Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Everybody, um, we'll now call to order the planning commission meeting of April 8th, 2026. I will now call the role. Commissioners, please stay here when your name is called. Commissioner Stump, here. Commissioner Sordy, here. Commissioner Bernett, here. here. I am here as well. And we have um Vice Chair Barnett and Commissioner Thomas are not here this evening.

Please stand if you're able as Commissioner Stump leads us in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Commissioner Stomp. As the planning commission conducts the meeting this evening, we encourage active participation by the public, which is essential to democracy and the important work of the planning commission. Public input is very welcomed and is always considered. The public can participate in a few ways. Prior to a meeting, written comments about agenda items may be submitted to staff. And during the meeting, there are two opportunities for members of the public to participate. First is during the verbal communications period. An individual may speak on a topic that is not on the agenda. And then second, during the public hearing portion of tonight's meeting, any members of the public may speak about an agenda item. and you'll be advised of the times when you come to speak. If you wish to address the commission tonight during verbal communications portion or a public hearings agenda, please raise your hand on Zoom or if you are in person, please fill out a speaker card and provide that to staff. When you're called to speak, please come up to the podium, speak directly into the microphone as this meeting is being recorded. State your name or indicate that you are speaking anonymously and you will have three minutes. We will now begin the verbal communications portion of the meeting during which members of the public are invited to address the commission on any issue that is not on the agenda for this evening. Staff will let you know when your three minutes is up and I have one speaker card for Gus who hi guys. Um I'll try to make this quick. uh first 10day role. Um you've you've done one and two but slight problem last time. Uh um I didn't speak I I didn't speak on I didn't fill out a speaker card for the topic and and I was uh

having you know I I said that I um told that verbal was being on on 331 verbal was being pushed off to the end of it and I just want to bring it out. It's just a slight problem but when I said hey you know I'm not to wait through it. I wanted to uh speak at you know on the topic then because I didn't fill it out. Then it just got back and forth and they said, "Okay, go ahead and you can speak on verbal first." And there two people that spoke on verbal and that I just wanted it was a pro these are procedural issues that I'd like to you know try to on big ticket items. I think we need it needs to be in the paper. Um cuz you know there's the flag issue and that there was this VMA VWMA issue that had a lot of people. But okay, next issue is um on March 30th I and I told town council um I have an ongoing issue and this is how I got involved in town this town and and stuff like this. um uh valley water sent and I it's it's way back it dates back way back but this this is a problem you know it's it's with Lynn Avenue I've been saying in this picture you'll see it eventually but it's of the easement and I built a shack back there I I live with my I have a twin brother and it's his house and we live together and uh you'll you'll see it but it's it's something that there's there's I'm involved in a lot of I've been involved olved in a lot of class actions all federal and it's against government. I tend to be against governments because of the issues I got into. Um another thing is I you know civil war world war the stuff that's going on. I think the town council is uh didn't do their duty and I think you guys have to have a planning you planning the planning you the planning

commission have to have something because they're not doing their duty. So you know I'll do that and then you know March Madness is like ah last time it was all March Mad and now I'm saying watch world cup's coming world cup's coming. So those are my topics. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any questions for the speaker? None. Mr. Pollson, are there any members of the public on Zoom that wish to speak? Yes, there is one hand raised. Uh Courtney, this is for items that are not on the agenda. Correct. Can you hear me? Yes, we can.

Okay, great. Thanks. Um, I'm here to clarify some data points from the March 31st hearing. Um, at that meeting, public works stated for the record that Farley Road is 40 ft wide um with 16 ft for parked cars on both sides, 20 ft for fire lane, and that le um leaves 4T for pedestrians. Um so a few of us neighbors went out there over the weekend and actually did the measurement. Uh the physical reality of farload is very inconsistent. There are sections where it's curved to curb um irregular conditions, dirt, shoulders, uneven pavement, uh mailbox, fire hydrant, etc. But if you take the ones that are curb to curb, it's actually 39 ft. Uh we found that there were actually three specific points that are significantly narrower um under one at 16761 Furley that was 34 ft and two at 16750 and 16731 which is under 35 ft. Um now that's really you know best case scenario is that you have six people parked 16 feet on both side uh with the 20 feet uh for a fire lane that requires 36. So we actually have uh three areas um that were actually one or two feet below the mandatory fire lane uh requirements. Um, so I just wanted to bring that out and I'm urging the town to actually come out and actually do the measurement because this is very important in terms of the the cup modification because we're really relying on, you know, um, the data here and it seems like the public work was referencing maybe out ofdate uh, paper uh, measurement while in reality um, it's definitely not 30 Not even 36 feet wide.

You know what? Thank you. Thank you. Are there any questions for the speaker? Commissioner Mayor. Yeah. Hi. Um, thanks for that information. Uh, have you shared your findings with the public works department? Yes, I emailed I I believe either Monday morning to the planning commission and the public works department um sharing with photos and how I did it. So yes, I have provided that information. A followup. Have you heard any response from the public works? Not yet. Okay. Thanks.

