Attachment 02 and 03TOWN OF LOS GATOS ITEM NO: 4
DESK ITEM PLANNING COMMISSION STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: April13, 2016
PREPARED BY:
APPLICATION NO .:
LOCATION:
APPLICANT/
CONTACT PERSON:
PROPERTY OWNER:
APPLICATION SUMMARY:
EXHIBITS :
REMARKS:
Erin M . Walters , Associate Planner
ewalters@ losgato sca.gov
Architecture and Site Application S-14-056
18151 Overlook Road (Located on the north side of Overlook
Road , west ofWissahickon Avenue)
Urban West, LLC, Nicole King
Ronald M. Tate
Requesting approval to demolish an existing single-family
residence, to construct a new single-family residence, and obtain
a grading permit on property zoned R-1 :8. APN 510-40-146.
DEEMED COMPLETE: March 11 ,2016
FINAL DATE TO TAKE ACTION: September 11 ,2016
1-16 . Previously received with April 13 , 2016 Staff Report
Received with this Desk Item Report:
17. Comments received from 11:01 a.m. on April 8, 2016 to
11:00 a .m. on Aprill3, 2016
18. Applicant's Letter, Proposed Landscape Screening Plan,
and Photo Simulations of the Neighbor's View with
Proposed Screening, received April 12, 2016 (four pages)
19 . Applicant's email correspondence with Neighbors, received
April 12, 2016 and April 13, 2016 (four pages)
The attached public comments (Exhibit 17) were received after distribution of the staff report.
The applicant provided the attached letter and a modified landscape screening plan in an attempt
to address the rear neighbor's privacy concerns (Exhibit 18). In addition the applicant has
provided two photo simulations illustrating the view from the rear neighbor 's patio towards the
proposed project with proposed vegetative screening. The vegetative screening plan proposes ten
(15-17 feet tall , 24 inch box) Podocarpus gracilior plants along the subject rear fence line. This
information was received after distribution of the staff report .
ATTACHMENT 2
Planning Commission Staff Report -Page 2 of 2
35 N. Santa Cruz Avenue/S-14-056
Aprill3 , 2016
Exhibit 19 includes email correspondence from the applicant to the neighbors located to the rear
and the north (right) of the subject project that occurred after distribution of the staff report.
~
Prepared by:
Erin Walters
Associate Planner
JP :EW :sr
Approved by:
Joel Paulson, AICP
Community Development Director
N:\DEV\PC REPORTS\20 16\0verlookRdl 8 151 -A&S -desk item.docx
REGARDING THE OVERLOOK PROPERTY. .. to the los
gatos planning committee
The house has been empty for over a year
and is beginning to show obvious neglect.
The poles showing height are considerably
higher than the present roof line. This has
a big impact of blocking the afternoon sun
and sky at my house.
The house is over 3000sq. ft and only has a
one car garage, plus an uncovered parking
space. I envision cars permanently being
exposed in the driveway as an eyesore.
The lot is deep but narrow and this house
appears to be a much too big like the
MONSTER HOUSES allowed in other
communities ~<ff--;s.,._ Jpu 'D, '-C'~ RECEIVED
'f<-( APR 1 I 20 16 KAY THOMPSON [next door]
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
kltway7 @gmail.com rLA;:~~~
18121 OVERLOOK RD, LOS GATOS,
This Page
Intentionally
Left Blank
Erin Walters
Associate Planner
Town of Los Gatos Community Development Department
1 10 E. M ain St r eet
Los Gatos, CA 95030
(4 08 ) 354 -683 4
RECEIVED
APR 11 2016
TOWN Of LOS GATOS
PLANNING DIVISION
~-14-~~~
RE: Propos e d N ew Resid e n ce -1 8 1 5 1 Overlook Road
Dear M s . Walters:
1/we are res iden ts o f l os Gatos residing near the proposed new residence loca ted at
18151 Overlook Ro ad.
1/we have reviewed th e architectural site plan, floor plans, and elevations o f the
proposed new resi de nce in our neighborhood .
Respectfully,
Si gnature : __dJ£_~~
Name: D ', Ci\.V\0-. t-\B Wt:.i l
Address : \d.S &-leV' ~~&£ye {tur. L-G. qstl30
Contact Info: __ '--(..:__. 0_~_....::;:3_l_/c:; __ q_~_3_\:___ _____ _
Erin Walters
As sociate Planner
Town of Los Gatos Community Deve lopment Departm ent
1 10 E. M ain Street
Los Gatos, CA 95030
(40 8) 35 4 -6834
RECEIVED
APR 11 2016
tOWN OF LOS GATO S
PLANNING OIVIS tON
~-I '-1-~S(p
RE: Proposed N ew Resi de nc e-18151 Ove rlook Road
Dear Ms . Wal te rs :
1/we are residents of Los Gatos r es iding near the proposed new r esidence located a t
1 8 15 1 Overlook Road.
1/we have reviewed the archi te c tural si te p l an , fl oor plans, and eleva ti ons of the
proposed new residence in our ne ig hborhood .
Respectfully,
Signature :
N ame :
Address: _\~(j.-"-=-5_..c:::,(;{___:_'f~V\-1--f-'{y;-'--"' ~o\-:--r~"""'---¥-Av~r .. _L _, (,~... .. q 5V '3o
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~URBAN WEST
April5, 2016
Erin Wolters
Town of los Gatos -Planning Division
11 0 E. Mai n Street
los Gatos, CA 95030
RE : 18 151 Overlook-Privacy Screen ing
Erin ,
RECEIVED
APR ., '2 2016
T OWN OF LOS GAT O S
PLANNING DI VI S IO N
~-I~D'?b
Per conversations with the Kelly's, our neighbors directly behind us residing ot 9 Chestnut, we hove
developed the attached solution to address their concerns over privacy related to the proposed
construction of o new home on our property.
Please find attached the following :
1. Updated planting schedule showing the addition of ten mature (15-17' toll) podocorpus
grocilior plants along our fence line. As you con see from this document, we hove also moved
the replacement oak tree to occommodote this change.
2. A render ing of what this privacy screening will look like from the Kelly's perspective . I hired o
designer to place the trees into the photos Mrs. Kelly provided to us .
I hove reached out to the Kelly's via ema il showing them the end product. It is my sincere hope that
this meets their sati sfaction. If you need any more supporting materials please let me know.
Regards,
~~-
lance Tote
Managing Member, Urban West LLC
408 .399.4950 x2 llonce@urbanwest.com
II '
22 S. Sonia Cruz. Avenue. 2M Floor
'", I 'I Los Gatos, C A 95030
~ 408.399 .4950 offic e
ln!o@U!bonwest .com II www.urbonwe sl.c om
EXHlBtT 1 8
This Page
Intentionally
Left Blank
Rubber Tree Ties
(2 Per Tree)
s• Below First Branch
Backfill Mix· See Specs
-~~-'--·-·--------~
Puddle & Settle Backfill _
Before Planting Tree
Finish Grade ----
Roughen Sldea Of Rootball
To Cut Circling Roots · __
(8) Fertilizer Tablets Dlstrllluted
Around Rootball For Each 24• Box
Tree; (4) Tablets For E'<lch 15 gal. ·
Tree
2x Rootball
Diameter
'----·
1x4 Red_wood; AUach
To Stake With 2 Wood
Screwa -..:!:::_
Construct Watering
Basin
Top Of Rootball 2"
Above Flillsh Grade
r--------._, .. ~--------~ ~
Tree Staking
Construct Watering
Basin
ilackiili"Mfx
See Specs
Finish Grade
(3> Feitlllzer-talileiS-
Per 5 gal.; (2) Per
1 gal.
