Attachment 3LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 11/9/2016
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A P P E A R A N C E S:
Los Gatos Planning
Commissioners:
Mary Badame, Chair
D. Michael Kane, Vice Chair
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
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P R O C E E D I N G S:
CHAIR BADAME: Item 3, 16362 Hilow Road,
Architecture and Site Application S-16-011, requesting
approval to construct a new single-family residence on
property zoned R-1:8.
May I have a show of hands from Commissioners who
have visited the site? Any disclosures from Commissioners?
Ms. Pineda is not here tonight, so Mr. Paulson,
will you be providing us with a Staff Report this evening?
JOEL PAULSON: Yes, thank you. Good evening,
Commissioners.
The Planning Commission last reviewed an
application on this site in July of this year, which was an
appeal of a Development Review Committee approval. At that
meeting the Planning Commission granted the appeal and
denied the application.
Subsequent to that, the Applicants appealed that
decision to the Town Council. Town Council considered the
application in September of this year, they granted the
appeal, and remanded the application back to the Planning
Commission to formalize changes offered by the Applicant,
which generally included retaining one of the existing
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redwoods in front that was proposed to be removed,
obscuring the glass of the second floor windows on the
right elevation, and ensuring that the drainage was
correct. The Applicants incorporated these changes.
Additionally, the Town Council also asked the
Applicant to consider reducing the square footage of the
garage and to consider reducing the square footage of the
cellar. The Applicant has reduced the square footage of the
cellar by 200 square feet, and has reduced the square
footage of the garage by 199 square feet.
The Planning Commission should review this
application as they would any application that’s remanded
back to the Planning Commission, but this one also has the
Town Council direction relating to the previous
application. All of those changes have been made.
Staff recommends that the Planning Commission
take the actions outlined in the Staff Report and approve
the project. As with the previous application, Staff
determined at the DRC that the application is compliant
with the Residential Design Guidelines, and they have also
addressed the Council direction that was provided in
September.
That concludes Staff’s report, and I’m available
to answer questions.
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CHAIR BADAME: Mr. Paulson, I’m going to refer to
Exhibit 6, page 2. Council remanded the application back to
the Commission with new information, so Item 1 of the
resolution provides specific instructions. Item 2 provides
direction that the decision of the Council did not
constitute a full administrative decision and that the
Commission is to further consider the application.
So if we are going to further consider the
application, can we further discuss bulk, mass, and scale
issues, which were the reasons for our original denial,
which the Council did not find that we erred or abused our
discretion to that regard?
JOEL PAULSON: The Planning Commission is free to
make the same determination they made last time if you
still have the same concerns and irrespective of the
Council direction, you believe it still does not meet the
Residential Design Guidelines and/or is not compatible with
the neighborhood. The Planning Commission does have the
option to deny the application.
CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner O'Donnell.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Two things on that.
One, I believe their discussion of the
modifications that the Applicant ultimately agreed to did
deal with bulk, mass, and that kind of thing, because they
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said, for example, make the house smaller, make the
basement smaller, so I think, to me at least, that they did
speak to that.
What they didn’t speak to, I think, was one of
the things we’ve talked about: the 2-2-5, and they talked
about it too at the meeting—we all watched the video at the
meeting—and did not decide this on the basis of 2-2-5.
But it’s clear to me what they’re asking us to
do, and I have no problem with that, but I do want to say
that before I vote on this matter I would suggest that we
need some more guidance on the application of the
guideline—that’s all it is, 2-2-5—because in this matter I
believe a significant reason we denied it was it didn’t
satisfy the 2-2-5, and the Council didn’t deal with that,
so it would be very helpful if the Council gave us a little
guidance.
Clearly it’s not binding, but normally you would
have reasons why you didn’t apply a guideline, and there
could be reasons here, but since they really didn’t, I
don’t think, not in the motion that was approved, deal with
the 2-2-5, I just suggest that to the extent that the
Council next deals with the 2-2-5 issue, if they’re not
satisfied with it, or if they want to give us some
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guidelines on when we could ignore it, which is what we’d
have to do here, I think, I would be appreciative of that.
CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner O'Donnell, I watched
the hearing and I read the resolution, but I don’t recall
them telling the Applicant to make the house smaller. What
I did hear was that they should consider making the cellar
smaller and consider making the garage smaller, but I did
not hear make the house smaller.
Any further questions? Vice Chair Kane.
VICE CHAIR KANE: For Staff. I watched the Town
Council tape as well. Staff provided a report at the
beginning of that segment, and did Staff as a conclusion of
that report agree with the Planning Commission decision
that precipitated the meeting at Town Council?
JOEL PAULSON: Staff always carries forward the
Planning Commission’s recommendation.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Was it Staff’s recommendation
as well?
JOEL PAULSON: It was not Staff’s recommendation.
Staff recommended approval of the project to the Planning
Commission.
VICE CHAIR KANE: It was pretty close.
CHAIR BADAME: Further questions? Commissioner
Hanssen, and then back to you, Vice Chair Kane.
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VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I had the same concern as
Commissioner O'Donnell about Council’s direction, and I did
view the entire tape of it. It was found to grant the
appeal based on new information, basically.
One of the issues that came up, for example, was
the two-story versus one-story issue, and in our previous
hearing one of the big things we relied on was the 2-2-5 in
the neighborhood, and there was only one other house that
was two stories.
My interpretation of that was that Council did
not direct us to look at that issue, and so I think it’s
important to understand what we really should be looking
at. There are people in the audience that might want to
speak to that same issue, but Council seemingly, in my
mind, gave us specific direction for reasons, including
expanded neighborhood, as well as the safety issue on the
street, and having not as much footprint in the lots that a
two-story should be allowed. So to me, I didn’t think that
was something we should be discussing, so that’s my
question: Should we be discussing that?
JOEL PAULSON: I think as I said before, you’re
free to discuss any of those issues that you discussed
previously. Council Members did make comments. There were
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comments related specifically to the 2-2-5, there were
comments specifically related to the fact that the house
next door is two-story, and whether it’s in the county or
not some of them believe that that still is applicable. So
then you take that into consideration, and as you stated, a
number of other things with the expanded neighborhood.
The 2-2-5 is not a requirement rule, it’s a
guideline, and it’s not the end point. There are
opportunities laid out in the guidelines that allow you to
look at an expanded neighborhood or take other factors into
consideration, so the Planning Commission is free to do
that.
CHAIR BADAME: Vice Chair Kane.
VICE CHAIR KANE: To support what was said
earlier in terms of the width of this decision corridor, it
may not be the three items that were cited by Council. I
think it includes an emphasis on those three items. What
Staff has given us on recommendations is the CEQA
provision, that’s first; the third one is required
considerations; the fourth is A&S, which has the three
points, I think, in Exhibit 9.
But the second one that you’ve given us for
consideration, it says, “Make the finding that the project
complies with the Residential Design Guidelines,” and I
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think that opens it up before the narrow three points that
were mentioned. If it’s of any value to supplement the
discussion on 2-2-5, I’m not a Town Council person and I
defer to them, but the document that founded 2-2-5 has my
name on it, as it does Commissioner O'Donnell. We were
there when that went down. We walked the streets with the
Town…
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: With Barbara Spector.
VICE CHAIR KANE: With Barbara Spector, and the
Town Architect, what’s his name, consultant? Larry.
CHAIR BADAME: Larry Cannon.
VICE CHAIR KANE: And that was the birth of 2-2-
5. It is the definition of what is an immediate
neighborhood. It is not a requirement, but it was intended
then, and it should stand now, as a guiding light to
prevent the destruction of neighborhoods, and that’s how I
see it. It’s prevention and protection; it’s not an
absolute. There are times and places when you don’t want to
follow foolish consistency, but as concerns protecting and
preserving neighborhoods. There’s a very strong letter that
I’ll refer to later that we received from a citizen about
neighborhoods being destroyed, and I think that’s why 2-2-5
has served us well as a guiding light. It’s not an axiom,
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but it’s something we just don’t want to water down and
give up.
CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner O'Donnell.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I don’t want to beat a
dead horse, but it’s very clear to me that the Council
could have said 2-2-5 kind of ends the question. They did
not. I’m prepared to believe that the Council did that
deliberately, in other words, for good and specific reason
in their minds. I don’t want to refight that war. That’s
why I’m asking for guidance in the future, but the thing I
worry about tonight is we said well dog gone it, you didn’t
deal with that issue, so here, we’ll send it back up. I
think that just wastes everybody’s time. So I don’t
disagree with people who say why didn’t they apply the 2-2-
5, but I don’t think it’s fair to the Applicant or the
Council to do this thing all over again. So anyway, I just
throw that out.
CHAIR BADAME: Any further questions, comments?
Seeing none, I will open the public portion of the hearing
and invite the Applicant and their team to the podium for
up to ten minute to discuss their application.
MIKE BROWN: Good evening, Commissioners, I’ll
introduce Valy Jalalian.
VALY JALALIAN: Hello.
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MIKE BROWN: He’s a long resident of Los Gatos.
He is the owner and developer, and he asked me to stand
with him tonight. My name is Mike Brown. I’m also from Los
Gatos. I work for Coldwell Banker in Los Gatos. I’m working
with Valy on this new construction project on Hilow Road. I
worked closely with him on another project, Littlefield,
and can vouch for his great work ethic and for the care he
takes for the neighborhood he builds in.
Here’s a quick recap of why we’re here tonight.
Not to restate what’s just been said in the last ten
minutes, but just for our sake and your sake, a recap of
what’s gone on.
The property on Hilow was purchased last December
2015, almost one year ago.
In January and February plans were drawn.
March and April were spent meeting with the DRC
and neighbors, addressing their concerns, and going through
several revisions. I was part of a couple of those
neighborhood meetings, and we invited all the neighbors to
come. Actually met in my office, and he met on a couple of
other sites to address concerns and make changes.
In May the DRC fully approved this project. Valy
met all the requirements of the Town and made sure the
neighbors were happy with the proposed home. He was ready
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to begin the excavation and had scheduled construction
materials and a labor force for the next few months.