I have a quick question. I couldn't write as fast as you were talking, but you did list off a couple addresses that you went out and verified. Do you mind saying those two addresses again? Yes, I do tend to fix fast, so I apologize. Uh 16761. Okay. 16750. Okay. And 16731. 31. All right. Thank you. Are there any further questions for Oh, sorry.

Yeah. Chairperson Burch, it's important that this information be on the record for the public hearing for the WVMA. And so if this information is not in writing that's been submitted for the planning commission packet for the April 22nd meeting, um I would encourage the speaker to present this information at the April 22nd public hearing. Does it count if she says she did submit it to public works or does she need to submit it through your office? Um, ideally someone who submits it will submit it to the planning division and say this is for the this is information for the April 22nd public hearing. All right. I did per both. Okay. Thank you.

Excellent. All right. Any other questions? All right. Thank you. Are there any further hands? There are not.

All right. Tonight we have two items on the consent calendar. the approval of the draft minutes of the March 25th, 2026 planning commission meeting and the approval of the draft minutes of the March 31st, 2026 planning commission. Before the planning commission acts on the consent calendar, any members of the commission or public may request to have an item removed and I do have one request. However, I I I was reminded tonight that somebody needs to make a motion and it needs to be voted upon before I can pull the consent calendar. So, does anyone want to make a motion?

So, I'm sorry, Miss Wheelen. So, um, if if the commission's interested in pulling the item from the consent calendar, someone could make a motion to pull whichever item it is from the consent calendar. But another option is what happens at other meetings is the speaker gets to speak on the consent calendar and then the commission can decide whether or not they want to pull it. Um, I think it maybe it would just be helpful to go ahead and have a member of the public come and speak and then I will call the question about pulling the consent calendar. So, I have a speaker card from time

before I start. Can I pass out five? I'd like these these back. This is just on the minutes. It's f for you. Five.

Erin Erin is going to get that from you. Okay, I just gave you um a list of all the names that that there's not actually an order that there's uh I think it says like 90 93 people and um the the first one was the applicant. So, it's not in the order that you got it, but I just put a little line uh um on it and I I like those back because you know this is thing. But I um if you saw on the card, there's a lot of people that are viewing on that little card. It's like 1.2 views on on the consent and 1.8 eight I think on on the the uh there are people are there watching this and we usually we don't get that much that many people watching you know so I can just be do be you know be a little off key but uh and I can see because you guys are volunteers and I kind of am trying to in my background I have sociology but you guys can be possibly with the Brown Act and stuff like that you guys could be possibly named as individuals as suing. If you have previous with the this this topic, you can be like I I've already warned um town council how they they say things that they they can be uh sued as a uh in their capacity as like under color of authority. And so you have to understand a little bit of law. I'm not a I'm a PE major, but I the but because of my situation, I got into a lot of

legal stuff and I went off- grid. And so I don't want my name, you know, attached to, you know, even, you know, I don't want to be called into courts and stuff like that because of some things I I know that I should be, you know, I try to I try to be be fair-minded. And this is uh because I'm a prophetic dreamer, I get some stuff and it's just more things. But I'm I'm just letting you know if you look through this the 92 um and I put underlines and stuff like that, you don't the if you don't have the minutes and you don't have the proper information, you know, you're not you're you have to go off a memory. And if the staff's not helping you out here, this this little it's like a little cheat sheet. And it helps to have somebody that's neutral saying, "Okay, there's this many people that spoke on this or on this meeting, this many people that spoke on this this meeting." And you you know, you can know who they are, doctors, uh scholars, uh priests, you know, it's it's a relig, you know, it's it's important. I think is the more information we get if you're you're the judge on something, the better it is for you guys to do it. And if you just have names, you don't remember that. So that's that's my uh you know, I just want you to pull anything that's related to, you know, like I have a G Brown and that's uh inside you. Okay.

Thank you. Are there any questions for the speaker? I can let you have that for a couple minutes and then you can hand it back to me. Okay. Thank you. All right. Is there a motion? Yeah. I'll make a motion to pull from the consent col um calendar the draft minutes of March 25th and March 31st. There a second to pull them. I I'll look at Miss Wheelen, but I don't think we're required to pull them if if there's been a request. Are we? Um, no. There needs to be a motion and a second and then a vote of the majority. Is there a second? There's a second.

All right. I guess we will vote on pulling the consent calendar. All in favor? I'm so sorry. Yes, you can. Just to understand the rationale. Yeah. Um the rationale is brought up before uh a constituent of the town of concerns and it would be appropriate for uh the two uh the minutes of March 25th and March 31st to be um looked at uh for staff.

