Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

You can't discuss it.

Oh. Oh. I'm not going to argue with that. I'm just going to say you need to.

Okay. Hello, everybody. This is a... This is the agenda special meeting, I want to make sure I call it right, of the Larkspur Planning Commission today, Tuesday, March 31st, 2026, 6.30 p.m. at Larkspur City Council Chambers. I would like to call the meeting to order and ask for a roll call, please.

Good evening. Commissioner Hall. Here. Commissioner Chalmers. Yeah. Commissioner Wagstaff. Here. Vice Chair Campbell. Here. Chair Swisher. I'm here. Chair Swisher, we have a quorum. Excellent.

All right. So the next item is public comment on matters that are currently not on the agenda. This is a time for all members of the public to speak up if there's any matter that is not on the agenda that they would like to address today. All right. Hearing none and nobody on Zoom. Next is the Community Development Director's Report.

As many of you were there, we had a wonderful grand opening of the Larkspur Library on Saturday. A lot of people attended. I think Commissioner Hull visited me at the community development table. It was very lonely on the corner of the parking lot. I got visited by a lot of children because the table was in front of the bounce house. Excellent. Did you bounce? No, but they took all of my candy within the first 30 minutes. Excellent. That's what it's for. I was able to help two people with building permit questions, which is interesting because we do have the ability to do our business as community development through our laptops. Pretty much anywhere we have a connection to the city's network. And they designed the library to have access in the parking lot. So when all hell breaks loose and we have a really bad earthquake, I will probably be in the same place running the departments from a folding table. Yesterday was city council. We had a meeting. We had our introduction to the city's budget. Um, that will happen at 2 more meetings. Um, the next council meeting is April 14th 15th. There will not be a budget presentation on the 15th of April, but there will for the following 2. If any of you are curious, and so I think that's about all I have to report. Oh yeah, our chief building official yesterday did a presentation on the new building code. So if you're curious about the changes to the new building code, you can watch his presentation and read the staff report online from yesterday's council meeting. So that's another item you might be interested in. I'll leave it at that. Thank you.

All right, then we'll go into the public hearing section. The first item is a continuation from our March 10th, 2026 meeting regarding 501 via Casitas, APN 022-080-06, Chad Renoso, applicant. Sequoia Living is the owner. And this was a public hearing request for design review to permit an accessory structure larger than 400 square feet, a slope use permit to permit 126 yards of cut and fill to create a level area for the improvements. and a fence height exception to permit the construction of an eight-foot fence where the height limit is six feet. The issues that we discussed at the last meeting, I believe, were in regards to the fence design. And what was the other main issue?

Go ahead.

Oh, landscaping. Yeah, that's right. Correct. All right. Is the applicant here and wishes to speak?

The applicant's joined us on Zoom. I do have just a quick presentation for you. Great. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, the presentation.

Since it was a continuation, I wasn't sure if you would have a presentation, but fire it up.

Yes, so good evening again, this is regarding PLN 25-045 for 501 via Casitas. As you just mentioned, this was continued from your last meeting. As a refresher, this is an accessory structure proposed on the hillside of what's commonly referred to as the TAM and in the general area of the screenshot there on the right. And the project proposes to cut into the hillside to create a level platform, which will contain a fuel cell and a condenser unit. which as designed requires you to approve a design review entitlement, slope use permit, and a fence height exception. And as we've just discussed, this was heard at your last meeting. You continued the item to tonight and instructed the applicant to return with some revisions for landscaping and fence design. At the prior meeting, the fence design was a chain link fence, and you wanted something a little bit more aesthetically pleasing. So to that end, the project has been revised. The applicant has now included new landscaping, which will screen the retaining wall And that includes a mix of Cleveland sage, coffee berry, California lilac, bush anemone, red flowering current, and mountain mahogany. And they provided an elevation that you kind of see where they're supposed to locate all of those to screen the tallest portions of the retaining wall. And in addition to that, they've also proposed two new fence treatments. The first being a chain link fence with vinyl privacy slats, which you can see on the right there. And then the other alternative is a six inch wide horizontal side, horizontal fencing, excuse me, which could be constructed out of wood or aluminum. The applicant has indicated that their preference is the former option, the chain link with the vinyl. The city's preference would be the horizontal fencing in this case. You've received no new public comments regarding this project. So with that, I'm going to conclude my report here. Staff recommends that you hold a public hearing, consider any public testimony, discuss and approve the project subject to findings, conditions of approval, and a Class 1 CEQA exemption. Thank you.

The applicant is here as well. All right. Let's hear from the applicant, please. I had a quick question first.

Good. Is there a drawing of the horizontal fence proposal? Because I couldn't find anything.

It was included as the last page here. Let me share my screen again.