Top Of Rootbell
a• Above Fhdsh Grad&
.,_ __ lloullilen-sJCies-6f
Rootball io Cut
. Circling Roots
Rou91ien s1iles
Of Excavation
Note:
Indicates Existing Oak Already Removed
Per Permit #T-15-053;
Replace With (1) 36" Box Quercus agrifolia
(Coast Live Oak) Per Arborist's recommendation.
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OVERLOOK
_DRIVEWAY
Maintain 6" Distance From
Tree Trunk With Wood Chips-
Typical
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-ROAD
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Indicates Existing Trees To Remain
See Arborists Report "Arbor Resources"
David Babby Dated September 21, 2015
For Specifics
All Planting & Irrigation Installation Shall Be
Installed Per Note # 13, Page # 8 Of The Arborists
Report
/
Note:
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Contractor Shall Install A Fully Automatic
Drip Irrigation System For All Proposed
Planting Areas. No Over Head Irrigation
Will Be Allowed.
Plant Schedule:
Symbol Botanical Name Common Name Size Water Rating & Trees:
A
B
California Black Oak
Western Redbud
36" Box L
36" Box VL ' c & Shrubs:
1
Quercus kelloggii
Cercis occidentalis
Quercus agrifolia
Arctostaphylos d.'H.McMinn'
Westringia !.'Morning Light'
Rhododendron m.'Chinoides'
Polystichum munitum
Podocarpus gracilior
Coast Live Oak 36" Box VL
Manzanita 5 g.c. L
2
3
4 ~~ 5
Coast Rosemary 5 g.c. L
Rhododendron 5 g.c. M
Western Sword Fern 5g.c. M
Fern Pine 24" Box M
Premium Arbor Mulch
By Lyngso Or Equal
6"-8" Layer
Carex divulsa M
VL
Arctostaphylos 'Emerald Carpet
Dwarf Manzanita
Plant 1 g.c. @ 36" o.c. VL
Planting Notes:
Berkeley Sedge
Plant 1 g.c. @ 24" o.c.
Fragaria vesca M
Beach Strawberry
Plant From Flats @ 12" o.c.
1. Circles shown indicate approximate mature size of plant material.
2. Contractor shall be responsible for adequate erosion control measures during
construction.
3. No plant shall be planted in a drainage swale regardless of position on plan .
4. FINISH GRADING: Till all planter areas to an 8 inch depth. Break up or
remove all compacted lumps of soil, rocks larger than 1 inch in diameter,
and all deleterious material from planter areas. Finish grade all areas to a
smooth, even surface free of abrupt changes in grade. Make minor grading
changes as required to insure positive drainage(1% minimum).
Slopes 3:1 gradient or greater need not be tilled.
5. No plant shall be installed until a fully automatic drip irrigation system,
covering all planter areas, is installed, tested and is fully operational.
6. PLANTING OF TREES & SHRUBS : Unless otherwise noted,
All trees shall be planted per detail : 1
All shrubs shall be planted per detail: 2
All planter pits shall receive the following back fill mix:
1. 50% soil of the site
2. 30% nitrogen stabilized redwood shavings
3. 20% Nitrohumus or Gro-power or equal
Acid loving plants shall receive peat moss
4. Fertilizer tablets (Agriform 21 gram: 20-1 0-5) or equal,
applied per manufacturer's recommendations.
7 Contractor shall guarantee all shrubs, vines & ground covers
to live and grow in an acceptable condition for a period of 90
(ninety) days from the date of installation completion.
All trees 24" box or larger and field grown specimen trees shall be similarly
guaranteed for a period of 1 (one) year from date of installation.
8. Upon completion of planting operations, contractor shall apply an approved
pre-emergent herbicide (Ronstar or equal) as weed control per manufacturer's
specifications. In addition, a min. 3" inch layer of approved mulch shall be
installed over the finish grade of all planter areas.
9. MAINTENANCE PERIOD: Contractor shall maintain the site for a period of
90 calendar days after acceptance by owner. Maintenance shall include
weeding of all shrub and ground cover areas removal of all trash and debris from
planter areas and hardscape areas; pruning and trimming of all plant materials
required; replacement of all dead or dying plant material & 2 applications of
fertilizer.
1" = 1 0' -0"
Quantity
1
1
1
5
7
3
6
10
.THOMAS SCHERER
.. ASSOCIATES
Landscape Arcftilecture
·"P.O. Bax 68, Aptos, CA 95001
Tel (831} 688'8913
Fax (831) 688-3135
sheer titll'
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Planting
-Plan
Details
& Notes
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of 1
From: Lance Tate [mailto:lance@urbanwest.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2016 8:36 AM
To: Rita Kelly; David.M .Kelly@kla-tencor.com
Cc: Erin M. Walters; Nicole King; Kelly Mozumder
Subject: Overlook -Privacy Screening and Planting Schedule
Good morning Rita and David,
RECEIVED
APR I? 2016
TOW N O F LO S G ATOS
PLAI\INING Dl\flSlOi\l
Below is a link to an updated planting schedule showing the addition often, mature, 15'-17'
podacarpus gracilior trees (they can grow up to 25'). Additionally, we had a rendering done
showing the privacy the addition of these trees will provide. If you have any questions please let
me know.
https ://fortbay .box.com/s/ssumwu98rkpgg5x696vwo6rpjxnkucxs
Regards,
Lance Tate II managing member
URBAN WEST L L C
408 .399 .4950 x2 II 408.399.4960 fx II 858.401.9810 mobile
urbanwest.com II @lancetate II linkedin.com/in/lancetate
EXHIBlT 1 9
From: Lance Tate [mailto:lance@urbanwest.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2016 8:50AM
To: kay thompson
Cc: Kelly Mozumder; Nicole King; Erin M. Walters
Subject: 18151 Overlook, Los Gatos
Kay,
RECEIVED
APR 1 / 2016
~ "'l t+ -t::> S"' f0\11/r..J OF LOS GA-r .,_,
PU.I'-'N'N" I OS ' " ... u Dl'JJSiatJ
I hope this email finds you doing well. I just received your opposition letter regarding our
project and while I wish it was a letter of support, I understand your concerns. I want to thank
you for giving us the opportunity to meet with you prior to bringing your concerns to
planning. As I said the day we met, I wish there was a solution that would address your concerns
as well as our ability to build a sellable home. Unfortunately, we have not found that solution.
The purpose of this email is to reiterate a promise I made to you when we met. In the event that
our project passes in its current form, I will do everything in my power to alleviate the perceived
impact of our new home on your property. I would like you to be as involved or hands off in that
process as you would like but I want you to be happy with the final product. As I shared with
you and your daughter, I am a born and bred local and as such, the satisfaction of my fellow Los
Gatos residents is important to me. I hope I get the opportunity to show you how easy and
collaborative my team can be when it comes to a new build project.