Oh, I'm just What's the concern of the inaccurate missed? I believe the inaccuracy is freedom of uh not speech but uh clarity of what was said with the verbal comments that more information needs to be um presented with the minutes in totality.

What is the purpose of our meeting minutes? They are not a diary. Um, we have a complete diary and a complete record online in a video format and so the names can be drawn directly to the exact statements that have been made. So I'm not quite I guess I would ask staff what's the purpose of our meeting minutes and I'm assuming this has been the traditional way that we have put our meeting minutes out and that it's correct. Um so the town had a policy in place that required action minutes which is a summary of the votes and um over time the uh various staff members got in the habit of doing summary minutes which summarized the conversations that were had at meetings and it was taking so many hours of time um that recently this issue was revisited at the policy committee and The council policy committee recommended to the town council that the town revert to action minutes which document the votes. Um and then the council the town council accepted the policy committee's recommendation. And so now the town is using action minutes. And one reason for that is now meetings planning especially planning commission and town council meetings are captured on video and so it's very easy to see what transpired at each meeting. So, do the minutes as written constitute action minutes at this point?

Um, yes. And then, um, I should have also mentioned we do, uh, list out the speakers who spoke. Thank you very much. Any other questions? Okay, then. Okay. Question for staff. I think it came up, someone brought it up that when if if you were looking for a particular person or the name being shown, it would be also related in the minute or the time on the video. So, you wouldn't have to go through scroll through to find this person. You could go at like 13 minutes 52 something like that.

That's correct. Um the town clerk's office is adding timestamps to minutes for that reason. And just to clarify, that's for the motions that get adopted, not for the speakers. Are there any questions? All right, we've got a motion and a second, so I will call the question. All in favor? Okay. Do we need to call a second motion to not pull this consent calendar or nobody has voted? All right. Thank you. Then I will call the question as do we have a motion to approve the consent calendar? Mr. Sordy,

I'll make a motion to approve. Second.

Okay, I will call the question. Uh, all in favor? All right, that passes unanimously. Thank you. All right, we now move on to our public hearing, starting with item number three. Consider a request for approval to demolish an existing single family residence and construct a new single family residence on property zoned R-18 located at 16724 Churo Drive, APN number 424-21-025, architectural and site application S-25-00002 categorically exempt pursuant to SQA guideline section 15303, new construction or conversion of small pro structures property owner applicant is Zara Cassam. I hope I said that right. And our project planner is Aaron Walters.

And I'll just jump in um and mention that uh Commissioner Thomas is recused this evening due to her residence's proximity to this project. Thank you. I should have said that at the beginning. Um before the staff report, can I have a show of hands from the commissioners who have visited the property? And are there any disclosures? Commissioner Stump. While out um looking at the property, I was approached by a neighbor asking me what I was doing and I let the neighbor know that I was a planning commissioner. Um she made some comments to me and I just encouraged her that if she had comments she wanted to make that she should either appear at the meeting or uh put them in writing and that was the conclusion of our conversation.

All right. Are there any other disclosures? Thank you for sharing. Um, Miss Walters, you give us a staff report.

Great. Good evening, planning commissioners. Aaron Walters, senior planner. Before you this evening is a request to demolish an existing 1,0880 ft residence and construct a new three one 3,196 foot one-story single family home with an attached garage. The pro the proposed residence complies with all development standards and it has no exceptions requested. The proposal is not the largest in the immediate neighborhood. The applicant has provided a project description and a letter of justification in exhibits four and five and development plans found in exhibit 13. The design is a one-story contemporary modern home inspired by Ikler's style architecture featuring clean lines, a pitched gable roof, vertical wood sighting, and a concrete accent feature at the front. The consulting architect reviewed the initial submitt in February of 2025 and found it inconsistent with the residential design guidelines and surrounding neighborhood uh citing massing size, roof form, materials setback and the entry design. A redesign was re recommended. The applicant then worked with staff and submitted revised plans making changes to the roof form entry window proportions, reduced the building scale and height and modified materials. The consulting architect then reviewed these revisions in January of this year and noted that while the changes were positive, the design still might not fully meet the guidelines or neighborhood compatibility. Of the seven recommendations provided by the consulting architect, um one was not applicable due to color and then three were addressed by the applicant. Three, there are three outstanding recommendations. one which is unifying the roof pitch, eliminating the vertical accent wall, and then consideration of incorporating a setback atrium. The applicant has provided justification in exhibit 10, and the commission did receive two addendums and a desk item

with public comment. Um, and then based on the project's inconsistency of the guidelines and neighborhood compatibility concerns, staff has recommended denial. Staff's available for questions. Thank you, Miss Walters. Are there any questions for staff? All right. Um, seeing none, then we will call the applicant. I have a card for Terry Martin. You will have five minutes to speak.