The last page.

Okay.

And what color is it exactly?

Yeah, that was not indicated by the applicant. So they could... flesh that out. But this image right here on the screen, that's the horizontal object.

That can be wood or aluminum.

That's what the applicant is.

Wait, what's that last word you used? Okay. This is America. All right.

It's still aluminum. All right.

Any other questions? Okay. Applicant, please.

yes thank you for having me again um yeah you can see that the two options that we have there uh we went back and looked at especially the cost the chain link fence is by far the more cost effective it's about generally one tenth the price of the aluminum fence we we've looked at it more closely and we would not be putting wood in there that would be just too much maintenance uh it would be a it It would be a powder coated or a factory sealed aluminum and the color would be most likely just the dark color could be dark green brown black they have standard mostly muted colors. there's dark colors like I just mentioned, and there are light colors like white and off white, but our assumption would be something darker would be better there. In addition, we were looking at the height of the fence being just six feet. We do not need it to be eight feet in this situation. You know, it'll be six feet. You know, we do have a drop off from the concrete slab where the concrete equipment is located and there's a drop off of that. So we don't need to go more than six feet on any of that. And the six feet height would really be to shade or to hide the fuel cell itself. You can see the condenser and the drawings is below the height of the fence. So that would be completely hidden from the street. So our preference, again, would be to have the chain link with the privacy slats. It's just a lot more cost effective for us. I understand that that's not what you guys might want to see, but that's our preference. And this project is already running over cost with all the landscape and actually the civil work we have to do to dig. Are there any questions you have for me about these?

I don't have any questions. Anybody have any questions?

I have a question for staff.

Why do you prefer the horizontal versus the chain link?

I believe the aesthetics of a horizontal fencing are better than a chain link with the vinyl slats in it. I think those personally don't hold up very well over time either. Yeah. I agree.

All right, well, let's bring it back to the, are there any public comments now about this?

Anyone has any hands to raise for a public comment? Mr. Bloom has his hand raised. All right, Mr. Bloom.

Sorry, not a public comment, but just me again. I also wanted to note that we listed the plants, and Alex had stated which ones were there. We just found native plants that would work there, and they all are six feet or higher, so they could grow there. and cover that wall. We'd prefer to do the planting there rather than the stamping of the concrete, only because that stamping of concrete is very difficult to get on such a small scale. That's usually done for freeway ramp applications and larger walls. So just in looking at that, investigating that, that's going to be very difficult for us to do. So the planting is much more

positive option from our side i think it looks better myself as well i just wanted to note that all right anybody other any other public comments there are no other hands raised all right so let's bring it back to us um start let's have that brock i'm gonna start

Okay. Well, I think from my perspective, the better fence is a better option. It's going to look a lot nicer. Chain link fences have a – and particularly with the slats, which never seem to hold up very well, they sort of shatter and break. And so, you know, that's what I would support. I have to say that I think they could do textured concrete. You look at what they just finished in the pump house in Heather Park. It looks a lot nicer, but on the other hand, I'm okay with the plants if that's what everybody else is okay with.

Great. Liam?

Yeah, I pretty much agree with Brock. I recall that there are some other chain link fences with the vinyl slats on them. on the street sort of on the other side of the street and um my recollection is that they they haven't held up well and that could be a function of landscaping and other maintenance that i'm sure the applicant uh would not do but i think in general they i think it's it's going to be a uh you're going to notice this from from south felicio and from the street um My God, what street is it? Via Casitas. So I think that, you know, I think it's going to be pretty prominent. So I think I'd be in favor of the horizontal slats. Tamara?

I'm not picky about either of the fence styles. I could go either way. And yeah, it's going to be visible, but the entire facility is visible. I mean, it's, you know, and they've already got that kind of big chain link fence that's down the one street where they have parking. And so to me, chain link doesn't seem that out of place. you know context for the property but i do like the idea of the plants i don't really care if they want to do stamped concrete that's fine i don't have a preference for that i think the plants would be better because it would be greenery and you know as opposed to just a design so all right natasha um well i would have actually moved the the whole

um project around the corner so um given it's right here and it's right opposite the residences across the um the way i definitely would would go with the horizontal uh fencing i think that just looks much nicer um and then the of the color options the black or the dark green i think would be my preference and like commissioner hall i'm fine with the plantings as well

I agree with everybody here. I think you could do, let's say, black vinyl chain link, which would disappear, but then you're not really hiding your structure with that. So I would be in favor. I know it's more expensive, but this is something that your neighbors are going to see. So I would spend the money on nice horizontal fencing. And I'm totally fine. In fact, I'm encouraging you to put in good native plants along there and they'll grow as well. So that you, you know, six, eight, seven feet would be great. So I would be in favor of approving it with the horizontal fence. Dark, yeah, dark. I mean, dark, yeah. I don't make it pink. But yeah, dark, I think is dark green, dark black, black. Powder coated would be nice. And I'm aware of this expensive, but really considering your whole project, I don't think it's a huge part of the expense. All right. So does somebody would like to make a motion? Brock, why don't you make a motion?