Eight days later Shannon Susick filed an appeal
and everything came to a halt. Valy and I met quickly with
Shannon, and she was willing to meet with us shortly after
she filed the appeal, to find out if there was anything we
could do to make her feel okay with the project. She said
there was nothing, except for not making it a two-story
home.
So almost two months later we were here with all
of you in a similar Planning Commission meeting, thinking,
hoping, that you would support the DRC’s approval of this
project. Instead, you upheld Shannon’s appeal with a 6-1
vote. That decision was so discouraging and confusing to
Valy and myself, but I’m kind of new to this process as
well. We reexamined the meeting minutes, and then Valy
decided to appeal your decision to Town Council, as you
know.
At the September 20th Town Council meeting the
discussion went on for over two hours; it sounds like most
of you reviewed that and saw that. We presented our case,
showing over 20 examples of two-story homes on Hilow and
surrounding streets. We had a rendering of the home and
explained to Council the many changes we had made. One
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reason for the length of time was the fact that dozens of
neighbors, including ones directly across the street and on
each side, came out speaking in support of the project.
We then presented to Council several possible
reasons why we believe you, the Planning Commission, had
approved Shannon’s appeal. Now, we don’t mean to speak for
your mind, but here’s what we thought a couple of them
would be.
Number one, you did not have a rendering of the
final version of the home at that meeting when we met with
you the first time to visually see the compatibility of the
home to the neighborhood. The Appellant painted it as some
huge structure that would not fit in; that is just not the
case. That rendering was made available to the Town
Council, and now you have it in your packet.
Number two, you did not have the soils engineer
there, as you recall, to answer your concerns regarding the
water issues, some that were brought up by the neighbors,
the Town Council did.
Number three, you were conflicted using the 2-2-5
as a governing rule. This issue, as you guys just talked
about, was discussed at length in the Town Council meeting,
and as stated by Town Council Member Jensen, 2-2-5 was not
meant to be a rule, but rather a guideline.
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Number four, several of you were not including
the two-story home next door in the 2-2-5 guideline,
because it resides in the county. This was also addressed
in the Town Council meeting, and as stated by Council
Member Rennie, all homes are included in the 2-2-5
scenario, including county.
During that Council meeting—it sounds like you
all had a chance to go through the minutes or review it—
several additional insights were uncovered, including the
fact that Hilow is on the course to become a new Safe
Routes to School route, another reason to support two-story
homes on that street, so that yards can be as large as
possible for children to play safely.
There was also great discussion about the
possibility to retaining the neighborhood in its original
historic one-level form, but as Council Member Jensen
pointed out, it cannot happen because the majority of the
neighborhood is county.
At the close of this two-hour Town Council
discussion the motion was made by Council member Rennie to
grant the appeal and approve the project, but it failed at
the 2-3 vote.
Then another motion was made that passed
unanimously. I’d like to read that motion directly from the
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minutes. “Motion by Council Member Marcia Jensen to grant
the appeal, but remand the matter to Planning Commission
per Attachment 6 to formalize those issues that have been
raised by the Applicant, i.e., retain the trees, screen the
windows, ensure the drainage is correct, and consider
reducing the size of the cellar and the size of the
garage.” This was seconded my Mayor Barbara Spector, and
approved.
During the past few weeks we’ve addressed each of
these issues and made every change requested by the Town
Council, as Mr. Paulson pointed out.
Number one, we’ve reduced the size of the garage
and the cellar, as you can see by the new rendering that’s
up above you; I think you have it in front of you as well.
The first rendering had the garage out to the front, and
now you can see the garage has been set back 10’.
The Town Council requested we consider reducing
the size of the cellar and the garage. To that end we’ve
amended our plan to include a 200 square foot reduction in
the garage, with a visual 10’ setback from the front, and a
200 square foot reduction in the cellar. The cellar has now
been reduced to approximately 1,600 square feet.
Number two, retain the two large trees in front,
raise the bathroom window, and a glass change. As stated in
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the amendment, we will keep the trees in the front yard to
further help with the screening. We’ll also be adding new
large trees in the front, as you can see in the rendering.
We have also made changes to mitigate the neighbor’s
concerns, raising the bathroom windowsill, and we will use
obscure glass.
Number three, ensure the draining is correct.
During the Town Council meeting on September 20th the soils
engineer, Joel Baldwin, was in attendance, as you probably
saw, and spoke regarding soil and water drainage issues,
and assured Council that any of these water concerns
brought up by two neighbors were not founded by facts
regarding this project but stem from other factors on their
own properties. There are no drainage issues connected to
this project. A soils engineer is in attendance with us
tonight, if you have any concerns or wish to address him.
Finally, may I gently remind the Commission that
it was back in May when the DRC approved this project and
Valy was set to begin construction? I appreciate this
process. I appreciate the fact that we get to have
neighbors come forward, that’s important, but because one
individual who does not even live on the street decided she
was not happy for whatever reason with this project, we’re
now six months into wasted time and money. Again, Valy has
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gone far beyond the required guideline, and has now done
everything requested of him by the Town Council.
As a side note, four homes on Hilow have already
been annexed into the Town of Los Gatos. Three of those
four are two-story.
I know you’ve had a chance to drive or walk down
Hilow. This is going to be a beautiful Craftsman style home
completely compatible with the neighborhood. You will hear
again tonight many neighbors coming and supporting this
home and moving forward with it being built.
We’re requesting that the Planning Commission
uphold the unanimously passed motion by the Town Council to
approve this project, based on the fact that we have
addressed every issue attached to that motion. We’re
prepared to move forward and built this beautiful home. We
will still work closely with the neighbors to ensure a
successful addition to the street and to the surrounding
neighborhood. Thanks.
CHAIR BADAME: Mr. Brown, can you fill out a
speaker card for me?
MIKE BROWN: Oh, I apologize. Yeah.
CHAIR BADAME: You still have time remaining.
Otherwise, I’ll get to the questions.
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VALY JALALIAN: Thank you very much for
listening.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you. Commissioner Hudes.
CHAIR HUDES: I guess I missed this, because it
wasn’t called out so much in the Staff Report, but it is in
your letter. It’s about the reconfiguration of the garage.
Could you explain in a little more detail what’s happened
with the garage, and does that affect the design of the
house?
VALY JALALIAN: I have my architect here.
DARYL FAZEKAS: We kept the roofline of the
previous garage, and basically you can see on sheet A-1
that there’s a covered porch all the way across the front
of the house.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: If you could just give me a
minute to get to that. So that’s Exhibit 9, A-1?
DARYL FAZEKAS: Yeah, the plan is A-1, the first
sheet, the site plan.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Got it.
CHAIR BADAME: Sir, can you tell us who you are?
DARYL FAZEKAS: I’m Daryl Fazekas, the architect.
CHAIR BADAME: I don’t think I have a card from
you either, but go ahead.
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DARYL FAZEKAS: Okay. So the front of the garage
is 36’ back now, before it was 26’ back from the front
property line. The front porch goes all the way across the
front of the house to reduce mass and bulk; that puts the
garage back in shadow, and that’s the 200 square feet we
removed from the garage.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: I see, so by removing 200
square feet you’ve pushed the front of the garage back by
10’?
DARYL FAZEKAS: Yes, and that’s good, because
really that puts the garage door in shadow and it keeps the
garage so that you barely see it when you drive by.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Right. Okay, thank you.
CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner Hanssen.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I was wondering what
method you used to determine how much to reduce the cellar
and/or the garage? I ask the question because I’m looking
at the neighborhood compatibility chart that we had before,
and the original garage was proposed at 932 square feet and
you propose to take 200 square feet off of it. The next
largest garage in the immediate neighborhood is less than
600 square feet, so I just wondered, if our goal is to be
compatible with the neighborhood, why we’re having a garage
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that’s a good 25% bigger, even after you reduced it, than
the biggest garage in the neighborhood?
And then I don't know about the cellar, but the
cellar issue in our meeting as well as the Council meeting.
Our Cellar Policy, as you know, is to use the cellar in
lieu of visible mass above ground, and the Council didn’t
direct to reduce the mass over the ground, but if you
consider the holistic picture, the intent of the Cellar
Policy was clearly to not have the mass over the ground. So
then if the Council gave direction to reduce the cellar,
200 square feet off of 1,800 isn’t very much, so I was just
wondering how you came to those numbers.
DARYL FAZEKAS: The garage is 20’ wide and 30’
deep. Most garages are 22’x22’, so it’s not that big of a
stretch larger. There’s some storage area in the back.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: So you’re saying it’s
deeper for the storage? Is it a two- or three-car garage?
DARYL FAZEKAS: It’s a two-car garage, so it’s
two cars wide, and then there’s 10’ of storage in the back.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Could you comment on the
cellar as well?
DARYL FAZEKAS: Originally we submitted with
three bedrooms, and now we’re down to one bedroom down
there. It’s expensive to put in a cellar, so the 1,600
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square foot is a reasonable minimum for that. I mean
there’s no sense in putting in a 1,000 square foot
basement.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: What was the original need
for the cellar?
DARYL FAZEKAS: It’s a rec room and wine cellar,
and an extra bedroom.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: And how many bedrooms are
in the rec room?
DARYL FAZEKAS: We’re at one bedroom now; we
started out at three.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: How many are in the above
ground house?
DARYL FAZEKAS: Four.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Four? So this would be the
fifth? Okay, thank you.
MIKE BROWN: If I could comment on the mass and
scale. You could have taken the garage back from the back
side, you wouldn’t ever see it, so we were trying to be
very sensitive to the front and the mass and scale
visually. Taking that garage from the front and pulling it
back 10’ will really, I think, reduce that mass and scale
look as you’re driving down. So even though it’s only 200
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square feet, we were trying to make the impact visually
from the front, if that makes sense.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Yes, thank you.
CHAIR BADAME: You know, cellars are typically
used for storage, so with such a large garage with the
slight reduction that was made, wasn’t that a reason that
you could have moved that storage area that you need, that
extra garage space, and use the cellar more appropriately
for the storage?