Yay. Good evening everyone. My name is Terry Martin. Um, I'm the project architect. I took it over from the previous architect uh about mid last year. So all the changes that were made to that design and the concept were were based upon conversations with the owner with a previous architect trying to hold some of the design concepts and then what the owners would like on their house. Right? So that's kind of where this got to today. Um just so you guys know, I've been an architect on Lascows for over 30 years and I grew up in the town in the 70s, the 80s, the 90s. Um, my office was right across the street. So, um, got a little bit of experience here with the town. Uh, what I wanted to say is that I've had three different ways I was going to approach this over the last five days and so many things have happened in those five days that I think that it's more important to talk about what happened a little bit and then figure out where we're going with the design after that. Um, I don't know if the town is aware, but we've been getting scam letters on letterhead from the town of Loscatoos. It's not the right address, but they're scams demanding fees and pavement immediately. We received two more today, one two weeks ago, and these letters are requiring us saying the planning commission with all of your names have approved this project. And in order to pick up our permit, we need to have paid them in Bitcoin by such and such date. So, we know it's a scam, but I just want you guys to be aware that that is going on as we're dealing with these projects. These are the things we're also dealing with on the sideline. Um, we've had multiple meetings with the town, multiple discussions, multiple times we've

talked. We've met with our neighbors. We met with the neighbors on the right. We met with the neighbors on the left. We met with the neighbors straight across the street. All of them indicated they were okay with the project except for one of the neighbors today came back with a letter saying that he's not okay with it. So, you know, that is I don't know how to answer that, right? You know, I've got a conditional approval from them and then I don't um you know, after reaching out to the neighbors, everything that's been posted on that project has been out there for weeks. So all of a sudden in the last two days, we've had all these letters come in, multiple letters, and it's like they all read the same, and all of them are talking about mass and neighborhood character. So we have a picture that shows the mass on the street. We are not the biggest house by any sense of the word. The house on the right of us is way larger than us. The house on the left is way larger than us. You know what does mass mean? It means bulk. We are definitely not the bulkiest house by no sense of the word. Um, what does character mean? So, I spent like hours out there this morning. I was approached by neighbors also. I don't have to disclose them, but the neighbors were all telling me that everything that they see is it doesn't meet the neighborhood character. It's like, well, what does that mean? You know, I look down the street and I see a Juy loop. I look down the street and I see uh a liquor store. I look across the street down further and I see the new, you know, Whole Foods going in. I look at all the white houses with the vertical siding and the black windows that all look the same that didn't meet the guidelines way back when. Now there's so

many of them that they actually do. Um, a and as far as some of the elements that that Canon still has out there, we have two of them that were willing to talk about the roof pitches and the front blade element. The atrium personally makes no sense to me at all. So, I I don't think that that's really up for discussion. Um, and then the one thing I do want to mark remark though is this letter from Jeff and Beverly, the neighbors to the left saying that they aren't in agreement with the design. You know, meetings with them said they were they've never approached us about any options or any discussions that we could or could not have. So, there's nothing I can really do to respond to that. Right. So, um, we're kind of find ourselves in a tough place there. I've never seen this kind of outreach two days before applying commission in my 30 plus years in this town. Anyhow, my name is Terry Martin. I am the project architect. I'm here to answer any of your questions.

Thank you. There any questions? Commissioner Sordy, could you just clarify that last thing you said? You said you've never seen this type of outreach within a couple days of the hearing, but there's no community engagement, I don't think, initiated by the town, right? You're just talking about letters coming in from the public.

Correct. Correct. Yeah. I I've you know, we do our best to go out and talk to neighbors to to meet with people to let the design be out there. And it has, right? And you know, usually people will come to me and say, "Hey, Terry, you know, what's going on with this concept, this design? You know, can we tweak this? it's too long next to my house or, you know, the roof is not quite right. And then we we have that conversation. But what's interesting is I have not had any conversations with any neighbors other than the positive conversations with the three neighbors saying they were okay with it. Yeah. Go ahead, Mr. Commissioner. Sorry. Did you sit down with the neighbors immediately adjacent and walk through the plans with them or have an opportunity?

My office did. I did not personally. Rebecca who's with me also did. Okay. And I don't know maybe Rebecca can answer the question if they at that time were they amendable to the design and were there any adjustments made or any opinions? There were no the the directly across and to the right there were no comments at all. They were totally fine with it. The guy to the left who wrote the letter came back with you know I'm fine with this. It looks good. I'm going to talk to my wife. I'll get back to you if we have any issues. and we've never heard anything, you know, and I'm not saying we're making an assumption. That was a comment, right? So yeah, stop and commissioner

looking at um looking at the the picture that is up on the screen right now and looking at the house on the left and the right and as an architect and I know you cited some commercial properties, Jeffy Lube, um the the market on the corner, kind of maybe some eclectic architecture in the area, correct? How do you reconcile that current design even with the house that's on the left and the house that's on the right? How do you reconcile that to say that it is compatible with the neighborhood?