I have a quick question, though. Do we have to do the fence exception? Because it was a fence exception because it was going to be over six feet, but now it's not?

Well, the fence itself will be six feet, but because it's on top of a retaining wall, the whole retaining wall is going to be above. So you still need the exception. Okay. Okay.

Okay, I would approve, move to approve 501 via Casitas PLN 25-45 with the second fence option and the planting that's proposed. And a dark color on the slats, a brown.

I second.

All right. Can I have a roll call, please?

Yes. Commissioner Chalmers? Yes. Commissioner Wagstaff? Yes. Vice Chair Campbell?

Yes.

Chair Swisher?

Yes.

Motion passes. Great. Excellent.

All right.

For the next item, Commissioner Chalmers might recuse herself.

Yeah, I'm going to announce that your decision is subject to a 10-day appeal. Interested parties can appeal the decision by filing the required form and fees with the city clerk within 10 days from the date of today's hearing.

All right. Very good. The next item is a public hearing request for 73 via La Brisa, APN 022273-03. Mark Wittenkeller, applicant. Patrick and Lindsay Stewart are owners. Public hearing for design review to permit a 457 square foot second story addition to a 3,844 square foot two-story single family residence for a total size of 4,301 square feet, a FAR exemption. I'll announce it in a second, to permit a floor area ratio of 0.445 or 4,301 square feet, where 0.403,864 square feet is the maximum allowed. And for this item, Commissioner Chalmers lives within 500 feet of the subject property and is recused from the discussion. Thank you. All right. Goodbye.

Yeah. You can come back and vote on the minutes. You have to stay out there.

Good night. See ya. All right. So staff report, please.

Yeah. Just a moment here. All right. Good evening again. This is PLN 25 to 042 for 73 via La Brisa. Excuse me, 043 for 73 via La Brisa. The project is located in the Larkspur Marina. The overhead shots on the right, or on the left, excuse me, on the overhead for you. And then the street view is on the right. And the image, or the street view, the garage you see on the left there, that is the location of the proposed second story addition. So the project proposes to add 457 square feet to an existing 3,844 square foot, two-story single family residence. And the project would result in a floor area ratio of 0.445, where 0.4 is the maximum permitted floor area ratio. And this would require of a planning commission to approve a design review entitlement and a floor area ratio exception. And on the left there is the site plan with, again, the proposed addition over the garage is shaded here at the bottom of the image. This darker shading at the top is an existing deck. And here are the affected floor plans for you. There are no alterations proposed on the first level. So this is the second story existing on the left proposed on the right. And the addition would contain two bedrooms and a laundry area as well as a few closet spaces. And here are the elevations. This is the front. The existing is on the bottom. And then the proposed addition is on the top. And it's a little hard from this image to tell, but there is a cantilevered window projection proposed above the garage. It's just above that cornice strip that would ring the garage. And it would use like-for-like materials as the existing home. It would be hardy shingle siding and a Class A comm shingle roof. And here are both of the side elevations, both east and west. On the upper right, that's the more prominent elevation, I guess I would say, for the addition. And you can see it proposed there with a couple, there will be two new windows that would face an adjacent property. In this case, the window in the cloud here, if you can see that, that's proposed to be obscured. And then here is the rear elevation, largely the same, just with this little pop out here that you can see from the back of the proposed addition. And again, this window is proposed to be obscured as well. Moving on to the floor area ratio exception request. As I'm sure everyone on the commission is aware, properties in the R1 zone are permitted a maximum floor area ratio of 0.4. In this case, that would be 3,864 square feet for this lot. This project would result in an FAR of 0.445 or 4,301 square feet. It would be the fourth largest FAR and the third largest square footage of the residences in the surrounding 300 feet. which you can see that I provided you an FAR study as an attachment, which will show you exactly how it stacks up with those in the neighborhood. And the average, I forget if I mentioned it, is 0.341. So this is 0.105 above the average. You've received one public comment on this project. It is in support from the neighbor who's directly across Villa Brisa from 73 Villa Brisa. There's been no other comments submitted at this time. and with that staff recommends that the commission hold a public hearing consider public testimony discuss the project and approve it subject to findings conditions of approval and excuse me a class one sequel exemption and that concludes my report and the owner and applicant are here as well in case you have any questions for them great uh wonderful do we have any at this point any staff i mean any public comments uh we have no public comments no hands are raised at this time excellent all right who would like to uh present

Just, hi.

