Forest Character: Residential Design Guidelines 1.1 through 1.4 encourages preserving significant trees and minimizing impacts on established trees; protecting the root systems of all trees to be preserved; and, maintaining a forested image on the site.
Staff Response: The site contains nine trees including six significant Coast Live Oaks, one significant Monterey Pine, and one moderately significant Coast Live Oak; no trees are proposed to be removed as part of the project. All significant and moderately significant trees are located along the southern property line, and the Forestry Department has reviewed the proposal and has determined that the new residence is adequately set back and will not impact these trees. Additionally, the Forestry Department did not require any additional tree planting for the project, and has also reviewed and approved the landscape plan for the project.
Privacy and Views: Residential Design Guidelines 5.1 through 5.3 encourages designs that preserve reasonable privacy for adjacent properties and maintain view opportunities to natural features.
Staff Response: Staff has identified a minor privacy impact associated with the project; however, staff has not received any correspondence from neighboring property owners regarding either privacy or view impacts. The southern elevation of the residence overlooks the neighboring downhill property to the south with views into the neighbor’s rear patio area from a proposed egress window in the master bedroom (refer to Attachment #2; Figures #4 & 5). Staff recommends the Planning Commission require the applicant to provide additional landscape screening along the southern property line in the vicinity of the neighbor’s patio, or relocate the bedroom egress window to allow for the sill height of the window causing the privacy impact to be raised to a height where the impact would be mitigated (refer to Attachment #4; Draft Condition/Recommendation #1).
The proposed residence maintains nearly the same ridge height of the existing residence as viewed from the public right-of-way (maintains an elevation point of approximately 216’). Additionally, the majority of the new building placement on the site is located in the area of the existing deck, which is primarily proposed to be one story, as well as located on the downhill portion of the lot (refer to Attachment 2, Figure 5). Staff has not identified any view impacts associated with the project. As conditioned, the project is consistent with the Design Guidelines pertaining to privacy and views.
Mass and Bulk: Residential Design Guidelines 7.1 through 7.7 encourages a building’s mass to relate to the context of other homes nearby; minimize the mass of a building as seen from the public way or adjacent properties; and, relate to a human scale in its basic forms.
Staff Response: The proposed residence relates to the context of other homes nearby in terms of mass and bulk (refer to Attachment #5, sheet A1.2). The proposed two-story residence will have a split-level appearance from the street. The two-story element of the building steps down with the topography of the lot which is encouraged by the Residential Design Guidelines.
The building is compliant in terms of ridge and plate height with the exception of a small portion of the exterior wall located at the southeast corner of the great room. Staff has drafted a condition requiring the applicant reduce the plate height to no more than 12 feet (refer to attachment #3, draft condition #2). The plate height currently does not meet the requirements of CMC 17.10.030.B, Height Limits, as the plate height of the single story element (the great room) exceeds the maximum allowable 12 foot plate height by 1’8” (refer to Attachment #5, Sheet A3.1, South Elevation).
Building and Roof Form: Residential Design Guidelines 8.1 through 8.5 encourages traditional building forms; using restraint with variations in building planes; using simple roof forms that are in proportion to the scale of the building; and, roof eave lines that are low in scale. Guideline 8.3 states to “limit the number of subordinate attachments, such as dormers, to avoid cluttered design.”
Staff Response: The roof of the residence is composed of a combination of hipped and gabled roof forms. The roof is moderately pitched at 4:12 throughout and is proposed to be finished with ceramic tiles.
The building form is a basic rectangular shape. The building contains multiple variations in wall plane; however, these variations are not overly complicated or busy, and add architectural interest and detail to the residence. The residence features a projecting element to house the proposed staircase for the residence with smaller variations in the wall plane, and changes in material which add break up the wall planes as encouraged in the residential design guidelines. Additionally, the building forms are functional as they facilitate circulation, as well as allow the second story portion of the residence to be significantly setback from the street.
Site Coverage/Landscaping: The project site will be compliant in terms of site coverage. The applicant is proposing 556 square feet of site coverage improvements with 310 square feet of the coverage being constructed with pervious materials. The site coverage improvements include a new driveway, yard walls, new patios, an outdoor shower, and new stepping-stones and walkways. The City Forester has also reviewed and approved the landscape plan for the project.
Right-of-way Character: Residential Design Guidelines 1.5 through 1.7 encourages maintaining an informal open space character of the right-of-way; maintaining trees and natural vegetation; and, designing parking areas to reinforce the forest image.
Staff Response: There are no existing right-of-way encroachments along Palou Avenue, however, there are minor encroachments along the Casanova frontage near the intersection of the two streets (Refer to Attachment #2; Figure #3). Staff has included a draft condition of approval stating all encroachments shall be removed prior to final inspection (refer to attachment 4, draft condition #3).
Landscape Lighting: The applicant is proposing landscape lighting inconsistent with the guidelines and standards for landscape lighting (Refer to attachment #5; Sheet L1). Per CMC 15.36.070.B.2, landscape lighting shall not exceed 18 inches above the ground nor more than 15 watts (incandescent equivalent) per fixture and shall be spaced no closer than 10 feet apart. Furthermore, purpose of landscape lighting is to safely illuminate walkways and entrances to the subject property, while preserve the low nighttime lighting character of the residential neighborhood as discussed in Residential Design Guideline 11.8.
The applicant is proposing post lanterns to be located on the stucco wall near the property line at the walkway entrance. These fixtures are inappropriate for the site as they conflict with the Residential Design Guideline 11.8 and CMC 15.36.070.B.2, as they: are located more than 18 inches above the ground, spaced closer than 10 feet apart, exceed the allowable lumens for landscape lighting. Staff has included a draft condition of approval #4 stating the applicant shall remove the post lighting prior to final details review.
ARMR: As the project site is located in the Archeological Significance (AS) Overlay District, the applicant is required to submit an “Archeological Resource Management Report” (ARMR). The purpose of the ARMR is to allow staff and the Planning Commission to review proposed construction and mitigation for potential impacts on archaeological resources. Draft Condition of Approval #5 requires the applicant to submit an ARMR to staff to be reviewed prior to the project being scheduled for final details review.