Detached Garage Design: According to CMC 17.10.030.A.1, "To encourage variety and diversity in neighborhood design, detached garages and carports may be authorized by the Planning Commission within the front yard setback facing the street and within an interior side yard setback," provided that the proposal is compliant with the following Municipal Code requirements:
1. At least 50% of the adjacent right-of-way is landscaped.
Staff Response: The applicant is proposing to re-use the existing driveway's concrete paver stones to create a new 10.5'-wide driveway at the new detached garage. The applicant is also proposing to remove the existing encroaching stone pathway in the right-of-way and replace it with a new 3.5' wide decomposed granite front walkway. Staff notes that there are several encroachments in front of the property including the front fence, two stone parking areas and a low boulder retaining wall (refer to Attachment 2). Staff has drafted Special Condition of Approval number 24 requiring the removal of all encroachments in front of the property. With the removal of these encroachments, 65% of the adjacent right-of-way will be landscaped or left natural to compensate for the loss of open space that would result from locating the detached garage in the front setback.
2. The proposed setback encroachment would not impact significant trees.
Staff Response: The construction of the detached garage will require the removal of a Yucca tree from the front yard. The City Forester supports the removal of this non-significant tree with the condition that a new lower-canopy tree from the City's approved species list be planted on the property (refer to Attachment 4, Special Conditions of Approval number 25 and 26).
3. The protection of the free and safe movement of pedestrians.
Staff Response: The detached garage would be set back one foot from the front property line and existing planting in the right-of-way and would not impede pedestrians walking along Carmelo Street. Furthermore, the removal of boulder encroachments from the right-of-way will improve pedestrian walkability in front of the property. Finally, the detached garage will be located 13.5’ from the street edge which is sufficient space to allow a driver to safely view oncoming traffic when backing out of the garage.
4. All development on site will be in scale with adjacent properties.
Staff Response: The detached garage is proposed to be 12’ in height at the street and 13’ in height at the rear of the garage, while the maximum height allowed by the Municipal Code is 15’.
The massing of the detached garage is modest as it is proposed to be the minimum 200-square-foot size and 10’ in width while the maximum area permitted is 250 square feet and the maximum width is permitted to be 12’.
Staff notes that the existing attached garage encroaches one foot into the front yard setback and is legal, nonconforming. As no additional floor area is being added to the attached garage, it may remain as-is. CMC 17.36.030 allows a nonconforming structure to be altered as long as such alteration does not increase the nonconformity.
5. Placement of the garage within the front setback will add diversity to the neighborhood streetscape.
Staff Response: There are two other detached garages in the front yard setback on this block. One is located immediately to the north of the project site and the other is located on the southeast side of the street. Since vegetation visually separates the proposed detached garage and the detached garage immediately to the north, the proposed garage will not create a repeating pattern of detached garages on the block and would add variety to the streetscape.
Site Coverage: Per Municipal Code Section 17.10.030.C, site coverage shall be limited to a maximum of 22 percent of the base floor area allowed for the site (Note: on a 4,000 square-foot site this equals 396 square feet or 22% of the base floor area). If at least 50 percent of all site coverage consists of permeable or semi-permeable materials, an additional amount of site coverage of up to four percent of the site area may be allowed up to 556 square feet.
The property’s existing site coverage is 1,353.5 square feet and is therefore nonconforming because it exceeds the maximum amount allowed. Per the requirements of 17.10.030.C, the applicant may only add floor area if excess site coverage is reduced at a rate equal to two times the amount of floor area added, or to an amount that complies with the site coverage limits, whichever is less.
The applicant is proposing to remove most of the existing driveway, and portions of existing patios and walkways totaling the removal of 400.5 square feet of site coverage in order to add the new 200-square-foot detached garage which would reduce the total site coverage to 877.5 square feet.
Finish Materials: The detached garage is proposed to have board-and-batten siding and a wood shake roof to match the residence’s siding and roof materials. The foundation of the garage will be wrapped with stone. The stone will have a coursed and roughly-squared pattern in compliance with the City’s Residential Design Guidelines. The proposed garage door will be a wood roll-up type. The detached garage will be accessed by French doors on the north side elevation and a 3’ x 3’ wood window will be located on the rear west elevation. No windows are proposed on the south elevation.
Exterior Lighting: Municipal Code Section 15.36.070.B.1 states that all exterior lighting attached to the main building or any accessory building shall be no higher than 10 feet above the ground and shall not exceed 25 watts (incandescent equivalent; i.e., approximately 375 lumens) in power per fixture, and that landscape lighting shall not exceed 18 inches above the ground nor more than 15 watts (incandescent equivalent; i.e., approximately 225 lumens) per fixture.
In addition, Residential Design Guideline 11.8, states that projects should, “preserve the low nighttime lighting character of the residential neighborhoods. Use lights only where needed for safety and at outdoor activity areas.”
The applicant is proposing a 25-watt lantern-style lighting fixture next to the French doors on the detached garage. Since the light is proposed to be an incandescent type, the bulb would be visible in the glass portion. Staff has drafted Condition of Approval number 27 requiring that the applicant choose a lighting fixture with a bulb that is entirely shielded and down-facing.
Conversion of Existing Garage into Living Space: The applicant is proposing to convert the residence’s existing attached garage into a master bathroom and laundry room. The existing garage door will be replaced with a new window at the master closet on the front elevation of the residence. A new window with a high sill height will be installed at the new master bathroom on the north elevation. Finally, a new skylight will be installed at the master bathroom on the north-facing slope of the roof. The skylight will not be visible from the right-of-way. Per standard condition of approval number 10, the skylight is required to have an interior shade that can be pulled across the skylight.