Attachment 2LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 3/9/2016
Item #7, 360 Bella Vista Avenue
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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?
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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,
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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,
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.