DARYL FAZEKAS: The cellar is completely
finished. It’s heated; it’s a habitable area. It’s not for
storage, the basement, the cellar.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you. Any further questions?
Seeing none, thank you very much.
I will now invite comments from members of the
public. I have a number of speaker cards tonight. I will
start with Jason Halladay.
JASON HALLADAY: Hi, good evening. My name is
Jason Halladay and I live at 16400 Hilow Road, which is
about three houses south of the property in question
tonight. I grew up here and went to Van Meter, Fisher
Junior High, as well as Los Gatos High School, and I’ve
been living at the property with my wife and two kids for
about six years now.
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We’re speaking tonight—my wife is here—in 100%
support of Valy’s project. We’re very excited about the new
kids, new families coming in, moving in onto the street.
I’ve seen the design of the house that Valy is
proposing, and I think it’s a beautiful home. I think that
is the size that is probably appropriately relative to all
of the other two-story homes on Hilow Road. It does not
look out of place, in my opinion, especially when you look
up and down, in front and in back, and to me it does not
overpower the existing homes in the neighborhood, including
mine. I think if you look up and down the road you would
agree that actually it is compatible. It’s a beautiful home
and it would fit in with all the other homes there on Hilow
Road within this neighborhood.
I know Valy has consulted with many engineers,
architects, landscapers, et cetera, about the design and
the basement, the trees for privacy, the drainage of the
water, all the proposed issues that have been brought up in
the many meetings by the neighbors and people outside of
our neighborhood.
I think he and his team have done a great job of
addressing all of these issues, worked with the
neighborhood and neighbors to address each and every one of
them, and as you heard previously, he has addressed those.
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That’s not what I wanted to come here and speak
about, those particular issues. There was one issue that
was mentioned earlier when he was presenting, and this is
on the topic of the safety concern along Hilow Road.
Growing up in Los Gatos, my friends and I would
play in the street from morning till night. We were out
there playing ball, playing games, having fun, riding
bikes, et cetera, and we would be out there all night. We
didn’t need a back yard. We were out front and playing
around and having a great time. Single-story homes at that
time, it was fine. We didn’t need a back yard to go out and
play, we could just be out front, and it was “normal” to
have a ranch style, a sprawling house, et cetera, and that
was fine.
Nowadays, as many of you know, the traffic around
Los Gatos has been increasing. The streets, especially
Hilow Road are rather dangerous. Cars zoom up and down,
especially because of Eucalyptus Lane at the south end of
the street, and cars zoom up and down, and I can see that.
I do not want my kids out front, so a two-story home,
having the extra space in the back yard where the kids can
play, is very important, and it’s important to me as well.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you, Mr. Halladay. Next
speaker is Shawn Carroll.
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SHAWN CARROLL: Hello. I am a resident of Los
Gatos. I’ve owned a home in town since 1995, lived in town
since 1987. I live on Shady View Lane, so one street over.
I don’t necessarily have a problem with older
homes being either remodeled or scraped and redone, but
when, in my opinion, it’s done purely for profit as a
development, building purely on size and factoring that in
to your equation for what you can get for the final
product, I don’t think it fits into the neighborhood that
way.
I just think it’s too big. Five thousand square
feet is a lot of space for a home. Humbly, I just don’t
feel that a super McMansion like that belongs in the
neighborhood. Now, that’s not to say that I don’t think a
beautiful home should be built there, but I just think it’s
too big for the neighborhood. That’s really all I have to
say.
CHAIR BADAME: Any questions for the speaker?
Thank you, Mr. Carroll, for your comments. Lainey
Richardson.
LAINEY RICHARDSON: Good evening, my name is
Lainey Richardson; I’m a 55-year resident, and I went to
Daves Avenue Fisher and Los Gatos High. Thank you for your
time in allowing me to speak tonight.
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Like the immediate neighbors on Hilow, I would
like to request that you deny the current application and
appeal by the developer and uphold your 6-1 vote made in
July due to the proposed home’s mass, scale, height, abuse
of cellar policy, and because it doesn’t fit into the
immediate neighborhood as defined in our Residential Design
Guidelines.
This developer has made no changes to the above
ground space and is taking up the Town’s time and resources
by trying to maximize his profit at the expense of his
immediate neighbors. I own property in the historic
district of Almond Grove and in the La Rinconada area,
which like the subject property is in a county pocket. Some
of my neighbors are annexed into the Town of Los Gatos, but
our lot is still located in the county. We plan to demolish
and rebuild in the next year or so, and I have been
following this and other recent applications, like the one
on Overlook where the Planning Commission denied the
application for far less of an intrusion and the Town
Council upheld or remanded them back to you.
We live next door to a large, single level
Craftsman style home that was demolished, built new, and
annexed into the Town in 2011. Our neighbors could have
built something significantly larger and taller, but due to
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their concern and respect for the neighbors, and to fit in
with the look and feel of our neighborhood, they chose to
stick with the size and style of the other homes on the
street. This home sold last year for $3.5 million.
I appreciate and respect not only the Planning
Commission and Town Council, but also our guidelines, and
believe they are part of what makes this town so special. I
feel strongly that they should be upheld and our
neighborhoods protected. We need to stop allowing these out
of town developers to come in and maximize their profits to
the detriment of the neighbors, many of whom are like me
and have lived in this town all of their lives.
My husband and I have already decided that when
we do scrape and rebuild, instead of planning for a huge
basement and a second story to maximize our resale value,
we would feel uncomfortable about selfishly blocking our
neighbor’s view of the mountains, the canyon, and so have
decided to stick with a single-story home that blends with
the other houses on our block. We care about maintaining
the feel of our neighborhood. We believe that fitting into
the neighborhood and getting along with our neighbors is
part of what makes living in Los Gatos so enjoyable.
Thank you so much for your time, and please send
this application back and request that the plans be revised
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with a design that won’t impact the neighbors and therefore
will not set a new precedent for others who may be waiting
in the wings. Thank you.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you, Ms. Richardson.
Questions? Seeing none, thank you. William Schautz.
WILLIAM SCHAUTZ: Just a longtime resident of the
Bay Area and Los Gatos. Valy had asked me to look at the
property, just unbiased look at it and see what I thought.
I think it’s a great investment. I saw the property before,
and it was an empty lot, kind of beaten down. I think it’s
great that people are spending the money and investing in
Los Gatos. I understand he’s made changes and it looks like
it fits into the neighborhood and Los Gatos with all the
different types of homes that are built and the different
sizes, so that’s just my opinion.
CHAIR BADAME: Questions? Seeing none, thank you.
Jeanne Driedger.
JEANNE DRIEDGER: I’d like to thank all of you
for giving me, a county resident, the opportunity to speak
before you once again.
I live directly behind this proposed large house,
and as the story poles went up I saw that I would no longer
have any privacy in my yard. The house north of them,
that’s the two-story, looks right in my yard. These two
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stories will look right into my living room and the back
bedrooms, as well as my entire back yard. I will have no
privacy.
They are suggesting putting fogged windows. What
is to prevent the new owners from putting in clear glass?
The people who live next to them in the two-story on the
north side, I can look right into their upper rooms as well
as they look down into my house too. It’s not a pleasant
thing to have.
I ask you to uphold your original 6-1 decision to
deny the proposed plans. A large one-story house would
provide privacy for me, for the Wagners, and the other
people that live next to me in a one-story house; they’re
renters, they’re always renters, it’s been renters since
the house was built in the fifties.
I’m just asking for privacy. I know that we’re
not guaranteed to have a view anymore, but I know the view
would be obstructed with the two-story house. I’m asking
for privacy. I know other speakers are much more eloquent
than I. I’m just coming from the heart.
CHAIR BADAME: You’re doing fine.
JEANNE DRIEDGER: Thank you.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you for your comments. Next
speaker is Jim Fox.
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JIM FOX: Good afternoon. Thank you for giving us
the opportunity to have our say. I’m Jeanne’s neighbor
across the street from her, and I’m here in support for
her.
My story is I can see the top of the house; it’s
not going to have much effect on us as far as a view. But
recently having two McMansions on either side of us, back
just one house but it still is directly into our property,
it didn’t bother us, we didn’t protest anything. We spoke
with the owners, everything was fine, and then it was
built.
The property, their rooms look right into our
back yard. We have no privacy. They also have 70” TVs that
are on almost all night, and that is like a beacon into our
yard and into our bedrooms. These are issues I didn’t
realize and my wife didn’t realize when we didn’t question
the building of the house. They put the house farther away,
which was considerate of them. We figured hey, no problem
there, because it’s closer to Shannon Road, but now we kind
of regret our decision to allow that house, because we have
no privacy, no privacy at all in our back yard, and in two
of our three bedrooms.
I just wanted to share that with regard to two
stories, they do have an affect that you don’t realize when
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they’re first doing it. We didn’t have a concern until
after the fact. Jeanne has a concern now, before the fact,
and she can keep her privacy, or at least having something
to do with it. That’s my bit on it.
CHAIR BADAME: You’re time just finished, so the
timing was perfect. Commissioner Hudes.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Where do you live?
JIM FOX: I live at 16344 Shady View Lane. It’s
the second house from the end, across the street from where
Jeanne lives, and there are two houses, one immediately
south of us, the other one is not on Shady View, but it’s
the next house beyond Shady View.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: You’re on the east side of
Shady View?
JIM FOX: Yes, and the other house is on Shannon.
You’ll see this beautiful, beautiful white mansion,
gorgeous, but if you go into our back yard, you’ll see what
I’m talking about. Look right into their bedrooms, and they
have the big screen TVs. I actually had to mount a plywood
piece up there so it blocked the light from coming into one
of our bedrooms.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Thank you very much.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you, Mr. Fox.
JIM FOX: Thank you.
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CHAIR BADAME: Ehab Youssef.
EHAB YOUSSEF: Good evening, Commissioners.
Thanks for the opportunity to speak. I’m Ehab Youssef; I
live at 102 Vista Del Prado, and I’ve lived there since
1997 with my wife and two kids. I just wanted to mention a
couple things.
