don’t know that it really matters, but I don’t agree with the traffic necessarily. Having been there and seen the cars there, I think two families and one that has three little kids, but that’s irrelevant. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: It isn’t necessary. COMMISSIONER BURCH: I’m just making the comment that I don’t actually feel that that should weigh in heavily on the motion. I guess I’ll support the motion, but I would actually work with Mr. Spaulding before, and I would actually very much encourage him to listen to what LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 was said so that the next processes go easier for him and his Applicants, but I guess I can’t necessarily add that to the motion. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Let me just mention that Commissioner Erekson commented on the number of bedrooms, and that to me speaks to the potential impact to traffic, because bedrooms tend to have people in them, and little people tend to grow up and get cars and all that, so I think almost doubling the number of bedrooms could have a significant impact. The main thrust of the motion is for the reasons stated in this report, but I would add the traffic impact, unless my fellow commissioners would ask me to remove it. It’s not a big thing with me; it’s the other two things that are the big part of it. VICE CHAIR KANE: Other comments? I’ll make a couple. We haven’t discussed trees, and we’ve got a project that’s taking out 30% of protected trees, and as an addendum to the motion, not part of the motion, I’d try to save more of those trees, if you could. And the architectural considerations, Staff Report Item C, I would pay more attention to their LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016 Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue 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 guidance, and I wouldn’t use Bluebird as a precedent. That’s all I want to put in. Other comments? Let’s take a vote. All in favor of the motion? Passes unanimously 6-0. Mr. Paulson, are there appeal rights? JOEL PAULSON: There are appeal rights for both the Subdivision Application action as well as the Architecture and Site Application actions. The appeal forms are available in the Clerk’s Office. The appeal must be filed within ten days, and there is a fee for filing the appeal. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you.