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: No trees are proposed to be removed as part of this project. The project site contains one, moderately significant Monterey cypress tree in the rear yard, and one significant Coast live oak tree in the right-of-way at the front of the property. Carmel Municipal Code Section 17.34.070 (Landscaping Standards for Residential Districts) requires that upper and lower canopy trees be planted as a component of development projects if needed. The City Forester recommends planting three upper and one lower canopy trees along with specific tree protection measures to protect the root zones of existing on-site and adjacent trees. With the application of conditions of approval, the project meets the objectives of forest character.
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: The staff did not identify any potential privacy or view impacts.
Parking and Access: Residential Design Guidelines 6.1 through 6.7 encourages subordinate parking facilities that do not dominate the design of the house or site; minimizing the amount of paved surface for a driveway; positioning garages to maximize open space, views, and privacy; and, minimizing visual impacts.
Staff Response: The original cottage was constructed before 1913 and did not include a garage. An accessory building appeared on the 1962 Sanborn Map at the northwest corner of the rear yard. In 1963, the City required the removal of the accessory building (a garage). While the record is unclear, it may have been due to the lack of a permit for the structure. Under current code requirements, the property is nonconforming as it relates to parking.
Carmel Municipal Code Section 17.10.030.F requires a minimum 10’ x 20’ parking space. Detached garages or carports are allowed to encroach into the front setback but not parking pads. An 8’-6” x 19’-4” parking pad in the front setback remains on a portion of the driveway that previously provided access to the garage. The current owners use the parking pad for off-street parking.
Carmel Municipal Code Section 17.10.030.F.2 (Additional Requirements) states that developed building sites that do not meet parking standards shall be considered nonconforming. No floor area additions shall be allowed unless the proposed plans for construction comply with all parking standards.
Carmel Municipal Code Section 17.52.070 (Variances) allows modification of minimum parking requirements and minimum setback dimensions through a variance. When considering whether to a grant a variance, the Planning Commission must make the following special findings:
A. That due to special physical circumstances applicable to the property, the strict application of the Zoning Ordinance will deprive the property of privileges enjoyed by other properties in the vicinity which were developed under the same limitations of the Zoning Ordinance;
B. That the variance will not constitute a grant of special privilege inconsistent with limitations on other property in the vicinity and within the same zone;
C. That the variance will not be detrimental to adjacent property or injurious to public health, safety or welfare;
D. That the condition or situation of the property for which the variance is sought is not so general or recurrent in nature as to make reasonable or practical the formulation of a general regulation to address such condition or situation;
E. That the situation or condition for which the variance is sought was not the result of actions of the existing or any prior owner of the property; and
F. That granting the variance will not be in conflict with the General Plan, or the general zoning objectives of the district within which the affected property lies.
The original 1913 cottage remains substantially intact. Minor modifications include a partial enclosure of the front porch in the 1950’s and a small addition on the rear elevation in the 1960’s. The siting of the cottage 10’ from the front property line precludes the construction of a detached garage or carport in the front setback without removing portions of the original house. This creates a special physical circumstance that precludes the owners from establishing covered parking on the property. This situation is not so common to warrant the creation of a general regulation to address the condition but rather is limited in application and facilitates the preservation of a substantially intact cottage constructed in the early years of the village’s history but does not rise to the level of inclusion on the local historic inventory.
As a result, the applicant requests a variance to waive the 15’ front yard setback for a parking pad and modify the required parking dimensions to 8’-6” by 20’. The staff notes that a compact parking space is 8’-6” wide, consistent with the existing side yard setback. The public right-of-way includes an additional 7’ between the front property line and the street edge. Based on these conditions, the granting of a variance would not be a detriment to adjacent property or be injurious to the public health, safety or welfare. Staff finds there is adequate space to maintain the existing parking pad and supports the granting of the variance to preserve the character of the original cottage.
The applicant is seeking approval of a variance to maintain the existing parking pad in the front setback and allow the 270 square-foot addition at the rear of the house (refer to Attachment 5).
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 building mass as seen from the public way or adjacent properties, and relate to a human scale in its basic forms.
Staff Response: The 270 square-foot single-story addition extends the existing walls at the rear of the residence, maintaining current side yard setbacks and reducing the rear yard setback from 26’-5” to 18’-6”. The addition is appropriate in scale and is not visible from the public way. The project meets the objectives of mass and bulk.
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.
Staff Response: The addition would maintain the existing 8’-8” plate height, and the ridge height of the primary roof form would remain at 14’-9”. The rear elevation would contain two front-facing gable roof forms on the rear elevation (refer to Attachment 4, Sheet A7). Neither roof form would be visible from the front of the property and would maintain a 4:12 slope consistent with the primary roof form. The project meets the objectives of building and roof form.
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: The right-of-way is in a natural state with informal plantings and a significant Coast live oak. The width of the right-of-way between the front property line and the edge of the street is relatively narrow at 7’ and not quite wide enough to accommodate on-street parking. The applicant is not proposing any changes to the right-of-way. The project meets the objectives of forest character.