The main reason that I moved to Los Gatos—I
previously lived in Los Altos—was that we needed a place to
raise the kids, we wanted a bigger back yard, and the two-
story home wasn’t an option for us. I think you’ll find
that lots of people in this community really do not only
enjoy living in two-story homes, but they appreciate them,
because again, it creates more room in the back yard, it
allows their kids to have a safe environment to play, as
somebody already mentioned.
A couple of things I wanted to point out is that
what I’ve heard tonight, and what I heard at the City
Council meeting last time, is that the Applicant is trying
to do things to mitigate some of the concerns that the
neighbors have. He’s pushed back the garage, he’s added the
porch, and he’s reduced the size of the cellar and the
garage. He’s doing things, putting up trees, obscuring
windows, and lowering the windowsill.
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The person that really impressed me last time—
he’s still here—is a musician that came up with a different
perspective to help people think about a solution that
brings everyone together. So what I’d like to say
respectfully is that taking away someone’s choice to have a
two-story home, that’s pretty drastic, and I don’t think
that’s the right thing. Reducing a two-car garage so that
someone has to park out on the street to make it less safe
for our kids, that may not be the best decision. So please,
just think about a solution and opportunity to make
everyone have a better home here in Los Gatos. Trees can go
up. I haven’t heard the Applicant say he won’t do any of
that. I mean there’s got to be a way to give privacy to
some of the neighbors, but to just say they don’t want a
two-story house, I’m sorry, I just don’t think that’s
reasonable. I hope you’ll consider some of that. Thank you.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you. Scott Urban.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: He had to leave.
CHAIR BADAME: He had to leave. All right, Bill
Wagner.
BILL WAGNER: Good evening, I’m Bill Wagner. My
wife Debora and I live at 16374 Hilow Road. We are the
people who live in the one-story house that’s immediately
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south of the Applicant’s proposed project. We are the
neighbors who are significantly impacted by this project.
One of our other neighbors talked earlier about
traffic, and I will definitely second the fact that there’s
a real traffic issue on Hilow Road. In fact, I’ve been
before this Commission in the past to talk exactly about
traffic, and speed, and safety on Hilow Road.
We have a one-story house on a very large lot,
and we bought in this neighborhood because we had the
ability to have a large back yard. We have two daughters
that are grown now, but they played in the back yard all
the time, and the back yard was more than adequate with a
large one-story house.
About six or eight years ago a very large two-
story house was built on Shady View more or less behind us,
overlooking our back yard. It was built in the county
without any Residential Design Guidelines. We’re very
concerned that approving another two-story house
immediately next to us will continue to expand the risk of
us just being overwhelmed by two-story houses on all sides.
Our focus tonight, however, should be on the
Residential Design Guidelines. I know many of you were very
involved in the effort of putting those design guidelines
together, and their goal is to really set the tone for
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protecting neighborhoods and protecting the quality of life
of neighbors like us. We’re very concerned in this case
that the guidelines be used properly.
This is a picture with some embellishment of the
story poles. This shows the size, form, and bulk of the
house from our front yard. This is looking directly across
our front yard; our house is in the right foreground. This
is also the view that you’ll see of the side of the house
as you drive north on Shannon Road. The renderings from the
front are great, but this is the perspective that most
drivers will see.
With respect to the guidelines, I’m sure you guys
all know this much better than we do. There are some
specific things that we wanted to call out. This is not
just about the 2-2-5 rule. There is very specific guidance
about the things that are important, that be taken care of,
and just to move quickly. Two-story houses should blend
with the smaller homes, avoid bulk and mass of the front,
side setback lines, and minimize impacts on the streetscape
and adjacent neighbors, so there is a lot of other
information in the guidelines that really needs to be
addressed.
The brief closure, the conversation with the
Council was about form and mass. The request was to reduce
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the size of the garage and the basement. I want to point
out that the roofline is exactly the same, the second story
mass is exactly the same, so in terms of making the house
better comply with the guidelines, we don’t think anything
very substantive has been done and we ask for your denial.
CHAIR BADAME: All right, thank you. I have to
stop it and be fair to everybody with the same time limit.
Any questions? Seeing none, Debora Wagner.
DEBORA WAGNER: Hi, thank you for redoing this
project again. We have lived in Los Gatos for 35 years and
have invested in the community as unpaid volunteers in
three schools, actually four counting Shannon Nursery
School, for 18 years. We’ve raised our family here and are
not going anywhere. This home is our investment.
The motion crafted by the Town Council was after
continued discussion regarding how to reduce the mass and
scale of this proposed developer’s construction. Minor
changes, pushing the garage door back 10’, does not address
the size or privacy issues. There are now 11 windows and
two doors facing our three bedrooms and two bathrooms,
affecting our privacy. Before this project there weren’t
any invasive windows, and no doors at all, that would
present any foot traffic or activities near our bedrooms.
As shown, these additional two-story windows can still view
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into our bathrooms; they’re only 16’ from my bathroom.
There are 11 windows up there, and we only have, I think,
five, in our one-story.
This is what it looks like from our bathroom.
Whether obscured or not, these windows still shine light
into our sleeping areas, affecting our privacy and
affecting anybody’s ability to sleep without disturbance.
Also obscured glass in bedrooms is not normal, so real
homeowners can easily replace these windows.
The Town Council discussion expanded about
ongoing concerns regarding the Cellar Policy and excluding
the square footage of basements for the purpose of reducing
above ground mass and scale. The Council Members said they
were aware of abuses of this Cellar Policy where people are
considering below space as free square footage and still
putting massive McMansions above. Mr. Paulson even said the
definitions of this policy were going to be revisited
shortly. Ms. Jensen also repeated that Cellar Policy
modifications were going before the Commission. As the
Cellar Policy is under modification, this house with the
cellar included, is clearly massive at over 6,000 square
feet. This type of usage was never the purpose of
disallowing square footage in the guidelines in the first
place. Mr. Leonardis mentioned that there were two houses
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on the corner of Shannon and Englewood as examples of
single stories with cellars in order to maintain
compatibility. Can I show this?
CHAIR BADAME: Yes. You have 30 seconds
remaining.
DEBORA WAGNER: Oh, okay. The 83-page document
was crafted with the intent to ensure that homes are
compatible to the neighborhoods and that existing residents
are protected for privacy. Why have an 83-page guideline
document if it’s disregarded? This document is a promise to
protect neighborhoods; that’s the intent and honorable
application of these guidelines. Please honor that intent
and uphold your 6-1 July decision by denying this
application.
CHAIR BADAME: Vice Chair Kane has a question for
you.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Could you straighten out that
picture? Then I do have a question for you.
DEBORA WAGNER: This is exactly the house that
Mr. Leonardis was referring to, and it was built with a
basement to be respectful of the neighbors, and it’s
selling for $3.4 million right now.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Okay, thank you. My question is
your and Mr. Wagner’s letter, “Whether the immediate
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neighborhood is defined by the 2-2-5 definition, or
expanded to include the 14 surrounding houses, all but one
are single-story houses.” In identifying those 14 houses,
are you being selective, or are they tangent, or are they
within a circle?
DEBORA WAGNER: I don't know, because he… I know
that there is only from the…
BILL WAGNER: The point I’ll try to make is that
from Shannon Road down, along Hilow Road as you move south,
of the first 14 houses on Hilow Road there is only one not
single-story. We’ve talked about the 2-2-5 rule. I think we
could almost expand it in this case to be the 3-3-7 rule,
or something like that.
VICE CHAIR KANE: The one that you’re excepting,
is that the one to the north of the subject property?
BILL WAGNER: That’s correct.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Okay, thank you.
CHAIR BADAME: Any further questions? Seeing
none, thank you, Ms. Wagner. Cynthia Schneider.
CYNTHIA SCHNEIDER: Hi, Cindy Schneider, 35-year
resident. I want to thank you for your service and caring
for our town. I also want to thank you for the decision you
made in June for an application in my immediate
neighborhood at 252 Prince Street.
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Like the one before you tonight, a developer had
purchased and then rented the property while submitting
plans to tear down and build a new home. Like the
application before you for the second time tonight, the
developer wanted to build a two-story home that was the
second largest home in the immediate neighborhood, and the
second two-story home in the predominantly single-story
immediate neighborhood. Your decision in June to deny the
application at 252 Prince was well thought out and
supported by the Town’s guidelines and policies, just as
your 6-1 decision on July 27th to deny the current
application for similar reasons.
I ask that you uphold not only the Town’s
guidelines, but that the message you send to the Applicant
and Staff and Council is just as strong as your decision on
July 27th. This developer has made no, zero, changes to the
above-grade floor area ratio, nor has he addressed the
concerns for views, privacy, and mass and scale. Please
deny the current application again, and insist the
developer design a home that fits into the immediate
neighborhood.
You and those before you have worked so hard to
preserve neighborhoods, protect neighbors, create and
uphold our guidelines, and I thank you, but they must be
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applied equally and with the utmost concern for the actual
residents and neighborhoods. Thank you.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you, Ms. Schneider. We have
a question from Commissioner Hudes.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Maybe I missed it, but where
do you live?
CYNTHIA SCHNEIDER: I live right next to Prince
on Mattson Avenue, and we’re parallel.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Thank you.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you, Ms. Schneider. Perry
Hariri.
PERRY HARIRI: Good evening, Commissioners. I’m
Perry Hariri; I own a home at 16386 Hilow Road; we are an
immediate neighbor. We’re one of the 2-2-5, two houses to
the south.
I’m a little confused. All these issues were
discussed at Council; bulk, mass, and scale; two-story
heights. Even Ms. Susick, the original applicant, on the
record stated she had no problem with a two-story home, at
Council. The Council made a very specific recommendation to
approve these with those three specific things. Mr.
O'Donnell correctly pointed out that to send it back to
discuss the same issues of bulk, mass, and scale would be
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really an abuse of process and actually counter to the
recommendations.