So thanks for taking time to come to the meeting. Yeah, so I've been working with the stewards for multiple months. I've actually did work also directly with the three-person architecture committee of the Larksker Marina. Oh, there we go. the Larkspur Marina Property Owners Association. So I work closely with the neighborhood from the very beginning. And the owners are a growing family. They just had their fourth child in December, or rather November. And they are seeking more room for the kids. So actually I have seven neighborhood signatures from neighbors that are within 700 feet of the property. And then as the planner had just said, we've even received a letter from the neighbor across the street supporting the project. I tried to design this in a way that it really fits in with the architectural elements of the existing home Um, very classic detailing, but really no changes on the exterior finishes. Um, and, uh, the, the roof is 27 years old, so the entire roof will be removed and replaced with a roof of the exact same color. Um, which is, um, just something I would throw in also, uh, sort of a deferred maintenance item. Other than that, I'm available to talk, uh, or answer any questions at all about the design.

Thank you very much for your time. I really appreciate you hearing us out. I would just like to add that my wife and I moved our family up here to Larkspur just this last summer in July. And we've been eyeing the exact neighborhood that we moved into for about five years and finally found the opportunity. And we're very much looking forward to raising our families in the neighborhood with our neighbors and growing old in that house as well. We just need a little bit more space for our kids is a lot. So thank you.

Do we have any questions for Mr. Booker? For opportunity.

One question is the... Oh, sorry. Is the... Is the protrusion at the front cantilevered, or is that...

It is embedded in the roof element, so we are going to be carrying the same skirt, the roof element that actually exists at the home, around and above the existing two-car garage. And so that will be there in that roof element. So it is... It is within the roof element itself.

So the bump out is over the existing garage wall, basically.

Yes. Okay. Yep.

Anything else?

Nope.

All right, Liam.

No.

Tamara, do you have any questions?

No. No.

All right, well, I don't have any questions. Thanks, Commissioner. That's great. I guess we'll bring it back for comment. Tamara, when do you start?

I think it's a lovely design.

OK. OK, well, I went up and down the street. I don't think anybody has a two-story element that's right basically on the front like that. And if it were up to me, I would pull it back a little bit and break up that mass. It just feels like it's going to be a big block. And those houses, as you well know, it's an interesting area because you've got FAR that's based on half water. So you've really got big houses on little tiny or smaller plots of land. And that's the way it was set up. So that's what we're dealing with. But we're now going over... point four and uh it's a it's a it's a really big house so i would if it were up to me i'd like to see a little more detailing on the front in terms of i like to pop out but if it could be recessed back where you actually have a roof and you get a sense there's a single story below that's what i would opt for liam

Yeah, so looking at the numbers, I sort of was thinking along similar lines to Brock. We've dealt with a lot of issues with our floor area ratio rules, especially on sloping lots. We get a lot of these requests, but this seems to be sort of not along the vein of a problem or an issue with our rules, but it's a big house, I guess.

so out of turn i'm sorry yeah just wait well once you're once we i'll comment then you can but you want if you want to address a specific uh issue go ahead i have an exhibit that does show uh houses that have a two-footer greater cantilever um and this is something that i did address with the three-person architecture committee and the rmpoa would do with all due respect to commissioner um black staff um So this is a subject that was covered and it was the three-person architecture communities.

If I can have you speak into the microphone. Sorry.

That if the, the roof element was there to break up the massing. And I have an exhibit that was part of the, the, the neighbor to neighbor visits that I did with neighbors that shows the I'm sorry, 437, 480, 567, 550, and 41 via La Brisa all have two-foot cantilevers that are over. With all due respect, I know that you walked the neighborhood, Commissioner.

Can I show this exhibit?

Sure.

Okay.

So this is what I had prepared at the time that I went to one of the three-person architecture committees. And this is the subject problem. Okay, good to know. And I'll be here all night.

Hopefully we will not be, but okay.

With the planning department, I didn't even bring this exhibit.

You can speak into the microphone, please.

With the planning department staff, I did not even bring this exhibit in because this was an item I covered with the architecture committee.

Okay.

Well, I guess, did you have any more comments or did you?

I mean, that, that was, I think like, I think I generally agree with, with, with Brock on this one. It seems like we've, we've... I hesitate to approve. Sometimes the addition on top of the garage, it can look pretty formidable from the street. I appreciate the bay window, if you will, and the roofline below, but I I think we could do more because it's going to be a big house. It's going to be the second biggest house by floor area and the fourth biggest by floor area ratio, if I have that right.

It's up there. It would be the fourth largest in the 500, 300 foot radius.

By floor area ratio.