So, as we were playing with the two roof pitches, you know, and the vertical siding, we were starting to pick that up. Then we're starting to look at other elements of that and and and in all honesty, I really wasn't comfortable that it was 100% compatible. So, I'm out on the property this morning and I'm looking from the front door of the house and Kitty Corner to the right hand side is a contemporary modern house with that exact same design done on it. And it's like literally built within the last two years and it's it's no more than 300 yards from the house. It's literally just right right at the end of the street where the little roundabout goes. It's right there. And um and so I was really surprised. And then so when I saw that I was like, well, wait a minute. I look at the compatibility with that. And then I look at what's going on with the white houses and the black windows and that farmhouse style wasn't compatible either. And and so that's how I'm reconciling it.

Commissioner Bernett, question. Since you've been an architect in Lascatus for so many years, are you familiar with Via Serino? Not called the No. Okay. So that has they're totally Iller homes. Correct.

And I've lived in Los Iller home development there and now other people have moved there and they have purchased lots and whatever, but it's a whole little enclave of Iller homes. Um, so what would your feeling be about putting a craftsman style in the middle of all these little Iller homes? I would you feel that that would be out of character for that little neighborhood? I mean, if the reverse were true and and I traveled around the whole neighborhood there, I didn't see any home that would resemble what is designed. There was a a fairly more more more modern down the street on the left, but it it definitely is very very different than what the design is. I'm just saying. And then did you I'm sure you read our town architect and what he said of all the the homes he's evaluated, he has actually never um what did he say? uh he he has never made seen one that is so out of character for the neighborhood basically. And

that's the report from last year. Sorry, that wasn't this last report. that was in the initial and then you came back with some redesign and then you there was a response to his redesign and then there was some the final evaluation and of the seven I guess there's six only um of the six they did they didn't you didn't make changes to at least three of what he what he sort of thought would be a better design for the neighborhood. Although even his suggestion, he still said it was really not um compatible with the with the neighborhood. And basically, it's a very modernistic design and architecture, walls of glass, post and beam construction. It has flat or low low sloped roofs. So, I'm just saying as the architect of Lascatus and knowing this neighborhood, um I'm just finding it interesting that you didn't try and say, "Hey, this may not apply or we need to make some more changes."

Commissioner Bernett, do you have a question with that? I was just asking him why he didn't.

Thank you. Do I get to answer that or um so I know which neighbor you're talking about over off of Winchester? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So um that wouldn't be compatible to put that in a craftsman home in that neighborhood, right? Because it's all Ilers. So I understand where you're at with that. Um this neighborhood is quite a bit more eclectic than that. I don't think it's like a series of somebody used the word bungalows. I don't see that when I walk that neighborhood. Um, and there's other parts in Los that that have that feel and that character. I don't get that when I walk that neighborhood. And so, you know, I respectfully disagree that with that,

Mr. Mayor. Yeah, we've been talking a lot about, you know, neighborhood context and what the neighbors are saying, but um what we haven't addressed so far and what I want to understand is uh why this design, why this Iller inspired uh style, uh why um two different roof pitches, why the blade wall, and uh perhaps uh it it comes down to the uh owner's stylistic preferences, but I would just like some more context about how you got your team arrived at at this particular design.

So what you don't see on the picture is that behind that blade wall there's a offset of the actual roofs and those offsets give us a series of clear story windows in there. So that light is bringing light into the center of the building. The best way to approach that is by two different pitches. And uh and because of the massing question, we were a little concerned as we got steeper, then the roofs would actually become more massive and more, you know, just a a a sloping piece. And so that's why that we didn't go down that path. Right. Commissioner Sordy.

Yeah. Just to follow up on that. So it did get into a little bit more of the weeds and so I'm kind of following my other commissioner's question looking more toward the big picture what inspired this and like I don't know I'm searching for clues here sustainability might be one of the things that's one of the components of our you know design guidelines so maybe the owner could speak to too I'm just interested to know where come from what's inspiring it writing some more rationale for this modern design

so to be totally honest I came in as the project architect the initial design was already in place, designed by, you know, another architect that had the vision. My job was to come in and take a look at the vision and see what I could do to make it more compatible with the neighborhood. And did we have those discussions that, you know, what do we need to do to make it more compatible? Absolutely. Absolutely. That's how we kind of got to where we are today. I will tell you and I started off with the conversation that we're okay looking at those slopes. We're okay even removing the blade piece. We're okay at looking at be making it more compatible with the neighborhood via window layouts and stuff like that. There's not big glass windows on that, by the way. You can't see them from the street. So, I don't know where that comment comes from in uh his concepts, but um we're open for that discussion.

Further questions? All right. Thank you. Oh, do you have another I'm sorry, Commissioner Bernett?