Specifically, with respect to the 2-2-5,
everything about the surrounding neighborhood was
discussed. Fourteen out of the 29 homes on our street are
two stories. In fact, we’ve talked about the policy of that
neighborhood. Ms. Jensen talked about that 2-2-5 was one
element, that you’ve got to look at the overall
neighborhood. When you walk down the neighborhood it’s
pretty clear that it’s a mixed neighborhood. Three out of
the four homes on that street are two-story. The only four
homes on the street that are in the Town, three of them are
two stories. In the greater neighborhood there are only ten
homes that are in the Town; eight are two stories, so there
is a precedent of two-story homes being allowed and annexed
into this town in that greater neighborhood.
We’ve discussed the policy of single-story homes
on a large footprint, and in fact the Council said that
they wanted to encourage more green space, bigger yards,
less surface runoff of; 3,500 square foot on one story
takes up a lot more surface area.
We talked about the Safe Routes on that street.
Most of the people that reside on that street, the new
people that are buying homes, have younger kids. There are
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four schools within walking distance, there’s a park there.
We ourselves are ten-year residents with three kids that
attend Los Gatos schools, and we like to keep our kids in
the back yard playing in the safety of our home.
All of these issues have been discussed. The
Council made a specific recommendation and remanded to make
those three specific things, so if we’re going to rehash
all these, it’s just a disrespect to the Applicant, and
everybody’s else’s time here, and the Council’s time, and
your time. I think we’ve got to abide by the Council’s
recommendation, implement the changes they required, and
execute their recommendation. Thank you very much.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you, Mr. Hariri. Kristen
Hariri.
KRISTEN HARIRI: Hi, good evening. Thank you so
much for allowing me to speak tonight. I’m Kristen Hariri—
that was my husband that just spoke—we live at 16386 Hilow
Road, so we are two homes south of Mr. Jalalian’s property.
I didn’t make it to the first Planning Commission meeting,
so I just wanted to speak in reference to the two-story
element of this home.
When we first moved to Los Gatos—we have three
young daughters—we lived downtown, on Broadway actually, so
it was good to see some of our neighbors here tonight. We
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loved it. We lived in a small, single-story home. We had no
back yard, but I did not want to leave downtown, we just
loved living down here so much.
Then the kids were getting bigger and moving
around and we said we need more space. Then as they get
bigger and bigger the way that our family uses our
property, we thought where can we go that we can have a big
back yard? That’s one of the reasons why we moved to this
part of town. There are big lots, bigger areas to have a
back yard.
By placing a single-story home on one of these
lots, it does leave you with some back yard, but we have to
be careful in telling each other how we live, how our
families live. We would love to have a pool, we would love
to have soccer goals in the back yard, we have a volleyball
net in our tiny little back yard right now, so there are
reasons why we want this and reasons why people would want
to buy a home that Mr. Jalalian is proposing.
I just think if it’s done well, why does it have
to be bad? This has gone through the DRC of the Town, it
has their approval, and it has the support of Larry Cannon.
I think that just because it’s a two-story home it doesn’t
necessarily mean that it’s a bad thing; there are reasons
for that. Hilow Road is very busy. We do not want our kids
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playing out in the front yard, as was mentioned earlier. We
would love to have them in the back yard. It’s a great
place for a lemonade stand; my kids have made tons of money
out there, because we get a lot of traffic. But those are
the reasons for us that we would support a two-story home
on this street.
One more thing, when you talk about preserving
neighborhoods, I completely respect that and admire that
that’s what you’re here to do. If you looked at the Town
Council meeting, which I know all of you did, you’ll notice
there was a huge amount of support for people that actually
live on Hilow Road, on the street, immediate neighbors
across the street, to the sides, who really support this
house and think that it is a great addition to the
neighborhood, and not something that is going to destroy
the neighborhood. Thank you so much.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you, Ms. Hariri. Gerry
Edwards.
GERRY EDWARDS: Good evening, my name is Gerry
Edwards and I live at 16395 Shady View Lane. My family and
I have lived there since 2011, and my home is two plots to
the south and rear of the proposed development.
I am here to support my neighbors, specifically
the Susicks, the Wagners, the Driedgers, and the Foxes in
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our opposition to this proposed development on the grounds
that the size and scale are not appropriate, and that the
continued development of such size and scale are project-
by-project adversely changing the character and the living
environment of our neighborhood. Larger size and scale and
uniformity of size now seem to be the development trend in
our neighborhood.
I was pleased to see at the last Planning review
for this development that the Commission took the view that
the development was inappropriate because of it’s size and
scale. Unfortunately, and disappointingly, the developer
seems unwilling to make any significant changes to address
the concerns of both this Commission and the neighbors.
I was also disappointed to see that at a recent
appeal to Council no argument was made as to the fault made
by this Commission in voting down this 6-1. Yet, still,
it’s sent back to this Commission for further review.
Instead, arguments continue to be made that
firstly, because overly large houses have already been
built in the area, precedent is used to continue this
development plan. And two, that there is market demand for
larger and larger family developments, and that this demand
takes precedence over sensitive planning and neighbors’
concerns.
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In the case of the first argument, I have to
declare that my home is one of the properties often used as
a precedent to build it big. I live in a 4,000 square foot
house on an 8,000 square foot plot, built in 2006 in the
county. Paradoxically, it is also used as an example of
inappropriate development that can occur without
consideration for the neighborhood and neighbors’ concerns.
My house is indeed considered by some inappropriate in
terms of its size and scale and should never have been
allowed to be built so large. Having lived on this street
for several years and getting to know my neighbors, I can
now understand their views.
I also declare that I oppose the size and scale
of another proposed development directly behind my house on
16386 Hilow Road. The proposal is yet to come before this
Commission, and I note that the developer has delayed the
presentation to the Commission, and therefore your decision
regarding size and scale will set the planning precedent.
My request to this Commission is to continue to
follow the directions set the last time this development
was considered. It is refreshing to see the Commission
recognizing that developments in the neighborhood are being
pushed through house-by-house, precedent-by-precedent, and
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the character of the area has been changed one project at a
time. I’ll leave it there.
CHAIR BADAME: Mr. Edwards, don’t go away. Your
4,000 square foot home, does it also have a cellar?
GERRY EDWARDS: No.
CHAIR BADAME: And do you have a two-car garage,
three-car garage?
GERRY EDWARDS: Two.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you. Our last speaker card,
unless I get more at the last minute, is Lucille Weidman. I
see one coming. This is not the last. We’ll be here a
little later, folks. They keep coming.
LUCILLE WEIDMAN: Good evening, my name is
Lucille Weidman; I live at 215 Carlester Drive. Thank you
for allowing me to express my concerns for the house being
proposed at 16362 Hilow Road.
In my opinion, the house is too massive for the
parcel of land that it will be occupying. If the project is
allowed to go forward as planned, it will set a precedent
for other homes waiting in the pipeline to be built in the
very near future in the Hilow/Shannon neighborhood. Perhaps
a positive precedent can be set by requiring the developer
to design a more modest sized home, a one-story home with
cellar; this is more in line with the look and feel of the
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neighborhood that can be replicated by future homes built
in the Hilow/Shannon areas.
Today young folks want huge, two-story homes, not
realizing that as they age and their children leave the
nest, they will want to scale down to a one-story, small
family home and still live in Los Gatos. Unfortunately, by
then many of the neighborhoods in Los Gatos will not meet
their needs for smaller homes, as there will be few, if
any, left.
I’m a resident of Los Gatos since 1958, so you
can well imagine the tremendous change to our town that I
have seen. I know the Hilow/Shannon area rather well,
having had schoolmates who lived in the area for many
years. It was always a quiet neighborhood with small family
homes, and the small portion of Hilow Road that approaches
Marchmont was but a small dirt road. Now we are dealing
with the concept of I can build a house bigger than yours,
because no one is stopping me philosophy that is beginning
to destroy the quiet charm of our neighborhoods. Modest,
single-family homes are being bought up by developers and
builders who are creating stucco and wood mega-homes,
filling a parcel from stem to stern.
In county-owned Blossom Hill Manor, many one-
story homes are being replaced with truly huge two-story
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homes that take up just about every bit of the property.
Blossom Hill Manor has changed dramatically over just the
past ten years. The homes are huge and so are the price
tags.
We are losing our family neighborhoods where
children played and neighbors knew each other. I have
recently driven and walked through the Hilow area, and to
impose such a large two-story house on that modest parcel
of land would be the beginning of the end of this lovely
neighborhood.
If the house as proposed in the present state is
allowed to go forward, it will be the death knell for yet
another charming Los Gatos neighborhood. We can’t afford to
lose any more of our neighborhood identities. We are a
small, charming country community of neighborhoods that
should be cherished, not destroyed with the bigger and
better philosophy. Please uphold your original decision to
deny the proposed application at 16362 Hilow Road, and I
thank you.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you, Ms. Weidman. We have a
question for you, so don’t go away.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Ms. Weidman, thank you for
coming down tonight, and thank you for your letter, which
you sent to us and which you just read. The one line, you
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were talking about Blossom Hill Manor and how it has
changed dramatically over the past ten years. You said,
”The homes are huge and so are the price tags.” You just
verbally said, “We’re losing our family neighborhoods where
the children played and neighbors knew each other,” but
your letter says, “We are losing our family blue-collar
neighborhoods where children played and neighbors knew each
other.” We have a blue-collar neighborhood on Hilow?
LUCILLE WEIDMAN: I changed it up because I
couldn’t speak under three minutes. I guess when I came to
Los Gatos the communities were blue collar. When I had
friends who lived in that area of Hilow and Robie Lane and
Shannon and that area, it was all blue-collar.
My point being is they’re building homes larger
and larger, which is fine, but then when you want to scale
down as you get into your fifties or sixties, there aren’t
going to be any more small, one-family homes, because
everything is just getting more and more expensive, and
families are going to have to go out of the area, as
opposed to stay in the area, because there’s nothing to
size down.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Have you been on Hilow since
1958?
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LUCILLE WEIDMAN: No, sir, Carlester Drive since
1958, but my schoolmates, when we attended University
Avenue School, I had a lot of friends who lived in that
area, and it was all county, it was all open, not like it
is now. The homes are humongous compared to what they were
when I grew up in the area.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Well, thank you, and I thank
you for your letter.