Again, thank you for the opportunity to address your concerns early in the process. Enjoy your
week.
Regards,
Lance Tate II managing member
URBAN WEST LLC
408.399.4950 x2 //408.399.4960 fx II 858.401.9810 mobile
urbanwest.com II @lancetate //linkedin.com/in/lancetate
Eri n M. W a lte rs
Fro m:
Sent:
To :
Cc:
Subject:
Kelly, Davi d M <Davi d.M.Ke ll y@k la-tencor.co m >
Tue sday, April 12, 2016 3:40 PM
Lan ce Tat e; Ri t a Kell y
Er in M. Walters; Nicole King; Ke ll y M ozumder
RE: Overlook -Priv ac y Scree n in g and Pla nting Sche dule
RECEiVED
APR 11 2016
TOVVN OF LOS GATO S
PLANNING DIVISION
Thank you for making th e sin cere effort to address the privacy issue presented by the submitted building plan .
The only acceptable remedy would have to include that the top of the windows fa cing o ur property be no higher than
that of the top of the sliding door on the ex isting structure. Thi s remedy is the only re medy that ha s a very h igh
probability of being sustained following the sale of this property by Urban West . Other remedies such as, but not
limited to, frost i ng of the windows and/or tall trees are too easily altered by the subsequent owner(s). And we have
noted several instances over the 13 years that we have lived in this ne ighbo r hood of trees being removed and homes
being modified w ithout our inte re sts being sought as a part of those decisions. And those changes in most instances
were done with the permission of the town.
So any remedy short of p hysica ll y li miting the height of the windows facing ou r property, in a very practic al sense , is not
in the control of anyone on th is email once the sale of the property has been exec uted by Urban West . That inc ludes
Urban West, the town of Los Gatos or us .
Only 3 years ago we went through a major remodel of our home u sing the same ar chitect as Urban West ha s used . We
were advi sed and then re stricted from having the remode l of our home significantly depart from the existing exte ri or
features . So mo st of the remod el was centered around opening the back of the home up to the ya r d using glass French
doors and add ing a porch to take advantage of the privacy offered from that side of our property. The design of the
submitted bui lding plan by Urban West remove s much of the benefit we sought and obta ined from our remodel.
Regard s,
Dav id Ke l ly
9 Chestnut Avenue
Los Gatos, CA 95030
From: Lance Tate [m ailto:l an ce@ urbanwest .co m]
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2016 8 :36AM
To : Rita Kelly <r it ake ll y 1@c omcast .ne t >; Kelly, David M <David .M .Ke lly@kla -ten cor.com>
Cc : Erin M. Walters <ewa lters@ losgatosca.gov>; Nicole Ki ng <nico l e@ ur banwest.com>; Kelly Mozumder
<ke l ly@ urbanwest.com>
Subject: Overlook -Priva cy Sc r eening and Planting Schedule
Good morning R ita and David,
1
Below is a link to an updated planting schedule showing the addition of ten , mature, 15'-17' podacarpus
gracilior trees (they can grow up to 25'). Additionally, we had a rendering done showing the privacy the
addition of these trees will provide. If you have any questions please let me know.
https ://fortbay.box .com/s/ssumwu98rkpgq5x696vwo6rpj x nkucxs
Regards,
Lance Tate II managing member
URBAN WE ST LLC
408.399.4950 x2 II 408.399.4960 fx II 858.401.9810 mobile
urbanwest.com II @ lancetate II linkedin .com/inllancetate
2
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016
Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road
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A P P E A R A N C E S:
Los Gatos Planning
Commissioners:
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 3
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016
Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road
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P R O C E E D I N G S:
VICE CHAIR KANE: We’ll now consider Agenda Item
4, 18151 Overlook Road. It’s Architecture and Site
Application S-14-056, requesting approval to demolish an
existing single-family residence, to construct a new
single-family residence, and to obtain a grading permit on
property zoned R-1:8. This is APN 510-40-146. The property
owner is Ronald Tate. The Applicant is Urban West, LLC,
Nicole King.
The project planner is Erin Walters, and Ms.
Walters, will you present the case?
ERIN WALTERS: Yes, good evening. The Applicant
proposes to demolish an existing two-story house and
construct a 2,300 square foot, two-story residence. The
project also includes an 800 square foot cellar and a one-
car garage.
The proposed contemporary Craftsman-style
residence has a maximum height of 28’3”. Proposed materials
include wood shingles, stone veneer, and a composite roof.
The color and materials board is located behind the
Commissioners. The project meets all technical
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016
Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road
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requirements, including parking, setback height, floor area
and building coverage.
This application is being forwarded to the
Planning Commission because of neighborhood concerns
regarding parking, mass, height, privacy and neighborhood
compatibility that could not be resolved. The Applicant has
worked with the adjacent neighbors during the past two
years to try to address the concerns. I will bring up each
concern.
One is parking. Neighbors have expressed there is
not adequate parking onsite. The project does meet Town
Code requirements for two dedicated off-street spaces; in
this case it’s one covered space and one surface space.
With respect to mass, the properties located to
the east and north are at a lower elevation than the
proposed subject site. Neighbors have concern that the mass
of the home is not compatible with the neighborhood. The
proposed residence will not be the largest home in the
immediate neighborhood with respect to square feet or floor
area. In order to reduce the mass of the house, the second
story is set back approximate 25’ from the first story
front elevation.
With respect to height, the neighbors have
expressed concern that the house is too tall for the
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016
Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road
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neighborhood. The proposed height is approximately 4’
taller than the existing two-story structure onsite.
With respect to privacy, the right side and rear
neighbors have expressed concerns. The rear neighbor has
provided photos showing how the proposed two-story
elevation in the rear can be seen from their rear patio.
The Applicant has worked with the rear neighbor and has
proposed looking at implementing additional plant
vegetation that’s included in your Desk Item tonight, and
there is a diagram here that shows how that would look with
a photo simulation. The Applicant has also looked at window
layout for the side elevations and manipulated that, so
that it would provide the most privacy to both the side
neighbors. With respect to height and mass with the two-
story, the neighbors still have concerns regarding
neighborhood compatibility.
Staff can take any questions.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Before the
questions—I did it again—may I see a show of hands of the
Commissioners who have visited the property site? Are there
any disclosures? Questions for Ms. Walters? Commissioner
Burch.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: What specifically were the
neighbors’ issues for parking?
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016
Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road
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ERIN WALTERS: Two neighbors have expressed
concerns that because the proposed project has a one-car
garage that that wouldn’t be adequate parking for the site.
Town Code doesn’t require covered parking; they only
require two dedicated parking spaces, which this project
provides.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: Then their concern was that
parking would overflow onto the street?
ERIN WALTERS: That’s correct.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: Oh, okay. Then just one
other question. You said that the Applicant had addressed
some of the privacy concerns with some proposed trees and
with some mitigation on the windows. Have those been
reviewed by the neighbors, based on your knowledge?
ERIN WALTERS: The neighbors have reviewed the
proposed plans as you have seen it. The neighbors have
reviewed the side elevations and locations of windows, but
they still have concerns with respect to privacy, height
and mass. The rear neighbors have reviewed the proposed
vegetative proposal, as well as met and discussed the
reason why the rear egress window is placed where it is on
the second floor due to the bedroom, and they feel that
that is inadequate to meet their concerns.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: Okay, thank you.