Yeah, fourth largest FAR, third largest in terms of total square

Okay. You know, so I guess, I don't know, but those are my thoughts. It's a big house, and I feel like we could do more to break up that front face.

There are actual color changes and material changes that I could propose for that to set it apart. And one of them is a simple... Rather than using hardy shake, we would just use a flat hardy panel and do a board and bat. Very, very minimal. It's just like the element coming out would be we could do it in a lighter color, and we could pinstripe it by having the board and bat elements. And I think that that would really you know, diminish the size and make, and, and, and really, um, be scaled better to, you know, to the neighborhood, um, in that manner. But, um, with all due respect, I know that commissioner Wagstaff is practicing architects. Um, but, um, again, I would have to go back to my three person committee. So this would, um, delay, um, quite a bit. This would be about a one month or greater. If I have to come back, I'm so sorry. I have no problems coming back and representing, but this means I actually have to go to two bodies. I have to go back to the homeowners association architecture committee. Then I have to come back to the planning commission. Um, but, um, I can definitely create a materials and finish package and present it. And the, uh, at the April planning commission, uh, scheduled meeting, if I could be added to that agenda, I think that the chair would have to, um, allow me to do that. Um, yeah. for for material i'm so sorry the massing i really felt like i got it right and i didn't oversize the house um but i would like to come back and show you material differences and some more detailing as commissioner wagstaff has mentioned just i'm not trying to design your house for you but those are actually pretty big bedrooms you've got either queen size or king size beds in them and

It wouldn't take much to pull it back a little bit just to create more interest at that end of the house. But I'll let the other people decide too.

Yes, the homeowner would like to speak to the commission.

Sure. Go ahead. Well, yeah. And then I'll make comments, but go ahead.

Thank you. In terms of the floor area and the size of the house, as noted, we have four kids. I am probably going to be the tallest person you're going to see in months. I know that because that's what I am in my world. My boy is going to be my same height by the time he turns about 16, 17 years old. We're all very big people. The standard ratios are hard for us to work with. And I will also add in that we're happy to do that. But I'll also add in that my parents-in-law are north of 80 years old. Right now they're fine. And we actually anticipate that at some point in the next few years, they'll have to be spending more and more time with us in our house. And so we'll not just be myself, my wife, and our four young kids, but then also part of the time we're going to have my parents-in-law staying with us as well. So we will have not only the Yes, one of the largest houses, but easily the largest family amongst all the neighbors. Thank you.

All right. Thank you for that. How tall are you? Yeah, big guy. So I understand where Brock's coming from in terms of the massing, and I think I would appreciate The changes that you suggest, either board and batten or color change or something like that, I personally do not feel inclined to delay you a month. I think that both Liam and Brock have very good points, but I think it's something that you've heard and I think you can address without us having to delay you. That's my personal feeling, without having to delay you. to do this. I think that area and the marina is such that there's such a wide variety of houses there that if this was on a different street, let's say it was on Monta Vista or some other street, this would be a different issue. But we have very wide streets there. And given the fact that your neighbors were all in favor of it and you have a commission as well, a homeowners association that was fine with it, I would be inclined to do that with a proviso that you take into account what a very talented architect, Mr. Wagstaff has suggested.

The proviso, if possible, is that you could instruct the applicant, me, to meet with the planning department to present them at least two options for material finishes and allow the planning staff to look at the materials presented. So I would not provide just one option. option and another was also I want to explain this also is that right now there is a roof eve I think that also to reduce the massing of this, it's 11 inches is the protrusion. It's not two feet. The exhibit I presented is actually a two-foot study of the two-foot projections over garages. To essentially just make it a sheet nettle roof with... uh just a raised roof form so that it's not a fully formed roof eve i think this would be more defensible in a in a in an urban wildfire event also so i have been considering doing this and i think that is also a way to reduce the mass and i would propose to make it a very um light color. So it would not be the dark gray like the shingles are in the house.

Yeah. I think the goal, I mean, as I understand Brock's issue is that you don't want to make it so monolithic and make it less, and so that it stands out as an articulated element as opposed to, you know, like a monolith and tall like that.

I think a metal roof, Brock, what's the kind of roof that I put on my house? What's that called? That steel...

Standing seam. Standing seam, yeah. Yeah. The standing seam type roof, because it would kind of mirror your... It looks like your turret there with that kind of thing, and it would make it differentiate enough.