Yeah. Again, you know, I was just going back, you know, there was 14 areas in our residential design guidelines that our town architect found that you didn't go along with. So, I mean, there's there's just a lot going on. And and to your uh question, a question for you is then so if you're saying that you're willing to do more changes, then you would have to show us what changes those are for us for uh for me to um think about what direction to go on this because um I know our child architect did make recommendations and not all of them were even followed. So, but you're saying you may make even more changes So the 14 is from the previous one, not from the latest. The latest has six and and out of the six comments, you know, we we reviewed the six. And when we resubmitted, there were two or three that we didn't agree with, right? And we wanted to get in front of planning commission, but more so I was actually trying to get to the point where I didn't even have to come to planning commission. You know, I'm a singlestory small house. I'm not a massive twostory home. We are not that. We are not a big bulk mass on that street.

I don't think that's the issue. I think it's the residential design guidelines if it fits into the pattern of the neighborhood. And clearly when you look at that home, it does not fit in the pattern of the neighborhood of the other homes. 99% are cottage style. They're California ranch. They're but they're not an icler very modern modernistic home. Um so I mean if you're willing to make some differences and changes uh like you just mentioned maybe we should go that direction. I was trying to have a question. Right. Are there any other questions for the speaker? All right. Seeing none. Thank you. I do have one card from the public from Gus who okay I have Can you hear me? I have a background in this. I was a general contractor um back in the the 90s. I grew up in Santa Clara. I uh uh Clani Farms area and uh partial part partially of of some of this um icers were common on the other side and um as a general contractor you know over over a dozen years um I I've lived in Iklers I mean before before and after and I had friends in Iklers and the the house the curb appeal for one thing is not attractive and I would tell the the architect that it doesn't fit with the thing when I when I built Okay, I wanted I built a a big house in in in Seven Springs and it was 3,500 square feet. It was a ranch style or I wanted a ranch style and the neighbors and it was like

33 3400 ft and and the next door neighbor had like this 5,000 square 55 thou and they said you're too small for the area and so I had to and I went to plan Certino planning commission and they made me double the size you made made just say hey can you spruce it up so I had to double the size and I you know it was just three of us And so I know I understand what you're saying and I would as a as a general contractor I would tell them, hey, this doesn't fit the neighborhood. The curb appeal is like like if you wanted to see that out your back back door, the the look of it, put some pictures on. It's not that hard to, you know, put a roof, you know, just put a dormer out there. the the it brings down the value when you build this and and the um your neighbors you're if you built something like this, your neighbors would would not um they don't you're bringing down the value of that the neighborhood when you build it. And I would tell as a general contractor, I just be straight up and say it's easier just to design and and come back and build it. You know, ju spruce it up a little bit. Your neighbors will be happy. the size, everything's, you know, I loved Ilers when they when they came in and you it was like a big surprise like ah Pop-Tarts, you know, because they look like toasters and you go, "Oh," you know. So, um, you know, I would I would just tell the the homeowner you realize that, you know, it's it just the curb appeal alone will bring down the value of the property and everybody around them. You know, it's like not having, you know, you'd rather see me in a suit than as stuff like that. But it's it's one of those things. It's looks and and you just tell them straight up, you know, I I'll, you know, here here's some flowers for the, you know, sorry, but uh try try, you know, sprucing it up a little bit. Just put a dormer up and,

you know, making it look it's not that expensive. This is the time to do it. Thanks. Thank you. Are there any questions for the speaker? G. Gus, who? There's a question. Okay, there's a question. Just out of curiosity, what would you make of a modern design and adding a dormer to it?

I No. Well, how would it look just just to push put put a couple dormers over make it's not that hard to put dormers or something over the top of it. just the the front, you know, and and have a little bit more windows because usually have a push out um more like a ranch or what's a cottage or something just just to make it curb appeal and it's you just take some pictures and ers were were designed it was like a slap. I just it was a quick answer. I just Sorry. Sorry. I would just I was implying that it it dramatic change to what is already a very distinct. No, I would say windows and doors over over the, you know, in the front. Thank you. Sorry. Are there any other questions? No. Thank you.

All right. The applicant now has through the chair. Yes. Sorry. Is there Sorry. We do have a hand raised on Zoom. Rich. Yes. Thank you, Rich. Yes. I can hear me. Yeah, we can hear you.

Okay, good. Thanks. Um, so I've been commenting on that house because I walk by it at least once a day and it's one of the ugliest designs I've ever seen. I apologize for saying that, but it is. And my mother-in-law thinks the same way. I'm I live nine houses down, so I don't look at it directly. But to clarify a point made by the applicant earlier talking about the house to the left, the house to the right, and the house across the street, it looks nothing similar to any of the three of them or anything in the neighborhood. Again, I think it's I hate to say it, but it's a horribly ugly house design. Um it it does not match our neighborhood at all.