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/13/2016
Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road
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VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Hanssen.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I had a couple of
questions; thank you.
The one-car garage kind of caught my attention,
and a couple of the residents flagged that as a concern. I
noted that the architect’s report found it does look better
from a front curb appeal perspective. The architect didn’t
use those words, but it looked nicer.
I did also wonder about even though they can meet
the parking requirement by having uncovered parking, is
that typical to have a five-bedroom, four-bath house with a
one-car garage? That just seems odd to me. Is there
precedent for that in the neighborhood?
ERIN WALTERS: There aren’t single-car garages in
the neighborhood. As you see, the existing structure that’s
there has a two-car garage that’s right in front of the
existing home, and that’s actually not encouraged by our
current Residential Guidelines, so as you say, the
consulting architect did comment that he felt that it
provided a better front elevation. Our code doesn’t speak
to requiring covered parking, so it can be accomplished
through surface parking.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: But you’re saying in terms
of neighborhood compatibility, there are other houses in
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Item #4, 18151 Overlook Road
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the neighborhood that are of similar size and scale that
have a one-car garage?
ERIN WALTERS: There is not another single-car
garage in the neighborhood.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: That’s what I thought,
looking at the neighborhood analysis, that most of the
other garages were 400-500 square feet, and this was 244,
so it seemed like it would be different.
There were a couple of other things I wanted to
ask. One was about a couple of neighbors mentioned
something about fencing, and I couldn’t see that in the
drawings, that they wished that there wasn’t any fencing
and that there isn’t any in the neighborhood. Do you know
what the status is on that? I didn’t know if that was a
valid…
ERIN WALTERS: I believe it was for the front
yard, and Staff was able to speak with the neighbor and
discuss what the proposal was. There isn’t any proposed
fencing that would prohibit someone from parking along the
side of Overlook.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I thought their concerns
were more about privacy, like a fence in between the houses
or something.
ERIN WALTERS: Oh, I’m sorry.
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COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: It may or may not be
valid, but you don’t remember there being a fence, that
that was the only house that had a fence between the houses
or something?
ERIN WALTERS: Mmm-mmm.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Okay. Then the last thing,
there was a question about the request for a Grading
Permit. I didn’t see anything in terms of Grading Permit
criteria in our findings, so maybe if you can explain.
ERIN WALTERS: Let me check on that right now.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: And that was my last
question.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Other questions of Staff?
Seeing none, thank you very much.
I’ll now open the public portion of the hearing
and give the Applicant an opportunity to address the
Commission for up to ten minutes. I’m not sure who will be
speaking, but I’m about to find out.
LANCE TATE: Good evening, Commissioners. My name
is Lance Tate. Nicole King was supposed to be speaking
tonight, but she actually gave birth to her first child
this morning at 2:00am, so sorry, it’s me.
I represent Urban West. We’re actually a family-
owned Los Gatos-based realty company located at 22 South
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Santa Cruz Avenue in Los Gatos. I will jump right into the
details, because Erin did such a good job of describing the
project in general.
This is the existing home as it stands right now.
As you can see, the two-car garage up front dominates it.
This is the home that we’re proposing. It’s a
Craftsman-style home. As I told my architect on the way in—
I’m a real estate developer professionally—this is probably
the most widely accepted architectural style that we found.
Basic facts here. The home is 2,326 square feet
above grade, with an 819 square foot cellar. The proposed
site plan, and our proposed floor plan.
I’ll jump right into the neighborhood concerns.
As Erin said, the primary concerns are parking,
neighborhood compatibility and privacy.
Briefly, these are a few finished homes that
we’ve done under the Urban West brand in Los Altos and
Mountain View; just to give you a feel for the architecture
in reality. I know the rendering sometimes doesn’t look as
real as what we paid for.
I want to speak first to the character of the
neighborhood. As you saw in the report, the contributing
architect, Larry Cannon, actually felt that the property
and the project as proposed are compatible with the
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existing neighborhood. One of the things you’ll see from
this drawing is that we are at a higher grade than our
neighbors, especially our neighbor to the right, which is
Kay Thompson, who I don’t believe is here tonight. So we
are somewhat at a disadvantage just by a condition that we
didn’t create and the fact that there is a change in
elevation on Overlook as you move up the hill in our
direction.
Here are photos of surrounding homes.
The first thing we did to make sure that we were
more compliant with the neighborhood is we are adhering to
all of the design suggestions that Larry Cannon made for
us, most prominently the columns. We’ve gone from a
concrete fiberboard shingle to a real wood shingle.
Additionally, we have changed the materials on the house so
that it is all shingle.
One concern that was brought up was the height of
the house. One of the concerns that were brought to my
attention is that the elevation, our final finished grade,
is actually moved up a foot. There’s a reason for that, and
I brought my civil engineer with me this evening. If we get
to questions we can broach that, but the broad strokes of
it is that we raised the elevation of the house to protect
three mature trees that exist on the property, the most
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prominent being the one directly behind the structure
proposed and the existing structure.
This project as planned, as proposed, actually in
our opinion improves the privacy as the project sits today.
There’s a large balcony on the second story of the existing
structure that sits off of the living room; it’s a reverse
floor plan and the living room is upstairs. In our proposed
plan we’ll actually be moving the living space down to the
second story and eliminating the large deck right now.
In a conversation with Ms. Thompson at her house,
she mentioned the fact that on numerous occasions she’s
seen her neighbors standing on that porch outside looking
into her back yard. The main room that will be on the top
floor with our new proposed structure will be the master
bedroom. I don't know about you guys, but I have my windows
drawn in my master bedroom at all time. I like to keep that
as private as possible.
In our opinion the elimination of the deck and
moving the main living floor to the first floor and making
the master on the second floor is an improvement in
privacy.
We’ve also eliminated a significant number of
windows along the right side of the property where Ms.
Thomason lives, and we’ve also moved the property back one
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foot from the existing footprint of the second story. In a
lot of ways I feel like just proposing what we are, that
we’ve improved the privacy for Ms. Thompson.
The second issue is the privacy for the Kellys.
Seeing the story poles up, they have a very significant
concern, and we made it our major priority to address that
as soon as we could. What we’re proposing is ten 15-17’
tall Podocarpus gracilior. I don't know what the layman’s
term is for that. We actually are purchasing them from
another partnership, we purchased these for screening on
another site, so we will be bringing actual 17’ tall trees
to the site, and they’re 17’ today. By the time we actually
bring these out, they can grow up to 20-25’, so we’ll be
bringing out fully mature trees.
I just wanted to give you a comparison here. The
picture on the left is the picture that the Kelly’s took
showing the height of the proposed structure with the story
poles, and as you can see in the second picture, the 17’
trees would provide a significant amount of coverage and a
significant amount of privacy. This is just another view.
And this is the planting plan showing where we
will be replacing the trees.
To come back to the character of the
neighborhood, again, Mr. Cannon, the contributing
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architect, feels that the proposed home is compatible with
the neighborhood in design, massing and style. His
recommendation (inaudible) located in an established
neighborhood, the mix of single-family homes and multi-
family housing complexes, all one- and two-story heights.
