DS 23-160 (Lutz): Consideration of a Combined Concept and Final Design Study and associated Coastal Development Permit for one-story additions totaling 211 square feet to an existing one-story 1,249-square-foot residence, construction of a 235-square-foot detached garage in the front yard setback, and associated site modifications, at the historic "Elizabeth F. Armstrong House," located on Santa Fe Street 4 northwest of 6th Avenue in the Single-Family Residential (R-1) District. APN 010-092-005-000.

Adopt a Resolution (Attachment 1) approving a combined Concept and Final Design Study and associated Coastal Development Permit for one-story additions totaling 211 square feet, a 235-square-foot detached garage in the front yard setback, and associated site improvements located on Santa Fe Street 4, northwest of 6^th Avenue. APN 010-092-005-000

The historic “Elizabeth F. Armstrong House” is located on Santa Fe Street 4 northwest of 6th Avenue.  The one-story, wood-framed stucco cottage was built in 1928 by Hugh Comstock.  The Tudor/Storybook-style residence expanded to the rear in 1958 (to connect to a c.1930 guesthouse) and was expanded to the rear again in 1967. 

According to the DPR 523 survey form authored by Kent Seavey in 2002, the property is historically significant under California Register Criterion 3 “as a contributor to a fully documented district that is eligible for designation as a local historic district.” The Comstock Hill Historic District (eligible but not listed) contains the largest concentration of early residential buildings by noted Carmel designer/builder Hugh Comstock.

The “Elizabeth F. Armstrong House” also known as “Our House,” has the distinction of being the only known Comstock collage to be replicated by Comstock for a second client, Elspeth Rose, whose “Sunwise Turn” cottage at N. Casanova and Palou is commonly referred to as the “twin on Palou.”

The character-defining features of the “Elizabeth F. Armstrong House” are concentrated on the original 1928 portion of the house and include:

•          Irregular plan and steeply pitched gabled roof

•          One-story massing

•          Textured, rustic stucco exterior walls

•          Carmel stone exterior chimney

•          Gabled bracket portico at the north entry with triangular, carved wood brackets

•          Single, paired, and banked multi-pane wood casement windows

•          Arched fixed window north of the chimney

•          Wood French doors at the south elevation

•          Braced wood shutters with heart cut-outs

Forest Character: Residential Design Guidelines 1.1 through 1.4 encourage 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: During the preliminary site assessment, the City Forester identified ten trees on or immediately adjacent to the property, including five Coast live oaks, two Podocarpus, one Redwood, one Maple, and one Pittosporum. All trees were rated significant, with the exception of the Pittosporum and Podocarpus. However, the two Coast live oak trees proposed for removal, trees no. 5 and no. 6, do not meet the minimum size required to be rated significant.

City code (CMC 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 the standard tree density of three upper and one lower canopy tree. With the application of conditions, the project meets the objectives of forest character.

Privacy and Views: Residential Design Guidelines 5.1 through 5.3 encourage designs that preserve reasonable privacy for adjacent properties and maintain view opportunities of natural features.

Staff Response: No potential privacy or view impacts were identified.

Parking and Access: Residential Design Guidelines 6.1 through 6.7 encourage 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 project site does not currently contain on-site parking. Off-street parking is provided in the public right-of-way at the front of the property. The applicant is proposing to construct a detached garage in the front yard setback, 7 inches from the front property line. The garage has been placed as close to the north (side) property line as is feasible without impacting a significant Redwood tree, and furthest away from the cottage to minimize visual obstruction of the historic resource. While locating a garage in the front yard setback reduces the amount of open space in the front yard, it also minimizes the amount of paved surface for a driveway. The proposed garage is 12 feet, 6 inches tall, with a ridge elevation of 227.3’. Staff estimates the highest ridge elevation of the cottage to be 229.6’. The detached garage is further analyzed below.

Detached Garage in the Front Setback:  CMC Section 17.10.030.A.1 (Detached Garages and Carports) allows detached garages within the front yard setback to encourage variety and diversity in neighborhood design subject to the following standards:

1)     The Planning Commission may authorize a single-car, detached garage or carport not exceeding 12 feet in width, 250 square feet in floor area, and 15 feet in height in either the front yard setback or the side yard setback facing a street (but not both).