So I would propose that I would eliminate altogether the eave form itself and just have... I do know some terrific roofers that could build it as an entire element. And then it would be actually placed, you know, at the, at the, at the top of that and not have a fully built out roof. Yeah. If my owner didn't have these family needs and I guess, you know, I have the technology and I would like to present two options to planning and then I'd be happy, but I would be happy to come back and present those options.

uh to the commission if if they yeah again i'm not sure that i mean i'm not going to speak for the you know my gentleman to my right here but i i think that you do have a family issue and it's cost and time is money and etc etc so i would be in favor if that we trust you to do these things that's how i would look at it and uh with the direction that the planning commission is given thank you thank you yeah all right i i guess i just want to bring up a point to the

to the commission. I mean, it seems like I know we've, uh, you know, we've, we're always in a, in a tricky situation of, um, you know, balancing the needs of, of the homeowner, right. You know, who have a right to, to develop their property as they see fit and between the sort of the needs of the community. Um, and, um, I guess I'm glad in this case that it sounds like there's been some neighbor input and that there's a homeowners association that has signed off on it. And so that gives me some comfort. But I guess I just, you know, it seems to me that, you know, it's going to be a big house. And I understand that, you know, you need a big house. But I think our role is to sort of balance that with, you know, the needs of the community or the, you know, community character and all that kind of thing. And it's up to, you know, it's up to each of us to decide where that balance lies. But I just, you know, I just want, I guess maybe it's for you too. Like when I say that the, you know, I think the house is big, it's not saying that you don't need the space. It's just trying to square that circle of, you know, two competing needs, right? Yeah.

And to be honest, I, I really don't think it would take very much. I, you know, I'd be happy to have staff, you know, if you could, those are big bedrooms actually. And, and you could pull it, you could easily pull it back a couple of feet and have and break up that mass. And, you know, I don't want to design your house for him, but it's a really big house on a really fairly small site. So,

One more thing before you answer, and maybe it's a question to Brock too. I'm not an architect, but one way that we've seen to reduce how a house looks from the street is to reduce plate heights. Looking at the front of the house, it looks like the garage is pretty tall, right?

It's a 65-inch tall attic, so it's quite tall. Can I just present this to the chair? Sure. This is something I kind of came with a full size image of that to sort of show what it would look like. That's just a recap. With all due respect for Commissioner Wagstaff is that the house also presents itself in massing actually in a really nice articulated way. And this house was completely rebuilt in 1997. And I feel like this garage element is very minimal in its changes or the, in the articulation of the, of the house itself. It's done in the spirit of the architecture that was done in 97. Um, but I was, I was hoping the commissioners could just look at that sketch very briefly, um, as to the standing seam metal cap, as opposed to the roof Eve, um,

This is the same as the standing scene. Got it. Oh, I see. On the eave above the windows.

There's an exhibit I brought in. Oh, is it? All right.

Is there any other discussion? So I want to make sure that we come up with a motion that we'll

reflect what we're saying so tamra i'm going to leave it to you to make the motion well but i i guess i've got a question for staff too because i don't want to leave too much on staff right it sounds like we are um potentially i mean i don't know what the motion will be but i'm not sure proposing some some uh you know i've i've heard um move the wall in a couple feet and reduce the size of the bedrooms to kind of break that up or some other detailing and i i don't know what staff is comfortable with uh in terms of the general specifics of that like making decisions for the planning commission i would say make your decision here tonight because if it comes to us we're going to look at the findings we're going to look at our objective design standards and that's it but

You're basically, if you give a decision like this to staff, you're basically, what's the word I'm thinking of?

Delegating your responsibility.

No, you're delegating your authority, and that's not what the code intended. So I would ask that the commission make the decision tonight.

Right, right.

and give the applicant clear direction. And I'd also refer back to the findings. The findings for design review and you have findings for the floor area exception. The floor area exception is very simple. There's just two findings. Did they employ mass reducing techniques, blending in with the neighborhood, architectural design sensitive to the immediate neighbors, and will not contribute significantly to adverse traffic or parking. And then for the design review, I mean, compatibility with neighbors, both overall design, other plans and regulations, public health safety and welfare green building, those are your findings. So, you know, honestly, I would just say, just make the decision. I don't think it's a good idea to delegate these things to staff because we're back in the same position that you are and you may not like what you get.

Thank you. And may I ask the chair that I can have the neighbor across the street just wrote a support letter. This is the neighbor that actually looks directly at the garage. I think it would be helpful for just us to look at that briefly on the screen for the record so that it's there. His name is, I've met him once. It's T. Oh, great. For the record, I would like that. We got that email. So that's another family that's across the street. I've met him on one occasion. It was only within the last week that he approached Patrick's wife and said, Hey, you know, what do you guys need? And so he offered to write a letter. So he's in, I'm sorry, family across the street has seen the design. They were part of the folks that I went and walked and talked with my items before going to my three person architecture committee. So I just asked that I have to go back to another committee if I'm, If I'm to change the design on this, it's actually ensconced in my application documents or the approval from the Larkspur Marina Property Owners Association.

Okay. Well, how do you want to proceed?