Like was said, we’re replacing a two-story home
with another two-story home. It is 4’ taller than the
existing structure, but it is a two-story home, and the
Craftsman style I do feel fits well with the existing
neighborhood.
The other thing is we took a lot of design
considerations in planning this home to be considerate of
the neighbors and surrounding privacy and compatibility.
One of those things is roof pitch. There are other two-
story homes, and the window placement has been carefully
designed to not be invasive in the neighbors’ properties.
I have to reiterate, we are compliant with all of
the Town’s technical guidelines. Thank you.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Questions?
Commissioner Hudes.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: One of the suggestions
(inaudible) brought it up here is the frosted glass. “Staff
suggested the Applicant consider using obscure glass in the
second story rear elevation windows. Applicant will use for
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the bathroom window, but would like to keep the master
bedroom egress window clear.” So is it just one window that
the Applicant will agree to…
LANCE TATE: Correct. If you’re looking at the
rear elevation, it’s a smaller window.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: What is the thinking for not
wanting to agree to frosted windows in the bedroom?
LANCE TATE: Well, for your master bedroom, you’d
like to look down in your yard, if you’re upstairs, to
watch the kids.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: You would say it’s not
normal to…
LANCE TATE: No. No, it’s not normal to frost a
window like that.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Other questions? I have one for
Mr. Tate.
I thought I heard you say that the house was 4’
taller than it presently is in order to save the trees. Did
you combine those two statements?
LANCE TATE: If I did, it wasn’t intentionally.
VICE CHAIR KANE: So why is the house 4’ taller
than it currently is?
LANCE TATE: The house in its existing form was
built in the late-sixties. I mean it’s low plate heights; I
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think they’re 8’ on both the first and second story. What
we’re proposing is a 9’6” plate on the first story, and an
8’6” plate on the second story.
VICE CHAIR KANE: That puts it taller than the
others…
LANCE TATE: Correct.
VICE CHAIR KANE: …because the others were
historical?
LANCE TATE: Well, the existing house is just… I
mean that was just how they built houses when it was built.
VICE CHAIR KANE: I think you’ll hear something
about neighborhood compatibility on that. It’s certainly
reflective in a couple of the letters.
Some of the Commissioners have talked about
parking, and a five-bedroom house means a lot of people,
and you’ve got a one-car garage. Some of the letters we got
from the citizens talks about turning the place into a
parking lot. Can you address their concerns and mitigate
them in any way?
LANCE TATE: Well, I mean quite honestly I think
not having the second garage bay is actually going to
ensure that there is parking in the proposed parking
structure. I don't know about you guys, but my garage is
storage for my wife. I haven’t parked in any of the garages
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that I’ve lived at, so I really do believe that having that
second uncovered spot is going to ensure that the car is
parked where a garage would be under normal circumstances,
and I’d go as far as saying that the one-car structure
might actually be more likely to be used as a parking space
as opposed to storage, because of the size and limits.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Because they’re going to need
it.
LANCE TATE: Exactly.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Questions? Seeing
none, thank you very much.
I’ll now invite comments from members of the
public. Anyone who wishes to speak, please turn in a card
if you haven’t already. I have one from Chris Spaulding.
You’re the architect, in case we have questions. David
Kelly.
DAVID KELLY: I’m David Kelly, 9 Chestnut Avenue;
I have a house behind where this house is being
constructed.
Our concern is a privacy concern. Unlike the
previous thing on the agenda—that whole community didn’t
want a neighbor—we would like to have a neighbor and a new
house behind us.
First, I’ve got one score to report.
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VICE CHAIR KANE: No! Which way are you voting,
because I’m going the other way?
DAVID KELLY: Los Gatos High School played
Saratoga High School in volleyball. Our son is on the
volleyball team, so we missed the match to be here, just so
you know, but they beat them, which is really good.
Saratoga has the best striker in the state, this guy named
Joel, he’s a really good striker, and Los Gatos High School
won the game.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. This is killing your
time, but go ahead.
DAVID KELLY: That’s okay. The one thing I wanted
to point out is that we have had discussions; there has
been a rapport between us to try to work through a remedy.
Our concern is mostly what the window height is.
My wife is going to talk about that when you call her up.
But the window height itself is higher than where the
sliding glass door was on the back of the house that’s
behind us today, and that makes it so that they can
actually peer right in through the back of our home, right
into the living room, and my wife will talk about that too.
When we did our remodel three years ago, we
actually did the same thing, complied with everything; we
did a major remodel to our house. We had the same
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architect, Chris Spaulding, who was our architect also. The
way we set it up is we had to work ours such that it stayed
consistent with the existing structure size, and then we
set it up so we could take advantage of the backyard
privacy we had, so we opened up the back of the house. Now
with this thing, the way it’s set up and the way the window
is, it peers directly into the back of our house, because
we have French doors and the whole bit.
For us, there’s going to be a new owner for the
house. They’re going to build it, they’re going to sell it,
and then we’ll lose control of any configuration that is
put there that’s temporary, frosted windows, vegetation, so
we think the only remedy that is possible is to keep the
height of the window down to the same level that the top of
the sliding glass door was for the existing structure, and
something like that we think is a proper remedy. It’s the
same level of privacy we have today, and it should support
what they need in terms of the home that they’re building
now at that location.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you.
DAVID KELLY: Want to see the pictures? Even
though the house is only 4’ higher, which I don’t have a
problem with how high the house is, this piece of plywood
and another one behind this over here, this is where the…
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VICE CHAIR KANE: Well, time is up. Thanks to the
volleyball score, but let me see if we have a question.
Commissioner Hudes.
DAVID KELLY: Sorry about that.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: I have a question. I know
that some of the objections were neighborhood
compatibility, mass and scale, and height and privacy.
DAVID KELLY: Right.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Do you have concerns with
the first two?
DAVID KELLY: Just privacy.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Just privacy. Okay, thank
you.
DAVID KELLY: Privacy is our concern.
VICE CHAIR KANE: You seemed to have approached
this in an affable manner; you have a dialogue going the
folks.
DAVID KELLY: Yes, we do.
VICE CHAIR KANE: What have they said about what
sounds like serious concerns you have with the window?
DAVID KELLY: Most of their remedies that they
proposed have been ones that I consider are temporary. The
vegetation they’ve offered, and the frosting of the
windows, both of those I feel the next owner can actually
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change at will. We’ve had a lot of remodels done around our
house and our property, and we’ve watched all kinds of
things get changed without our involvement and without our
consideration.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Question to Staff:
How much of that could be conditioned as a Condition of
Approval?
JOEL PAULSON: You can condition any of that as a
Condition of Approval, but once the project is finished
those Conditions of Approval are no longer valid, so I
believe that’s what Mr. Kelly is speaking to.
DAVID KELLY: That’s what our concern is, yes.
JOEL PAULSON: We have had some cases where we do
go back. Frosted glass, particularly, we’ve had a couple of
instances of that where new owners have changed it out and
we have compelled them to put it back in.
VICE CHAIR KANE: So we can? If we chose to do
that, we can do it?
JOEL PAULSON: You can do it, but I’m telling
you…
VICE CHAIR KANE: If they take it out, we can ask
them to put it back in.