Staff Response: The proposed single-car detached garage would be in the front yard setback, 7” from the front property line and 7’-2” from the north (side) lot line (6’-4” at the projecting bay window). Existing topography and a significant Redwood tree prevent the garage from being closer to the north (side) property line.  The garage is proposed to be 11’ wide and no more than 235 square feet in area (per Resolution 2023-020-HRB) to minimize visual obstruction of the historic resource. The depth of the garage meets the minimum requirement of 20’, and the height is proposed to be 12’-6”. The garage meets standard no. 1.

2)     At least 50 percent of the adjacent right-of-way is landscaped or preserved in a natural and forested condition to compensate for the loss of open space.

Staff Response: The distance between the front property line and the edge of the roadway is approximately 16 feet and provides off-street parking for the neighborhood. The proposed driveway would be 9 feet wide, leaving approximately 20 linear feet of open space in the public right-of-way for off-street parking. The project meets standard no. 2.

3)     The proposed setback encroachment would not impact significant or moderately significant trees.

Staff Response: The proposed garage is located in close proximity to a significant Redwood (tree no. 4). CMC 17.48.110.A (Protection of Existing Trees) prohibits the compaction of soils, construction of building walls, or placement of impermeable surfaces within 6 feet of a significant tree to protect the root structure of the tree. The City Forester allows construction within the 6-foot root protection zone if it can be demonstrated that no significant roots would be impacted. Special Condition No. 37 requires the applicant to obtain approval from the City Forester for any encroachment into the 6-foot root protection zone. With the application of conditions, the project meets standard 3.

4)     Free and safe movement of pedestrians and vehicles in adjacent rights-of-way is protected.

Staff Response: The project site is approximately mid-block on the west side of Santa Fe Street between 5^th and 6^th Avenues. Approximately 16 feet of unimproved right of way is between the front property line and the street edge. This depth could accommodate a compact-sized vehicle in the driveway; however, a standard-sized vehicle may extend into the roadway, creating a safety hazard. Staff recommends a minimum depth of 18 feet between the face of the garage and the edge of the roadway to accommodate most vehicle sizes (Special Condition of Approval No. 40). With the application of conditions, the project meets standard no. 4.

5)     All development on site will be in scale with adjacent properties and the neighborhood context consistent with adopted design guidelines.

Staff Response: The detached garage proposes an 8-foot interior plate height and an overall height of 12 feet, 6 inches. The garage would be 2 feet, 4 inches lower than the historic cottage. Residential design guideline 6.2 encourages parking facilities that maintain or enhance variety along the street edge. The proposed detached garage meets this guideline, as there are no other detached garages in the immediate neighborhood. Additionally, guideline 6.1 encourages single-car garage doors, and the proposed garage is a single-car garage. Residential Design Guideline 6.5 encourages positioning a garage to maximize opportunities for open space, views, and privacy. The historic cottage maintains a front yard setback of 38 feet, 8 inches, providing a sizeable amount of open space at the front of the lot. The project meets standard no. 5.

6)     Placement of the garage or carport in the setback will add diversity to the neighborhood streetscape.

Staff Response: As noted above, residential design guideline 6.2 encourages parking facilities that maintain or enhance variety along the street edge, and the project meets this guideline. The project meets standard no. 6.

The proposed detached garage complies with the requirements for garages within the front yard setback, and the project meets the objectives of parking and access.

Mass and Bulk: Residential Design Guidelines 7.1 through 7.7 encourage 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 one-story additions to the cottage are modest in size consisting of a 76-square-foot kitchen addition on the south elevation and a 135-square-foot bedroom addition on the north elevation. Both additions are below the existing ridgeline of the cottage and are not readily visible from the public way or adjacent properties. The project meets the objectives of mass and bulk.

Building and Roof Form: Residential Design Guidelines 8.1 through 8.5 encourage 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: Both additions add variation in the building plane where an otherwise flat wall exists. However, the additions are not readily visible to the public or adjacent properties. On the north elevation, the variation in the building plane creates a small courtyard enclosed on three sides.  The roof form on the north addition is a side-facing gable pitched at 8.5:12. The roof form on the south addition is an extension of the existing shed roof. Both additions and their roof forms are subordinate to the historic cottage. The project meets the objectives of building and roof form.