That's all. Thank you. Are there any questions for the speaker? No. Thank you, Rich. Are there any other hands raised on Zoom? Mr. Pollson, there are. One second. Lee, you can speak. Lee, you might have uh two different devices on, so you need to turn one off. Hopefully that will stop the echoing. Thank you.

Just a sec. No, it's not. I'm trying and my TV isn't shutting off. Okay. Is that better? Yes. Hello. Yes, it is, Lee. Thank you.

Okay. I'm sorry. Um, I actually had planned to come tonight and then forgot and so here I am. Uh, I just want to make a few comments. I actually think that masswise the two level roofs fit better into the neighborhood than if it were just the one straight roof. Um, it's a one story which is compatible with the neighborhood. uh two stories doesn't seem compatible with the neighborhood. And my my other thought is that we have allowed modern type houses in other areas of of the town. Um, and we say that, you know, styles change over time and, uh, house forms change over time, but we're tending to limit them to the house forms that are more traditional. Uh, so I think maybe it's time to recognize that it's a different era in house building and um, other styles may be um, acceptable as well. I'm not saying that this particular one is, but I actually like the house, but that's beside the point. But the other comment I wanted to make is um I now live in a Victorian two-story Victorian. Before that, I lived across the street in a small one-story what they called federalist Victorian. It was only a thousand square feet. It is now I don't know what style you would call it. It has big white columns. It is nothing like any other house in the neighborhood. And yet I've never heard anybody in the neighborhood say we really hate that house. So I'm what I'm just saying is that gradually times do change and in the

older neighborhoods I thoroughly agree with keeping within the style of the current neighborhoods. Uh but in neighborhoods further from town that have developed in the '60s, '50s,60s and 70s, uh I think there should be a little bit more leeway for change in the architectural styles. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any questions for the speaker? Commissioner Stton.

Lee, are you suggesting a revision of our current residential design guidelines? Well, I think our current residential design guidelines do uh talk about a variety of styles and I I haven't looked at them before I came to speak, but uh I think you could find some support for that. I think you could probably find it in the general plan as well, depending on where you look. There's a lot to that that would support just only limiting it to Victorians and craftsmen and and Spanish colonial and what have you, but um I think if you wanted to, you could find support. Did that answer your question, Commissioner? Some Okay. All right. Are there any other questions for the speaker?

No. Thank you, Lee. Mr. Pollson, are there any more speakers on Zoom?

There are no more hands raised. All right. Um All right, then. Now we'll we'll give the applicant three minutes to make any closing statements. Probably have some questions. Sorry, it's been crazy the last five days with everything that's been going on around this project. It's just completely caught me off guard and um I'm finding myself in a position where I thought we were really in a good place last Thursday, Friday and um today I don't feel that at all. Um, and I'm very disappointed in my neighbors being able to come out and actually change this dialogue by their they're speaking out and especially at the very last minute and no conversations during the design process. I find that very disturbing. Um, with that said, my owners are not married to this design. We do not need to have this design. It's something that, you know, we've been trying to get processed and we thought that it was going to work and it was a beautiful house. Um, I love the one picture that's up there, the colored the colored front elevation. I think that's absolutely absolutely gorgeous. However, with that said and done, I don't want to fight this. You know, it's not the place any of us want to fight, you know. So, we're willing to come back with a redesign, look at that front elevation, try maybe not to have to come back to plan commission, you know, unless we

have to. We might have to. Um, but be able to just do something that fits into the neighborhood more. It's not the architecture that I really want to do there. I don't think it's the appropriate stuff, but I also don't want to do a white house with black windows and vertical stuff and metal roof and and I know I can do that because they're all around out there. Um, anyhow, I'm here for any any uh questions.

Thank you. Are there any questions for the applicant? Oh, no. Sorry. I thought you did. No. Okay, then I will. So, because once we close the public portion of this meeting, then it's us making a decision. So, I want to make sure it's at least very clear to all of us that should I do not know how this conversation is going to go. So, I just want to make sure I understood what you said. Should the commission find that this house is not compatible, you guys are willing to work with staff to perhaps come up with design that fits more in with the neighborhood. Absolutely.

Okay. Again, are there any questions for the speaker? All right. Thank you. Thank you.

So, we'll now close the public portion of the public hearing for this item. And I invite my commissioners to ask questions of staff or propose a motion. I just want to remind everybody of the the the change in this process. So we can ask questions of staff, but we do have to have a motion and a second before we move into discussion. All right. So questions of staff. Commissioner Stump. Following up with what uh the uh applicant has said uh a willingness to consider an you know alternate designs would a continuence then be appropriate instead of a denial uh if indeed that was the direction the commission was going and what what would that look like? How would that work?

So thank you for that question. I can start. So a continuence would allow the applicant to continue on under their existing application without having to open up a fresh application and a fresh batch of fees. There could be some cost recovery that would be required um to move on under that application. What that would look like from a timing perspective if the design redesign is significant um I'm not sure that we would be able to turn that around in in two to four weeks and not sure the applicant would have time to turn it around. um it may be appropriate to take a swing to continue it to a date certain and if we just can't get to that one, we can continue it again to a date uncertain and read notice should the project need to return to the planning commission.