LUCILLE WEIDMAN: Thank you, sir.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you. Next speaker is Sandy
Decker.
SANDY DECKER: Good evening, Commissioners, Sandy
Decker.
The Residential Guidelines make the most
convincing argument for the incompatibility of this
application. The guidelines warn in the introduction that
as change occurs it should be in a manner that is
respectful to the scale, texture, and character of the
individual neighborhoods and their unique natural setting.
This application is in direct opposition to what the
Residential Guidelines are asking. This house shows no
relation to this predominantly single-story neighborhood.
It doesn’t even attempt to make a sensitive transition.
Instead, it proposes a home so out of context that it
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creates its own anomaly. The cellar in this home is larger
than 30% of the homes on the street.
The Guideline Purpose, Section 1.2, states
clearly that new development must ensure that it is
compatible with its surrounding neighborhood. This
application introduces bulk and mass that dwarfs the fabric
of the surrounding homes.
In Section 1.4 of the Guidelines’ Community
Expectations, it states unequivocally that the new homes
will respect the scale and character of the immediate
neighborhoods. This would suggest that the homes introduced
in the neighborhood would be in a transitional range, not
to go from 1,000 square feet to 5,000 square feet in living
space, which is what this house is designed to.
In Section 1.6, the General Design Principles,
the following principles have been used in the development
of these guidelines, and will be used by the Town to
evaluate plans and design. Number one, encourage
consistency with the neighborhood context. Number two,
design to blend in, not stand out. Number three, reinforce
prevailing neighborhood patterns. Number five, avoid
garages and carports that dominate street frontage. Number
six, relate the structure’s size and bulk to those of the
immediate neighborhood.
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Our community has made dramatic strides lately to
ensure that the people in our town are heard and their
voices valued. This is an opportunity in this current
political climate to assure that the people of this
neighborhood are listened to and not disregarded as more
and more developers come into this neighborhood to scrape
the single-story profile and turn it into a bloated, view
blocking, unaffordable tract of McMansions.
I don’t think anyone is suggesting that the older
homes shouldn’t be redesigned, but the message is follow
the rules and keep this neighborhood in its original
context, not to allow literally overshadowing the lovely
one-story homes in the area. This is what our own
Residential Guidelines were written to prevent. Please
uphold them and deny this application.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you, Ms. Decker. Rod Teague.
He was here a minute ago. There you are.
ROD TEAGUE: Thank you, Commissioners. Born here
in Los Gatos, lived here most of my life. I love this town;
it’s very sacred.
Obviously there is a huge trend going on, and as
many of you know, I’m the founder of Town Not City, which
we have about 3,300 followers in the community, so I hear a
lot about developments.
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I did take some time to look at the property, and
there are a lot of good people here, and like the music
thing, I think it’s about finding middle ground. But
clearly in the trend in our history right now, which is
such a very sensitive time, we’ve become the speculative
town; we operate in extremes. I was checking out Alberto
Way, and we’re going XXX on that, and it just seems that we
don’t find that sort of middle ground any longer.
I just got through with a remodel on my house, a
complete remodel. I live on Johnson Avenue, and my
neighbors had a lot to say about my remodel. I’m an 8,600
square feet lot, and I ended up keeping my neighbors happy,
and I ended up with a 2,100 square foot remodel, which was
actually double the size of what was there, almost.
But again, I think it’s a very sensitive time and
I’m real concerned because it has become speculative, and
we know what happens in speculative environments. They
inflate, and in my opinion they tend to degrade community,
and so I hope somewhere in there is a happy medium for the
residents and the developer. Thank you for your time and
consideration.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you. Last card, Shannon
Susick.
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SHANNON SUSICK: Hi. Did you get your Desk Item?
I apologize; I didn’t get that in on time. I don't know if
anyone had time to read it.
Good evening, Commissioners. There have been no
changes in the above-grade living space since your hearing
in July. One of the other developers on the street said
that he didn’t understand why it was coming back up again,
but that’s for several reasons.
The above-grade space hasn’t changed. The other
things that haven’t changed since July 27th is that our
Residential Design Guidelines are the same. They’re what
distinguishes our town, and if we plan and design only to
the setbacks and the FAR, then this is what we have.
Marcia Jensen somewhat dismissed the 2-2-5. It
was written by several of you, and Mayor Spector and Steve
Leonardis agreed. I would ask you to expand that, and if
you make it 4-6-4, then of the 14 immediate homes on Hilow,
13 are single-story. If you look at the nearest Town
neighborhood, which the Commission didn’t consider, Hilow
Court, which is a few hundred feet from this application,
all single-level homes, all in the Town.
Here is my poor attempt at coloring in the lines,
and this is what I meant. Here is the application. Here is
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the smaller two-story there, and then these are all single-
level homes.
Please uphold your decision. There haven’t been
changes to the above-grade space, nor has the Applicant
worked with the immediate neighbors.
This is a house on the corner of Shannon and
Hilow that just closed escrow and will probably be another
application. This is the developer two doors down. They’ve
taken down the story poles and it’s now vacant, but they’re
waiting. This is another house that just closed escrow.
I would ask the Commission that if there are
neighborhoods in our town that meet all the building
requirements, but if this is our only basis for design and
planning, then what are you here for? What are we all here
for? What are 87-pages of design guidelines for?
The bulk and mass do not conform to the immediate
neighborhood. The use of the cellar in addition is an
abuse. It’s the same issues, and they’re brought back
again, because they haven’t been addressed. Thank you.
CHAIR BADAME: All right, we have a question for
you. Commissioner Hudes.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Thank you, and I appreciate
the information. Unfortunately, I did not have time to read
it. I know that we’re meant to consider everything that’s
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presented to us, but I have to give it the weight that I
can apply to it, which is not very much, because I had to
skim it.
What would you like to see in terms of this? I
want to understand how what you would like to see relates
to the Residential Design Guidelines in your opinion.
SHANNON SUSICK: Well, I think to blend into the
neighborhood and to design for the neighborhood, and to
follow the guidelines. I believe that this is an excellent
chance to use the Cellar Policy for what it was originally
intended for, which part of that was the hillside and this
is not hillside, but you have that cellar space. You can
have a very nicely designed single-level above that, and
you can have three to four… I mean at this point there’s
5,000 square feet of living space. With a cellar and a
single level, you could have…
COMMISSIONER HUDES: So are you suggesting single
level?
SHANNON SUSICK: Yes, I am, with a cellar. That’s
what I would suggest.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: And is that something that
you raised with Council at the Town Council meeting?
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SHANNON SUSICK: I can’t remember if I did. I did
a PowerPoint for that as well, and I believe I mentioned
that in my submission.
The other concern, and the reason why it’s
appropriate for some of these other neighbors even if they
don’t live on Hilow, is that you’re looking at five houses
on that street and three of them back to Shady View Lane,
that are all in a similar situation, original 1,000 or
1,500 square foot or less houses.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Thank you.
SHANNON SUSICK: Thank you.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you. I now invite the
Applicant back up for five minutes to further address his
application, and I see you have a speaker card for me,
thank you very much.
MIKE BROWN: I know it’s getting late for
everybody, so thank you. This is very important, especially
to Valy.
This is our third meeting in this room in the
last six months, so we’re kind of all going through this. I
think it’s clear that Mrs. Susick is kind of gathering the
troops. We’ve got a lot more people from the community
coming against this that don’t necessarily live on the
street. Valy had mentioned to me, “Mike, should we get a
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lot more people to speak in favor of this tonight?” and I
said, “No, I believe the Commissioners have seen this. They
saw the Town Council meeting, they see the neighbor
support.” I mean I could have gathered, gone out with my
network and brought in 50 more, and we could have been here
all night; it wouldn’t benefit us. People obviously have
different needs, different thoughts about what makes a good
home and what makes a good neighborhood.
Valy has been painted as this outsider developer,
the big, bad guy coming in to build these massive homes to
get a big profit, and that’s extremely unfair to this
gentleman who lives in Los Gatos and is a small developer;
he does one home at a time, he does it carefully and
thoughtfully.
Valy and I walked Hilow when we were thinking
about purchasing this property. I know you’re all familiar
with the street. The one end of Hilow is already being
developed. Mostly the original homes are gone. Many of
those homes are two-story and Craftsman. The end, close to
Shannon where we purchased, as you know most of those are
still original. They’re one-story, they’re 1,200 to 1,400
square foot homes. The home next to the one that we
purchased was a two-story home, and I remember we had this
conversation, and I said, “Valy, there’s a two-story next
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to you, so the two-story should not be an issue.” We talked
through this, and I said, “These are all original homes and
this street is in transition, anyone can see that, as is
the Town of Los Gatos.” So to say that someone has to buy
that and keep that a one-story or in that shape is just not
fair.
Again, to be clear, we took it to Town Council.
They were very definitive on what they requested us to do,
to reduce the size of the garage and the cellar; you saw
that. They didn’t ask us to address the bulk and mass, or
the second story. We did exactly what they asked us to do,
and we thought through it carefully, and we thought about
pushing the garage back, and he worked with the architect.
The Town has its requirements, Valy met those,
the DRC approved it. Again, this is a man who went
thoughtfully through this, hired the architect, he thought
he was ready to go. Now we’re into the sixth month, and we
still have people getting up here, we’re talking about two-
story in this area. I’m trying to understand this, but it
seems if the Cellar Policy is an issue, if it’s being
reviewed in the Town, that shouldn’t be at his expense.
The DRC approved what he did. The last home that
we sold that Valy had a cellar; it was quite a large home.
There were many buyers interested and it sold quickly.
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There are many buyers in today’s market who love that, who
would love to have the option of a cellar. If they didn’t,
we wouldn’t put it, we wouldn’t build that type of home,
because we’re doing to sell to bring families into the
community.
I understand there are neighbors who think it’s
too large, but we carefully did the Craftsman style that’s
going to fit into the neighborhood, and like I said, there
are different buyers, different needs. Obviously, we could
be here all night hearing from those opinions, but Valy is
a businessman, but also a kind man. He’s a member of the
community. He wants to build a beautiful Craftsman style
home that a wonderful family could move into.