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JOEL PAULSON: You can, if something is brought
to our attention. Changing out a window only requires a
Building Permit.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Staff could bring that to your
attention.
JOEL PAULSON: Mr. Kelly, I’m sure, would bring
it to my attention.
VICE CHAIR KANE: I’m sure. Other questions for
the speaker? Thank you, sir.
DAVID KELLY: You’re welcome. Thank you.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Now for something entirely
different, Rita Kelly.
RITA KELLY: Hi, I’m Rita Kelly and I’ve lived in
our home for 13 years. I love it, and I love my neighbors.
If I get a little upset, I’m sorry, but I’m very distressed
by this whole planned project.
Then sitting on my porch, and you can see the
plywood up there is the window.
I think that Los Gatos represents itself as a
town that wants to maintain its character and puts rules in
place for the things that we do in terms of changing our
homes an property, however, I think sometimes there are
limits that do not accurately protect the neighborhood
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character and the people living there, and this is the case
with this remodel on Overlook.
The proposed plans create a structure that’s too
tall for the neighborhood and negatively impacts the homes
around it; especially mine, as you can see from the photos.
In the proposed plans the 4’ actually look like a
completely additional level; it’s huge. You’re welcome to
come up to my house and look from the perspective of
sitting on my couch and around my porch.
It also will let the new owners, whom we don’t
know, since this is being built to flip, to look right into
our back yard, our guest cottage, and my family room. When
the story poles went up, I looked up from my sofa where I
was sitting and the guys were looking right at me. It was
very distressing. So although there are a lot of privacy
plans that they are proposing, none of them are permanent
solutions that I can control, so I’m forever being affected
by what they do to this house.
I’m also really upset because there wasn’t any
consideration for my family or me when the plans were
developed, and I even know Chris the architect, because he
did our house two years ago. There’s no reason in my mind
that the remodel had to create additional height. I’m sure
it would have been very possible to make a beautiful home
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that Urban West could flip at the existing height of the
structure. In fact, I would have been happy to let Chris
and Urban West come into my home, from my point of view
before they made the plans, so that we could come up with
something that’s mutually agreeable, because as my husband
David said, we would like to see a new house be built so
that we’d have more neighbors.
In addition, there were several trees removed
after a flurry of digging took place in the back yard of
our property, which I still don’t understand, especially
since we have a half-dead tree in the back of my property
that I’m not allowed to take out until I pay another
independent arborist to authorize that I should.
It seems to me that allowing this house to be
built at the proposed height sets a bad precedent that over
time will change the character and feel of our neighborhood
as the homes change owners. We will have more giant homes,
creating an atmosphere much like San Jose, and I don’t
think we should let that happen.
It is especially disappointing that someone
that’s not even going to live in the house is imposing it
on us. They’re merely making a remodel to cash in on the
appeal of our neighborhood.
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VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Questions for the
speaker? Commissioner O'Donnell.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Let me focus for a
second on that height of that back window. Your husband was
saying he would like that window lowered to the height of
the previous window. Do you agree with that?
RITA KELLY: I don’t want the house that tall. I
think it’s too big.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: So moving the window is
not what you’re concerned with, it’s lowering the height?
RITA KELLY: I mean if there was some way to make
it so that the window wasn’t peering directly into my yard,
that might be acceptable, but I just think the house is too
big; it’s too tall.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: That’s what I’m trying
to separate. You’re saying even if they could do something
with the window, and let’s not speculate what that is, that
would not satisfy you in the sense that you think it’s too
tall, too high?
RITA KELLY: It seems like it’s…it moved back,
it’s bigger, it’s more massive in terms of intrusion in our
yard.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Okay, thank you.
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VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Other questions for
the speaker? Thank you. Kim Roper.
KIM ROPER: My name is Kim Roper; I am the
Kelly’s neighbor at 9 Chestnut Avenue.
I’ve been in the Kelly’s house. This picture
doesn’t really do it justice at all. I would suggest you
take her up on her offer to just walk into her house. You
start walking into the house; right at the kitchen you just
see this window. It would break my heart if I had someone
like that over in my yard. It’s a private area, and this
just changes the whole neighborhood, so I’m here to support
her.
We touch corners, our property, and I have to go
into my yard to see. Before, I never used to be able to see
the house, but they did a lot of digging and equipment
early on when they got the property. That has changed; I’ve
been able to see it, but I don’t see it as much as they do.
I really suggest you go and look from her house.
That picture doesn’t do it justice. Thank you.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. You’re the second
person who has made mention of the digging and the
commotion and the tree removal. What was that all about?
KIM ROPER: I don't know when the house sold, but
all of a sudden…but we heard all this digging for a couple
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of weeks, and power equipment in the back. We took a walk
along to the front of the house, and we didn’t know what
was going on. My husband asked some of the workers and they
were very… I don't know if they didn’t speak English or
whatever, but we tried to find out what was happening,
because it was going on for a while. I don't know how long
ago that was, at least a year ago, if not more. I think
it’s longer.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Other questions for
the speaker? Thank you very much. One question,
Commissioner O’Donnell.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: On that work, did trees
come down that you could see during that work?
KIM ROPER: I didn’t see it physically come down,
but I know I can see more of the house today from my yard
than I used to be able to see before all that noise was
going on.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: And is it your opinion
that’s because some of the tree foliage or the trees are
not there?
KIM ROPER: That’s probably what happened.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Thank you.
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VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. I’ll close the
public portion of the hearing. The Applicant has five
minutes for rebuttal and to explain the tree mystery.
LANCE TATE: The tree was actually damaged
during… When we acquired the property the back of the
property was pretty overgrown, and during some maintenance
of that we did injure the tree roots in the back yard and
went through the proper permitting process to remove the
injured tree. That explains that.
I did want to touch on two other problems.
I do actually have what I feel would be a
permanent solution, by putting the foliage coverage in the
control of the Kelly’s. I would be willing to plant the
trees on their property, and get some sort of estimate from
a landscaper of their choice or our choice of what the cost
would be of maintenance for the next ten years, and escrow
that cost for the Kellys. So then they would be in control
of the trees in perpetuity. One solution.
The other, the frosted window, I can’t speak to
that. I personally wouldn’t go through the hassle and
expense of removing a frosted window to put in a clear one,
especially in an area such as my bathroom, but again, we
don’t have control of that.
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But I do think it might be a stretch to assume
someone would cut down ten 17-foot tall, probably 20-foot
tall, mature trees. One of the reasons that we did this in
full disclosure is when we saw the impact in their yard, it
wasn’t just the impact that the house was going to have on
their yard, but I also want to provide privacy for the
eventual owner of our property, so the planting of the
trees serve two purposes, but I’d be more than willing to
plant them on the Kelly’s property and absorb the burden of
maintenance for those trees for the next ten years.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Commissioner Hudes.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Did you discuss or consider
the possibility of lowering the window in the bedroom by
4’, or whatever the difference is from the height of the
previous sliding door? I don't know what that number is,
actually.
LANCE TATE: I think we discussed it briefly. I
was under the impression that we wouldn’t meet the… Well,
it would be on the floor, essentially, wouldn’t it? Yeah.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Are we done, Commissioner?
COMMISSIONER HUDES: So you’re saying it’s not
feasible to lower the height of that window?