I mean, go ahead.

I'm sorry. I don't want to be the bad guy. I would love you to have everything you want, but it just, it doesn't have to be quite so massive. And the, the, the lower roof is basically just a trim band and or, or whatever that is that goes around. And it's, it's, I don't think much is lost by actually pulling back a little bit on that upper floor. And I, you know, we're, we're supposed to be deciding these things. Um, I mean, I'm glad you, I, I know you have a family, a big family and, um, you sound like really nice people, but we have, I feel we have to do this based on, on what's, um, what's good for the town in general. And, and If we let this one go, the next one does the same thing. So it doesn't have to be, you know, it's just not a big loss to have a little bit more detail and a little less mass. But I'll let the other commissioners decide too.

I was actually surprised that it was only an expansion of the second floor above the garage. I thought there would be an expansion of the second floor above what I assumed was a living room as well. But, you know, a nice big two-story use. So to me, there's more that they could have requested, I guess. And... expanding over the garage seems reasonable. And the thing that I came back to was that, you know, the Property Owners Association has an architectural committee. They've approved it. We've got no negative comments from neighbors and nobody has gone last minute on Zoom. I mean, there's just, there seems to be no negative, nobody opposed to it. And, you know, and to me that that weighs. And the other thing that I look at is, you know, it's a very unique neighborhood. It's not a neighborhood I would want to live in because I don't want water in my backyard. But I have friends and clients who live out there and, you know, I've been around there. And to me, all the houses are too big for their footprint. Every one of them. I don't think there's any house that's out there that's, you know, would fit into like a normal, you know, piece of land. So I don't know. To me, it doesn't seem to be that egregious of a request. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, it's a tough one because I mean, I think I agree with Brock, like looking at the numbers, looking at the house, you know, it's a big house on what effectively is a small lot, but even it's a big house on, you know, the full size lot, right? Land and water. um such that it's it's one of the biggest houses or would be one of the biggest houses in the in the neighborhood um but our fa i mean as as our uh community development director pointed out you know we're making specific findings and so i guess you know i i'm not sure that uh the pulling back the wall a couple of feet would make that big of an impact on the overall floor area ratio But I think it could go a long way to, or something along those lines, breaking up that front facade. I think it could go a long way to be a mass reducing technique, I guess, and sort of mitigate the impact of what would be one of the biggest houses in the area. All right.

Well, how do you want to proceed?

Can I speak to the chair for a moment?

Well, you can speak to the whole commission. Thank you. I'm just one member.

I was hoping someone could put a motion forward that I would have. I have some numbers in mind would be if if the commissioner respectfully would like pull back. I feel like eight inches of the massing of the overall bedrooms and then six inches so that I would have a six inch projection in order to articulate the six windows for the for the kids. These are two children's bedrooms, but they will become a grandparent. guest room is if we can create a motion that I, I'm sorry, I guess I would ask for a motion because if I get specific instructions from the commission on what to do, then I can come back as not as a full review. I can just come back as I produce the drawings. But eight inches in total for all of the rooms. So moving the wall from south to north, eight inches. And then moving the articulation of the six bay window, as Commissioner Campbell so eloquently called it, the bay window, is to move the bay windows six inches back. So it would be a total... Yeah, it would be actually a total... right yeah so well it seems to me that given you know again you have brock who's it'd be a one foot two inch in total move back away from the um yeah brock what do you think about that so what would the bay window align with the um with the wall below is that what you're saying uh it would be it would project about six inches beyond the garage with those figures a five Yeah. Eight inch for the entire bedroom frontage facing the street. And then six inches would put it about six, about six inches. It would, it would make it a projection of about six inches over the existing finish of the garage wall.

That's there now.

And commissioner Campbell did point out that there is a very tall attic there. It's 65 inches tall. So it does, it stands out very prominently now. But if you give me specific instructions or measures, that was what I was asking, because then I can produce those documents, I can give them to the planning staff, and then I can be just as a...

line item on one of the future um planning commission meetings i think probably the best thing to do would be to have like someone like brock um give a specific guidance uh from an architectural standpoint since you're the architect here thank you um and then i would also ask Andrew and Alex, whether or not we could prioritize it for the next meeting. So rather than make a motion tonight and then have to vote and have a split vote, et cetera, to give guidance to them to come back with a revised plan, the motion would be to basically have a revised plan given the concerns that you've heard expressed tonight and then prioritize it for the next meeting to continue it essentially.

Could we not pass it contingent on the change?

If you want to be very specific in your motion as to what changes you want to be made.

That was my point before. Can we do something specific to the motion? If you could do that, I would be in favor of passing it. Then they wouldn't even have to come back here. And then they wouldn't have to come back. Right. Yeah. I mean, I would like to facilitate this. But with very specific design guidelines that someone far smarter than me can do.