CHAIR BADAME: You still have time remaining.
VALY JALALIAN: Yeah, I just wanted to add
something. Everybody comes up here, they should know better
that the Town considered every project carefully and they
have the consultant that they hire, and we pay for it,
dearly, to get their decision on that. This project was
approved by Larry Cannon, which he understands obviously
all the design guidelines and everything else. I just
wanted to add that we have respected and followed all the
guidelines, and been reviewed by the Town’s consultant, so
it can be creating and designing their own.
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CHAIR BADAME: Thank you. Any further comments
you’d like to make?
VALY JALALIAN: No, I’d really like to thank you
for your time, and I would like you to consider approving
this project so we can go forward. This is my livelihood.
CHAIR BADAME: Thank you. Commissioner Hudes.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: We heard testimony from a
couple of residents about privacy issues, the resident
directly behind on Shady View, and Mr. Wagner, who I
believe is on the south side. Are these new issues, and
what is your plan for addressing privacy issues with these
two neighbors? Is it new, and what’s the plan?
VALY JALALIAN: No, I think with respect to the
privacy, the privacy was related to Mr. and Mrs. Wagner,
which we addressed by number one, obscuring the windows to
make sure they’re not really visible, and then also we will
raise the window to the 5’ level, so that nobody from the
eye view can see through the window to the next-door. We
also provided screening, provided planting trees, which
they objected to that. They said they don’t want any trees,
but we offered that to mitigate that, but they refused to
have the trees.
As far as Mrs. Driedger, their property is not
directly in front of us; they are actually sitting to the
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left and the east of my property, which the two-story home
directly faces them, so there is no privacy issue with
respect to Mrs. Driedger that I can think of. We have
provided, again, putting trees in the back of the property,
mature trees, 12’-13’, whatever it takes to cover that so
they don’t have the issue with the privacy.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Thank you.
VALY JALALIAN: You’re welcome.
CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner O'Donnell.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I just have one minor
question, and the architect may be the one to speak, I
don't know. In reducing the size of the garage by moving it
back 10’ you did not move the overhang of the roof, did
you?
DARYL FAZEKAS: But I created a porch.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Yeah, I understand. I
guess what I’m wondering, and this is not a suggestion, I’m
just trying to think this thing through, when you look at
the house and you recess the garage 10’, but you leave the
overhang out and you put a porch there, I’m wondering if
you believe as an architect that that reduces the bulk and
mass as (inaudible)?
DARYL FAZEKAS: Oh yes, this house has one story
elements on all three sides. She showed some of the photos
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here where they had the two-story houses that went straight
up. We’re not doing that. The second floor is recessed 5’
back in the front, plus we have 5’ of porch coming out in
the front, so we have this nice one-story roof, each of the
sides pull in 7’ to 8’ on the left and the right side, and
so that’s how you reduce mass and bulk by providing a lot
of one-story roof elements, which is what we did.
The house is only 26’ high. The house next door
is 28’ high. It has straight vertical walls on all four
sides. That’s your mass and bulk there. We are anything but
mass and bulk. The reason you do the one-story roof element
on three sides is so that visually as you’re driving down,
that one-story element blends in with the one-story element
of the one-story house next door. And the one-story house
next door is rather large; it does take up almost all the
lot.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Would you remind me of
the side setbacks?
DARYL FAZEKAS: What are we, 8’-8’, and then 16’-
16’?
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I mean on the ground
though, I guess, is it 8’?
DARYL FAZEKAS: I think we’re 8’ on the ground
level.
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COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Thank you.
CHAIR BADAME: Any further questions? Seeing
none, thank you very much.
The public testimony portion of the hearing is
now closed. I’ll look to the Commissioners, and
Commissioner Hanssen had her hand up first, for discussion,
questions, comments, or a motion.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I had a couple questions,
actually.
The first is I just want to understand, I’m
reading the text of the appeal and it says, “Appeal of the
decision of the Planning Commission denying a request to
construct a new single-family residence is granted, and the
application is remanded to the Planning Commission to
formalize the changes offered by the Applicant for tree
removal, obscuring glass, drainage, and consider reducing
the size of the cellar and the garage.” To me, what does an
appeal being granted mean if it’s not a quasi-approval?
ROBERT SCHULTZ: In many town and city ordinances
they specifically spell out what transpires when a decision
is remanded back to the Planning Commission. Our ordinance
doesn’t say that. Many times it will say exactly that it is
not a de novo hearing, meaning that it’s completely
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reopened, and it’s only specifically to the issues
addressed.
In this case though, we don’t have any of that in
our ordinance. All it says is if it’s remanded, it’s
remanded back based on the direction from the Council. In
this case, in the way we’ve handled all of our remands, is
we have looked at it from a de novo standpoint. However,
you should give great weight to the decision making body,
and that’s the Council, and what their recommendation was.
So you’re not limited only to doing that. Even though they
did grant the appeal, they did remand it back to you to
look at the issues and to make your determination, because
ultimately the A&S application has to be approved, and
although they granted the appeal they didn’t approve the
A&S application.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I have one more question,
if it’s okay. This is probably for Joel.
Do we know how many of the houses on this street
are county versus Town of Los Gatos? The reason I ask the
question is it goes to the question of neighborhood
preservation. If the majority of the houses are at county,
we don’t have a lot of control over neighborhood
preservation, so in fact the county could come in and allow
anyone to build a 4,000 square foot, or whatever; I don’t
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even know what their rules are, but we know on Shady View
that some of these houses are 4,000 square feet and more.
I don't know if that factored into the Town
Council’s granting of the appeal or not, but clearly they
looked at the broader neighborhood even beyond the 4-6-4,
and there are a number of houses that are already two-
story. So again, I’m going back to this thing of if a lot
of the houses are in the county, what controls do we have
other than the few parcels that come in front of us, and
what’s to prevent the rest of the neighborhood going two-
story?
JOEL PAULSON: I’d say in this first section of
Hilow, including the subject application, it looks like
there are at least four that have completed annexation;
they’ve either done improvements or have pending
improvements, like the application before you.
We can’t control the county, I think as you heard
this evening, on Shady View and some of the other streets.
There is a mechanism to stay in the county and not have to
be annexed into the Town, and build to their requirements,
which are different than the Town’s, so that’s where you
have that ability to have these larger homes. I think one
this evening was the 4,000 square foot house on a 8,000
square foot lot, so they have different regulations.
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Typically how this works is as projects are sold,
and if someone wants to demolish the house, if they’re
within 300’ of the Town or adjacent to a Town boundary,
then they have to annex into the Town. That’s when they
come into our process.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: So at the moment there are
four of about ten?
JOEL PAULSON: Roughly, and I think it’s more
than ten on Hilow.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Well, I think they said
there were 25 total, but you said that section of Hilow.
JOEL PAULSON: There are at least 27, 29,
depending. Some of these may be Shannon addresses, not
Hilow.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: So it’s predominantly
county?
JOEL PAULSON: It’s predominantly county, yes.
CHAIR BADAME: Vice Chair Kane.
VICE CHAIR KANE: They’re predominantly county,
but through one mechanism or another are they not one-by-
one coming into the Town? I mean, the Town’s not giving up
any properties to the county, the movement is the county is
allowing annexation, or we’re interested in annexation and
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we’re moving for one reason or another, to take over those
county properties, yes?
JOEL PAULSON: The Town has an agreement with the
county that if it is within 300’ of a Town road or adjacent
to a Town property, that we will in fact annex those if
they trigger demolition.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you.
CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner O'Donnell.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: The 300’ designation, I
assume, does not include most of those 27?
JOEL PAULSON: It’s getting close to
piecemealing, but there are certain pockets, especially
when you get over to Shady View, or even on the other side,
the East Lark Avenue Chiquita, there are some pockets where
you don’t hit that boundary, and so that’s where some of
these may even be able to be demolished and rebuilt and not
have to come to the Town.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I don’t recall the Town
Council mentioning that, but it’s also always a concern to
me, because the county doesn’t seem to care what they
build, and to the extent that it’s only 300’, if somebody
wants to go far enough away they can stay out of the Town,
is what you’re saying?
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JOEL PAULSON: Correct, and that’s getting to the
Blossom Manor comment that was made earlier this evening,
too. There are large pockets there that are not anywhere
near 300’.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: The other thing I guess
that I’m concerned with is I voted with the six, saying
that this proposal did not meet the 2-2-5, and therefore
among other things, the bulk and mass too, but it should be
denied. So we did that.
At the Town Council we all listened to the Town
discussing it, and there were two veins of thought. There
was one motion—a motion and a seconder had failed—but they
were talking about things that I have no idea how it
pertains to this particular project, but they talked about
it could only get the two votes.
Then the motion that did pass, as you all recall,
was when the Mayor said, “There are only these limited
restrictions when you can reverse essentially the Planning
Commission.” So then she said, “I think the proposed
changes are too minor,” and ten minutes later those
proposed changes somehow changed, and they were now big
enough that they could send it back, which is exactly what
they did. It does seem to me there’s a fairly strong
writing on the wall that they have considered the things we
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considered before, and rejected them, because there’s no
explanation for them ignoring the things they ignored, like
bulk and mass, the 2-2-5; they just totally ignored those
things.
So the only thing I’m concerned with is we can
say as a matter of principle we’re standing on the logic we
had last time, which you rejected, and we can send this
developer around in a circle again, or not. So I guess if
this were, as Counsel says, it’s de novo, but it really
isn’t de novo unless you’re prepared to ignore the fact
that the Council has already spoken. If it were not de
novo, we would address the issues they have raised.
I guess what I’m just saying is I can understand
people standing on principle and saying bulk and mass
doesn’t satisfy us, you don’t meet the 2-2-5 and therefore
we’re going to send it back up to you, but I guess if they
are affixed in their position, I hope they simply make a
decision next time, because this circle thing is kind of
not so good.