LANCE TATE: Correct. It would be a very odd
looking window inside the house.
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COMMISSIONER HUDES: How tall is that window?
LANCE TATE: Chris, do you know?
CHRIS SPAULDING: Chris Spaulding, architect.
That window, the head height, the top of the window, is
7.5’ off the floor and it’s a 5’ tall window, so it’s about
a 2’ sill.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Would it be possible to do a
shorter than 5’ window there?
CHRIS SPAULDING: Yeah, but that would just bring
it down to… If you had a regular 6’8” head, that would
bring the top down 10”, but it wouldn’t change your eye
level. To effect the view out the window, the top of the
window would have to come all the way down about 4’ off the
floor, which would look odd on the outside and would look
ridiculous on the inside. You can’t have a window that
starts at 4’ and goes to the floor.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Just asking if you
considered options to do that?
CHRIS SPAULDING: It’s not a practical solution.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Burch.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: I have a couple of
questions; one is a clarification.
I understand that window is the code-required
fire escape, correct?
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CHRIS SPAULDING: Yeah, we need an egress window,
and we could always put it on the side of the house, but
that would create an impact on the Thompsons that we can’t
mitigate, because it’s only 10’ from the property line,
whereas towards the back we have like 50’ or 60’ that we
can do planting.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: Well, okay. So in my attempt
at finding a compromise here, can you guys turn to sheet A-
5? The top, left diagram shows the… It’s kind of hard to
see on mine even with my glasses, but by adding the cellar
it looks like we’re raising the floor plan of the house
from grade 2’. Is that floor plan the…
CHRIS SPAULDING: The finished floor…
COMMISSIONER BURCH: Yeah.
CHRIS SPAULDING: …was raised 1’ from the
existing house.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: From the existing.
CHRIS SPAULDING: And that was a function of
getting the drainage to work, and there are three trees
that we’re trying to protect that can’t have any cut within
that 5’ diameter tree protection zone.
The civil engineer is here; Amanda can speak to
this. To have the finished grades around the house drain
properly and save those trees, that was the lowest finished
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floor that we could do. It had nothing to do with the
basement.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: Okay. So then my last
question is also in taking a look at this diagram I was
trying to think about how we could mitigate that impact on
the back neighbor. You have an extremely long
car/garage/porch into a mudroom, and if I laid my
dimensions out right, your mudroom is 5’ deep. So I’m
curious if you would consider sliding the second floor
forward perhaps 3.5’? It would take you to a little bit
over a half of the mudroom. You would still have
articulation on the front of the house from the first to
the second floor, but you would be bringing in the back of
the house, therefore essentially just by looking at angle
of sight, bringing that window height down somewhat? You
see what I’m saying?
So if you take the second floor plate, slide it
forward over the mudroom, maybe leave 18” for some roof
articulation between the first and second floor on that
front plane, you’d bring in that second floor plate, like I
said, with just angle of sight. It brings the impact of
that window down, and then perhaps that with some
vegetation.
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I’m not going to speak for the neighbors; I’m
just trying to throw out some compromises that maybe would
start a dialogue between you guys. I’m not going to ask to
solve that right now. I’m going to ask if you would
consider that to be something perhaps you take back to your
neighbors and review with them, including bringing the
overall size of the windows down a bit? Again, I’m not
asking you to answer, because you can’t answer for your
neighbors, so even if you say yeah you’ll do it, I don't
know if it solves their problem.
LANCE TATE: They’re here. You can ask.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: I don't know if the Chair is
going to let us do that sort of dialogue, but Chris has
certainly been here in front of us plenty of times to know
I like to find compromises, so perhaps that’s a dialogue
that you could open up with them, and I’m sorry I’m taking
all the other Commissioner’s time, so I’ll let them go
ahead.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Commission Erekson.
COMMISSIONER EREKSON: I was just going to ask
Mr. Spaulding a question, but it’s kind of moot. I’ve seen
him perform lots of times in a very positive way. Well, we
have a unique circumstance where you did the redesign of
the Kelly’s home, so you have high familiarity with the
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problem that’s trying to be solved, because you worked at
both places, do I’m assuming that you exhausted all of the
design options to solve the problem. That’s a vote of
confidence in you, but are there other ways that you could
imagine? You don’t have to identify them. You understand
what I’m asking? You have high familiarity with both
situations, and you didn’t find out about the problem
tonight, so I assume you explored other solutions, and if
you have and there aren’t any, then there may or may not be
any reason to continue the item, chasing what would be an
elusive solution.
CHRIS SPAULDING: I could certainly do a redesign
where I push the building mass of the second story towards
Overlook more, which would help, but it would certainly not
completely mitigate the problem. It would help the problem,
but not make it entirely go away. That’s why I agree with
Lance that the best way to make it go away would be
landscape screening, and if the Kellys are worried about
that going away, then we can put it into their control. It
seems like a fairly reasonable solution.
COMMISSIONER EREKSON: That’s fair, yeah. You
understand what I was asking you, if there are design
solutions, and you’re telling me likely not.
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CHRIS SPAULDING: That would completely eliminate
it, no.
COMMISSIONER EREKSON: Right.
CHRIS SPAULDING: Or that would force it onto the
other neighbor, yeah.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner O'Donnell.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: There’s an old saying,
which is, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” If it
turns out you don’t get this approved, you may go back to
the drawing board and see if there is invention.
We’re talking about four things, one of which is
the elevation of the floor, which is 2’ higher.
CHRIS SPAULDING: One foot.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Well, ultimately it’s
possibly 2’, I think. You’ve told us good reasons why it is
that; one is drainage, two are roots. You also talked about
the heights of the floors. What’s the ceiling height of the
first floor?
CHRIS SPAULDING: 9’6”.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: And what’s the height of
the second floor?
CHRIS SPAULDING: 8’6”.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: So we know, for example,
that if push came to shove, they don’t have to be that. I
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was just trying to get areas that can change the height of
the building. Kendra talked about sliding the part forward
and you said that’s possible, you’d have to look at that.
Then going to the size of the window, what is the
size required by the code for the exit window?
CHRIS SPAULDING: It’s 5.7 square feet clear
opening dimension, so a casement window, and the sides to
get the stretcher through is about 2.5’ wide by 4’ tall.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: And the present design
calls for a window that is how tall?
CHRIS SPAULDING: 5’ tall.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: So that’s something else
that can be done. I’m not suggesting. Lord knows, you’re
much better at what you’re doing. I don’t do what you do at
all, but I’m just trying to find out what the areas are
that we could do something with, because I personally think
that the height of the building is a little much. It’s not
a criticism of your design, but from the neighbors’
standpoint I can understand that.
When we close the public hearing we’re going to
talk about height, and probably also talk about the window.
But before you’re through, I just mention that to you,
because once we close the public hearing we’re not going to
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hear from you anymore, so if you have anything to add on
one or more of those subjects, now is the time to do it.
LANCE TATE: We’d be willing to reduce the window
size as long as it remains within the code, absolutely.
We’re pretty much open to anything that makes the home
something that someone would want to live in, while
protecting the privacy and the interests of our neighbors.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Other questions?