Well, let's hear it, Brock.

So what I propose is a pullback that the bay window aligns with the garage face. Okay. Just simply. Okay.

Great. I think that would be great. And then we'll have a six-inch difference. Then I'll move the kid's bedroom wall six inches beyond that so that there is some articulation. Yeah, yeah. You need some articulation at the corner.

Big cinches. It has to be a bay window. Right, yeah. So there's a bay window.

Thank you. All right. Can we make a motion for that? Yeah, you're going to have to do that. Okay. Where am I?

Okay. I would move approval of 73 via La Brista with design review and floor area ratio exception with the understanding that the bay window aligns with the face of the garage and that the eaves circle around and

And that, I guess you said bay window, so that implies that it's... Would you also include the materials request for a batten?

Yeah. What did we talk about?

We talked about doing horizontal battens, like hardy board or something with horizontal battens.

Pinstripe.

Pinstripe, yeah. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah.

Board and bat using a 5-8ths hardy panel, pinstriping probably on 8 inches on center. That would sync up very nicely with the hardy-shaped shingles that will be sitting behind it.

And the roof would be a standing seam.

Yes, sir. Standing seam. Okay. We've got to redo it.

I think we've got to redo it.

I'm going to read to you what I got. So you would approve it with the provisions that basically the front facade is pushed back so that the bay window aligns with the garage beneath it and the other two walls of the bedroom are then further pushed back so that you retain the actual bay window. And then you would like a board and batten siding and a standing seam metal roof on the addition as opposed to the hardy shingles. Yes, you got it. Perfect.

Okay.

Yes.

All right.

Let's second it. I'll second.

Okay. Tamara seconds it. We have a roll call.

Commissioner Hill.

Yes.

Commissioner Wagstaff. Yes. Yes. Vice Chair Campbell? Yes. Chair Swisher? Yes. Motion passes. Excellent.

And your motion is for the approval subject to a 10-day appeal period. Interested parties can appeal the decision by filing the required form and fees with the city clerk for the conclusion of the appeal period. All right. Congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you. All right. um next item on the agenda is the approval of february 10th 2026 and march 10th 2026 planning commission meeting minutes so have any comments on that i think there was we didn't approve march february 10th because we didn't have enough people so february

I think I was gone and Natasha was gone. I guess there's three of you guys here.

I would move to approve the February 10th minutes as presented.

March 10th? I'll second it.

I figured we would do them separately because Liam can only vote on one and not the other.

If you've watched it, you can vote on it.

I didn't watch it. Let's do February 10th.

I moved and Brock seconded.

Brock seconded. All right. Let's just do real acclamation.

Yes.

Anybody opposed?

I'd abstain.

All right. Three. Yes. The next is the March.

I move to approve March 10th as presented.

I second. Acclamation. Anybody opposed? Passes. All righty. Are there any planning commissioner reports?

Just want to say what a lovely grand opening we had at the library. Your wife was lovely. I'd never met her before.

Thank you. You met my Dana. Yeah, she was great.

The, uh, a lot of plants she did.

Refugia Marin is, um, uh, it's, uh, just a public announcement. There's going to be a fundraiser for the Larkspur library, uh, refugia on, uh, April 28th at the Lark theater. Um, And that's going to be a fundraiser for Refugio Marin, which is a nonprofit. And my sister, Kara Swisher, is hosting it. And we will have special guests who will be there.

Very cool.

A well-known local author. I don't want to say now, but very well-known author. And we'll be there. And so it'll be really quite an event. And if you go to the website, refugiummerin.org, you can see what the details are for it. And it is to raise money for the pollinator habitat garden at the Larkspur Public Library. All right. So next motion on the agenda is adjournment.

I move to adjourn. No?

What? Are we canceling the April 14th meeting? Is that what I understood from the last meeting?

I thought we decided that at the last meeting, and that was why we had this meeting.

Yes. So when would be the next meeting? Oh, it would be May something.

It would be May 12th.

Oh, yes.

Thank you. Is there stuff on our docket that we need to get to before then?

Not at this time.

A couple hundred housing element coming up.

The state accepted our housing element.

Wow. Congratulations.

Annual progress report.

Yeah.

Oh, cool.

That's great.

That's great. Took me two attempts. Great. And before adjournment, I'd like to comment that I have heard several public comments as to what a good job you, Andrew, are doing.

Oh, that's right, Matt.

Yeah. I've heard several members of the community express happiness that you're in this role and doing this job. That's great. All right. So then a motion for adjournment. And the next meeting is going to be May 12th.

I move to adjourn. I'll second. Yeah.

Aye. Aye. All right. And that concludes our meeting today. Thank you.