CHAIR BADAME: Well, I’d like to add in the past
they did make a decision up on the dais, and that would be
a home at Surry Farms, I think it was on Clover Way, and it
was a one-story home and they wanted a metal roof and it
was very dark in color. We denied the application, and they
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appealed it, and it went up to Council with new
information, and it basically was a new application. As far
as I was concerned, it was a completely different house,
but Council with the new information approved it, I don’t
want to say on the spot, but they did not remand it back to
the Commission.
In this case, they did, so it gives me pause that
rather than them just approving this with the little minor
tweaks, they want us to reconsider it.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I agree with what you’re
saying, but I guess I just wondered is it within their
power? Let’s assume that we decide against this again
today. It’s appealed this time and they say okay, enough of
this. They can just make a decision that we’re going to
approve the project as it now exists. In other words,
basically say we don’t agree with the Planning Commission
and we’re not doing this again, we’re going to do what we
want to do. They can do that, can’t they?
ROBERT SCHULTZ: Yes, yes.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Thank you.
CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner Hudes followed by
Vice Chair Kane.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: I’m really troubled with the
kind of decision that’s in front of us, because I was one
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of the people that was opposed to this development in the
first place, because I think it does change the
neighborhood and I do think that it has issues with the
neighborhood compatibility in the guidelines, and I think
it has issues with the bulk, scale, and mass.
However, those issues were considered by the
Council, in my opinion, and I don’t believe that the
Planning Commission is an appeals court for the Council. I
think that they have sent it to us denying the request, and
have sent it with specific instructions, and so I’m
thinking that I need to follow those instructions and not
get into areas that the Council seems to have already
adjudicated in a way maybe I don’t agree with, but it seems
that they have dealt with those issues and haven’t chosen
to send those issues back to us. So that’s kind of where
I’m thinking.
CHAIR BADAME: Vice Chair Kane.
VICE CHAIR KANE: Town Attorney has said de novo;
we can look at this from the beginning. It was also
mentioned earlier that in the recommendations from Staff it
says make the finding that the project complies with the
Residential Design Guidelines; that’s right there. I’m not
going to be able to do that, so we’re stuck. Now, what we
can hope to do is respectfully, humbly, make a case for
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what we’re going to do with this. We’re not sending it back
upstairs. The only way it can go back upstairs is if we
deny and it gets appealed. We’re not sending it back up;
we’re going to make a decision.
And if it is denied, and if it is appealed, my
intention would be to put a whole lot of numbers from the
Residential Design Guidelines and ask, implore, Town
Council to uphold those provisions. Those are the
guidelines and the standards with which we protect and
preserve, and if Commissioners are getting the feeling that
we’re not getting clear guidance from Council, and we
really need clear guidance from Council, because these are
our primary, most valuable tools to do what we’re supposed
to be doing.
I guess on that note I’m ready to make a motion,
unless there’s more discussion, Commissioner Hudes.
CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner Hanssen.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I just had a thought.
Supposing that it wasn’t a de novo application and that all
we could do is look at the issues that were mentioned in
the ordinance from the Council granting the appeal? What if
there was no cellar at all? Because I think we all have
recognized that this isn’t really the intent of the Cellar
Policy, and so that would certainly take not countable
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square footage off, but certainly square footage off of the
whole thing, and it would be in the spirit of the direction
from Council. They said reduce it; it doesn’t mean it
couldn’t be eliminated, because the Council did go through
this whole discussion about the two-story thing, and they
seemed to be pretty comfortable with that, and that wasn’t
part of their direction back to us. So I just throw that
out as an alternative.
CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner O'Donnell.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I certainly agree. We
all know what the purpose of the Cellar Policy was, as we
said. That’s not how it’s been applied, obviously, and I
guess it seems punitive to me. If someone wants to say as
Vice Chair Kane has said, I think what he’s saying is
absolutely accurate. On the other hand, I think it ignores
the reality of the situation. So you can be technically
correct and feel good about that, or as I feel, that we got
pretty clear direction, and very frankly, they’re the
bosses and I’m not. I’m prepared to follow that direction.
To cut out the 1,600 square foot cellar,
basement, whatever you want to call it, doesn’t satisfy
anything for me, because it doesn’t reduce the bulk and
mass. I have no trouble with somebody saying I want to put
something underground that is a reasonable size, and he did
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reduce it, because that’s not our problem in Los Gatos; it
isn’t that the basements are…
So that to me would be a good gesture on our part
to try to accomplish something, but I personally feel it
might be punitive to the Applicant here, and this is not
about punishing the Applicant. I’m not going to do it, but
I’d rather follow the Vice Chair’s rationale, because I
think it’s a good rationale, I just don’t think in light of
what the Council did it’s going to get anywhere. He’s
absolutely right, somebody has to appeal, but if I were
sitting in the Applicant’s chair, I’d appeal. Why wouldn’t
you appeal? We know what the Council did before, and all we
accomplished then is to make the man pay $2,200 or whatever
it is, and I don't know what we’ve accomplished.
CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner Hudes.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: I like the creative thinking
about the cellar, but again, I believe that the Council has
already addressed the cellar. They said consider reducing
the size of the cellar, and I think we have to decide did
the Applicant actually do that? So I don’t think that’s,
again, an item that I feel like we could get into and say
no cellar, because I think the Council has already
addressed that issue.
CHAIR BADAME: Vice Chair Kane.
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VICE CHAIR KANE: As was mentioned earlier, as
Council progressed through this case it was, I think,
initially the Vice Mayor said there are three reasons we
can overturn this, and the first is that the Commission
erred, or exercise and abuse of authority, and they said
no, that’s not it. The new evidence, I’m not sure that was
it, and then they talked about well these are policy
issues.
I’m going to go back to the first one. We did not
err. Six of us said no. I don't know why we wouldn’t do
that again. If it’s an interpretation on some of our parts
that we’re tied into three go/no go alterations, then we’re
ignoring Town Council’s advice, we’re ignoring the
Director’s advice that we have the room to look at the case
de novo, that we have the room to make or not make the
finding that the project complies with Residential Design
Guidelines.
Now, it’s been said why bother sending it back to
them? Here’s one reason, and that is they will hear our
plea to not damage the tools. All we have is language, and
a lot of language has been presented to us in writing and
at the microphone tonight about provisions of the
Residential Design Guidelines that I see as being in
jeopardy. We’ve got a thing here that says make the finding
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that it complies. Well, it doesn’t, in my opinion, and I’ve
got sections and citings almost as thorough as Commissioner
Hudes as to why it doesn’t. Commissioner O'Donnell, the
reason we’re sending it back up is to ask them to reaffirm
these standards and guidelines. They may have missed that
the first time. You are right, they are our bosses, but we
watched the tape, and some of it was light and lively.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Why don’t you make the
motion?
CHAIR BADAME: Yes, Vice Chair Kane, I think
you’re ready for a motion.
VICE CHAIR KANE: And everything they did was
correct.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Right, just like you.
VICE CHAIR KANE: This could be my last evening.
I move to deny Architecture and Site Application S-16-011,
requesting approval to build a new single-family residence
on property zoned R-1:8. This is APN-532-04-082.
I can make the required finding for CEQA, but I
cannot make the required compliance with the Residential
Design Guidelines. As we had opined earlier, it’s in
conflict with a number of provisions in there, many of
which were read to us tonight, a bunch of which I have in
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front of me tonight, but I don't know if it would help or
not.
We talked about mass and scale, and
incompatibility, and privacy and over and over. I would
cite specifically 1.2, at least the fourth bullet; 1.4, the
first point, and the point that says, “Homes will be
designed with respect to views and privacy.” “How to read
your neighborhood. The definition of an immediate
neighborhood is 2-2-5.” Now, that is the definition of
immediate neighborhood, but it is not a rule; it’s a
guideline, and that’s a terribly important guideline,
especially when we talk about a neighborhood that was blue
collar and is being destroyed, and that got my attention,
and that’s what we’re supposed to be here to prevent.
My motion is something to that effect. Can I get
a second?
CHAIR BADAME: Seconded by Commissioner Hanssen?
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Yes.
CHAIR BADAME: All right, any further discussion?
Commissioner Hudes.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: I have a question for the
Town Attorney. In terms of the Staff recommendation and a
motion and findings, there are four findings listed on page
4. Is it necessary to support all of those findings?
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ROBERT SCHULTZ: Yes.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: You have to be able to find
all of those, correct?
ROBERT SCHULTZ: Correct.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Okay, thank you.
ROBERT SCHULTZ: There are only three.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: I’m sorry; I’m looking on
page 4.
CHAIR BADAME: Of the Staff Report?
COMMISSIONER HUDES: The Staff Report.
JOEL PAULSON: Three of them are findings; the
last one is just approving it subject to the conditions.
CHAIR BADAME: I will be supporting the motion.
Page 13 of the Residential Design Guidelines specifically
states that residential development shall be similar in
mass, bulk, and scale to the immediate neighborhood. Shall
is a mandatory directive; it’s not a suggestion.
Even with the directives from Council, the garage
continues to be approximately 30% larger than those in the
immediate neighborhood. The cellar, even though you don’t
count the square footage, the cellar in addition to the
house, you’ve got 5,079 square feet of living area,
intensifying the land use, and it’s out of character with
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the immediate neighborhood. So I will be supporting the
motion.
Commissioner O'Donnell.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: You know where I came
down, but I will say this. Since I do not disagree with the
rationale, if I vote in favor of this, which I think I’m
going to do, it’s only because I do agree with in
principle, I don’t think practically it’s the way to go,
but if that’s what the majority wants to do, I’d hate to be
on the record agreeing with what the Council did.
CHAIR BADAME: Vice Chair Kane.
VICE CHAIR KANE: If we don’t stand together, we
hang separately.
CHAIR BADAME: Any further discussion? Seeing
none, I will call the question. All in favor? Opposed?
Commissioner Erekson and Commissioner Hudes opposed. Passes
4-2 that it is denied.
Mr. Paulson, are there appeal rights of the
actions of the Commission on this item?
JOEL PAULSON: There are appeal rights. Anyone
who is not satisfied with the decision of the Planning
Commission can appeal that decision to the Town Council.
Forms are available in the Clerk’s Office. There’s a fee
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for filing the appeal, and the appeal must be filed within
ten days.