Finish Details: The existing cottage is finished in stucco. The proposed additions and detached garage would be finished with board and batten siding to differentiate the modern construction from the historic fabric of the cottage. The exterior color scheme is “Schoolhouse White,” a lighter white with tan undertones. The trim color is “Simply White,” a brighter white. Shutters and planters are proposed to be painted “Spellbound,” a grayish blue. The roof material would be wood shake. Special Condition No. 38 requires the Carmel stone chimney to remain unpainted.

Exterior Lighting:  Carmel 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.”

Staff Response: No exterior lighting is proposed.

Fencing/Gate/Arbor:  Residential Design Guidelines 11.1 through 11.3 states designing without a fence or wall along a street frontage should be considered first; respect the neighborhood context when designing a fence or wall; and, when designing a fence or wall along a street, preserve the open space resources of the immediate neighborhood.

Staff Response: No fencing, gates, or arbors are proposed.

Site Coverage: CMC Section 17.10.030.C (Site Coverage) limits impermeable site coverage to 22% of the base floor area allowed for the site. On a 4,000-square-foot lot, the allowed base floor area is 1,800 square feet, and the amount of site coverage permitted is 396 square feet. Impermeable materials include asphalt, concrete, mortared brick and stone, decomposed granite, unspaced decking and balconies at any level, garden walls, solariums, bridges, sheds not counted as floor areas, ponds, hot tubs, and swimming pools.

If at least 50 percent of all site coverage on the property is made of permeable or semi-permeable materials, an additional amount of site coverage of up to four percent of the site area, 160 square feet, may be allowed for use in a single driveway of up to nine feet in width. Permeable and semi-permeable materials include gravel, spaced decking and exterior stairs, sand-set bricks or pavers, garden walkways of small paving stones, and arbors.

Sites not in compliance with site coverage limits shall not be authorized to increase site coverage. Sites with excess coverage may add floor area only when:

a. The site complies with the R-1 district tree density provisions established in CMC 17.48.080(A), and all existing and new trees have sufficient space to protect the root zones and provide for new growth; and

b. Excess site coverage will be reduced at a rate equal to two times the amount of floor area added to the site or to an amount that complies with the site coverage limits, whichever is less.

Staff Response: The applicant proposes to remove 366 square feet of stone walkways, preserve the historic south patio at 189 square feet, and retain 286 square feet of stone walkways. New site coverage includes a trash enclosure, landings, and steps. Excluding the historic patio, 400 square feet of site coverage is proposed. The project meets the objectives of site coverage.

Landscaping: Residential Design Guideline 10.0 states that project sites should “Provide for upper and lower canopy trees when designing the landscape. Landscape plans that use native plants and other varieties accustomed to growing along the Central Coast are encouraged. Planting in areas visible from the street or other public places should continue the forest character. Plants in the public right-of-way should be predominantly green foliage plants, in keeping with the design traditions of Carmel.”

Carmel Municipal Code Section 17.48.080, Table 17.48-A includes recommended tree densities for various lot sizes. Lots up to 4,000 square feet are recommended to have three upper and one lower canopy tree.

Staff Response: No new landscaping is proposed.

Skylights: Residential Design Guidelines 9.13 and 9.14 state that when a skylight is to be used, it should blend with the overall building design, and its visual impacts should be minimized. Skylights may be appropriate when interior spaces have no access to exterior windows or windows have limited access to light; windows would cause greater impacts to adjoining homes; the skylight design is compatible with the architecture; and, the size is appropriate to the lighting task. Skylights should not be visually prominent from the street or from neighboring windows. The size, placement, number, and design should be an integral part of the building design; skylights should be framed in colors that match adjoining roof surfaces; and, skylights that produce glare or light pollution visible to neighbors or the public should be mitigated.

Staff recommends the project be found categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), State CEQA guidelines, and local environmental regulations, pursuant to Section 15301 (Class 1) – Existing Facilities and Section 15331 (Class 31) – Historical Resource Restoration/Rehabilitation.

Class 1 exemptions include additions to existing structures provided that the addition will not result in an increase of more than 50 percent of the floor area of the structures before the addition or 2,500 square feet, whichever is less. Class 31 exemptions include the maintenance, repair, stabilization, rehabilitation, restoration, preservation, conservation, or reconstruction of a historical resource in a manner consistent with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for Preserving, Rehabilitation, Restoring, and Reconstructing Historic Buildings.