Commissioner O'Donnell, let me try this. I’m going to close
the public hearing. Commissioner O'Donnell is right that I
can close the public hearing, and I can also reopen it. I
want to close it for right now. Close the public hearing,
boom.
I want to ask my fellow commissioners, I’m faced
with a Staff Report that recommends denial of the
application, and if I were to go in that direction, and if
others would go that direction, then the whole project gets
shut down. I was wondering if you’d be agreeable to asking
them if they want to try to go back and get a redesign as
opposed to a vote, not knowing how that might come out?
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Since I was going to ask
a question on that line and I didn’t get a chance, no, I’d
like to get an answer to my question.
VICE CHAIR KANE: What’s your question?
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COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: You open the public
hearing; I’ll treat you to my question.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Other Commissioners?
COMMISSIONER BURCH: Pending Commissioner
O'Donnell’s question, for the sake of the Applicant moving
this forward, I would want to continue it, but I would want
to continue it to the point where if they were going to do
that, we’re going to come back with a mutually agreeable
solution, we’re not going to come back to this thing.
VICE CHAIR KANE: That was my intent.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: Okay.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Hanssen.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I had the same feeling as
Commissioner Burch, that rather than deny the application
it would be better to see the Applicant resolve the
concerns of the neighbors by continuing it, as long as they
come back with a compromise that they’ve created.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Good. I’m going to
reopen the public hearing and ask Commissioner O'Donnell
what is his question?
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: All I was trying to do
is we can continue this, and this is a question to you… We
can continue this, and I think that’s a good idea, but it
would be helpful certainly to me, and perhaps others… I
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don’t want to go through an idle exercise if your attitude
is look, we’re kind of where we are and that’s…you talk
about a couple things.
If we deny it, you at least get an appeal. If, on
the other hand, you think you can do some things that we
don’t know about, and maybe you don’t know about, then I’m
all for that. So I guess I’m just trying to find out, you
seem to be agreeable to trying to do something.
LANCE TATE: Absolutely.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Then fine, I think the
Chair is absolutely right. We can close the public hearing.
LANCE TATE: Always take a maybe before a no, so
absolutely. Thank you.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Before I close it again, do we
want to give guidelines for them to work on, or do you
think they already have them? Are you clear on our clarity?
LANCE TATE: Crystal clear.
VICE CHAIR KANE: All right. In that case, I’m
going to close the public hearing again. Do we need a
motion? Commissioner Burch.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: I’m going to make a motion
to continue Item 4, Architecture and Site Application S-14-
056 to a date certain, and I will look to Staff to tell us…
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I don't know, are we just going to put them all on May 25th?
Is that our continuance date?
JOEL PAULSON: That would be your continuance
date knowing that two of you won’t be here.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: No, the 25th we’re going to
be here. It’s the 11th. The 25th we’re good.
JOEL PAULSON: Right. Continue it to the 25th, if
you’d like.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: I’m going to look for a head
nod, because the public portion isn’t open, if the 25th is
enough time to…
VICE CHAIR KANE: We’re not going to negotiate
with you.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: Yeah, I don’t get any say in
that. I’m so sorry.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Let me just ask this:
Part of the reason we continued to the 25th was that two of
us wouldn’t be here, plus a third person has to be recused.
That gets pretty dicey. If in fact I’m the only one that
has a problem with the 11th, but our regular Chair, we have
no reason to believe she wouldn’t be here, I don’t care,
the 25th is great with me. I just am sympathetic to the
Applicant if they can do it more quickly, but if it’s the
25th, it’s the 25th.
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VICE CHAIR KANE: So do we have a motion?
COMMISSIONER BURCH: Yes, that was my motion.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Do we have a second?
Commissioner Hanssen.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I will second the motion.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Any discussion? Commissioner
Erekson.
COMMISSIONER EREKSON: While I would support the
motion to continue it, we had very little deliberation and
discussion amongst the Commission. We asked a lot of
questions. Commissioners ask questions, and they get
answers to those questions, but one can’t conclude that
they continue to have a concern, so it’s not clear to me if
the direction we’re giving them is about the height of the
structure, the window, or we don’t like the vegetation
solution.
I feel a little unprepared to vote on the motion
when at least I’m not clear about what the direction is and
what the consensus of the Commission is, and so I feel if I
can’t figure it out maybe I fell asleep during part of it
or something. I want to be sure that we’re clear as a
Commission what the direction we’re giving him is, because
depending upon whether we’re concerned about the height of
the building or the size of the window or something; those
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suggest potential different solutions to a good architect
like Mr. Spaulding.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Let me try this. I
made reference to a Staff recommendation to deny based on
height and mass of the residence in comparison to the
neighborhood. So I’ll go back to the four points that were
mentioned before.
One is to comply with the codes, guidelines and
standards. The other is to listen very carefully to the
Town Architect. The other is listen very carefully to your
neighbors. And finally, listen very carefully to Staff. If
Staff takes your project and comes up with a different
opinion, that would bring you a long way home, but your
neighbors and the architect and the codes also matter.
Commissioner O'Donnell.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: It might be helpful as
to what Commissioner Erekson is saying if we had an
opportunity to say what we think.
Since I’m now speaking, I would first say that
yes, I’m very interested in the height of the building; I’d
like to bring that down.
Secondly, I’m very interested in the exit window;
I’d like to do something about that. But that partly is
also dependent upon whether you followed Commissioner
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Burch’s suggestion that might obviate the exit window
problem, I don't know. You slide that second story back, or
front really, you’re moving forward, maybe that would solve
it. Interested in the invasion of privacy that has been
described to us by that window, but it could be solved in
more than one way.
So yes, I guess my major concerns are two: height
of the building, and the lack of privacy because of that
window.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Those are his. You’ve heard
others of us talk about others of concerns. Commissioner
Hudes.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: I would like to add some
concerns that I do not have, and that is neighborhood
compatibility. I think the architecture is very compatible
with the neighborhood.
And one that was mentioned in the Staff Report,
which was mass and scale, and I don’t believe we’re hearing
that issue from the neighbors.
I am concerned about the privacy issue that is
directly related to the height and to the size of the
window.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Other comments?
Commissioner Erekson.
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COMMISSIONER EREKSON: I don’t need to repeat
everything that Commissioner Hudes just said, but that’s
what I would have said. Because there were four issues that
the Staff pointed out, so it wanted it to be clear that we
didn’t hear issues about neighborhood compatibility and the
mass and scale issues, and I share the exact opinion of
Commissioner Hudes.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Burch.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: And just because there is
one more point, I’m going to say I’m also not concerned
about the parking. I don’t disagree. I have a two-car
garage, half of it is filled with my husband’s junk, we
only fit one car in it, and to be quite honest, you just
can’t control down the road if people park in the street or
not. I think there’s adequate parking on the site, so I
think that hit the last point to me.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Hanssen.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I also don’t have concerns
about the parking per se. The only concerns that I see that
are left are a general concern about the height, and then
the neighbors’ privacy concern, and they kind of go
together. I think if they came back and the neighbors were
satisfied with the solution, I think I’d feel comfortable.
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VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you very much. Well, that
constitutes our motion. We have a second. Let me call the
question. All those in favor? Passes unanimously. Appeal
rights, Mr. Paulson?
JOEL PAULSON: There are no appeal rights since
you continued the item.