How would we even come up with a an estimated date certain for that type of project? Would we need to perhaps ask the applicant uh reopen public hearing and ask the applicant? Yeah, I would suggest reasking or asking the applicant with a specific would two months do it, would one month do it for a redesign, thinking or keeping in mind they need to meet with staff um potentially go back to the consulting architect if the redesign is significant enough um and then they can indicate whether they think they can turn around in that time. Thank you. Right. Any other questions of staff? Commissioner Mayor.

Uh yeah, Miss Walters. Um was the uh when you met with the applicant um any of the meetings at was the town consulting architect present at those meetings? No, he wasn't. And that isn't um he's typically not involved in those meetings. So you you send him the plans and he just reviews them himself and then uh gives his comments. That's correct. Okay, Mr. Bernett. So follow up on that. So, if did come back for a redesign, would our town uh architect again look at the new design? Yes, as it's a new home.

Thank you. Any further questions of staff or does anyone want to attempt a motion?

Commissioner Stump. Realizing this may require some input from the applicant, um I move to continue the request for approval to demolish an existing family residence and construct a new single family residence on property zoned R18 located at 16724 Choco Drive, APN424-21-025. 5 architecture and site application S-25-00002 to a date certain.

Do we have a second? Commissioner Bernett, I'll second that. All right. So, I will now ask the question of the town attorney. Is it appropriate now to reopen the public portion of the hearing to ask about a proposed date? Yes. All right. So then when I'm reopening the public portion of this meeting and I will ask the applicant to come up and answer the question of a timeline for redesign with the understanding that should we get to that date and you're not prepared you can read adjust the date with staff. Correct.

Correct. Right. So realistically, it's a solid two months from this point because by the time we get something in, staff looks at it, you know, to they've got two two weeks to 30 days, you know, it goes to the to the to Canon. Canon sits on it for a month to six weeks and uh you know, so we're we're probably a solid two months out, two and a half months. Um I don't know what date that is. So, if I tentatively asked about the date of June 24th, yeah, that would be a really good tentative date.

Okay. Thank you. I will close the public portion of the hearing and ask the maker of the motion. Sorry. Ask the maker of the motion if you'd like to amend your motion to include a date certain. Date certain, June 24, 2026. Okay. And does the second or accept? I support that. All right. Is there any discussion? Commissioner Mayor.

Yeah. Um I'd like to talk a bit about uh the design and uh the feedback we've heard from neighbors and also the comments from the consulting architect uh the town consulting architect. I I I agree with uh Miss Canana's uh public comment about that really it's not our place to dictate style necessarily. Um, so just personally speaking for myself, I don't object to, you know, something that's inspired by Iller or necessarily, you know, has this, uh, particular material pallet. But, uh, I think what maybe the neighbors are objecting to is this this accent blade wall. I wish I could understand more maybe from what the original design vision was. I don't think I really got to understand what that was tonight. So, I think what they might be reacting to is this very strong feature in the front. Now, when the applicant and the architectural team go back to look at the design again, I don't necessarily believe that they need to start from ground zero. I think there's a way to, you know, preserve the layout and the floor plan that probably the homeowners like and have come to uh think is, you know, compatible with their lifestyle. but just make the the the street facing facade more compatible with the neighborhood. And I think that can be easily achieved by following some of the advice from the town consulting architect. Um so I I would hate for the applicant to have to go to ground zero and go through the whole process again and pay all these fees. Uh I I just don't think that's necessary. Uh but I do think, you know, the design does need a bit of work. So um I'm supportive of the motion.

Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Sordy.

Yeah, I think I'm supportive of the motion as well. I did want to since we were have an opportunity to talk a little bit about design. I I am a little disappointed at times when we lose an opportunity to get something distinctive purely on the basis that we are um you know trying to be as consistent as we can with surrounding neighborhood. Um it's important for us to be as objective about the way those design guidelines are written as possible and not be yielding to someone's opinion. I think we've heard a few people say they think it's ugly and you know that's very much in the eye of the beholder. I don't put a lot of weight in neighbors saying things like that. I think it's inappropriate and I don't think that they're design experts. Um I just want to make sure moving forward that we don't lose the creativity and the design in some case the genius of some of the people that are hired to do you know to design some of these houses in our community and they're going to look a little bit different. I just don't want things looking the same. I don't think they need to. So, I know that might contradict a little bit what some of the design guidelines are saying. And I don't know, maybe at some point we do have an opportunity to revisit it and uh create an opportunity to have more distinctive and and really interesting designs that just don't follow the pattern. Um, you know, maybe it depends on the neighborhood, but I'll support the motion for today.

Thank you, Commissioner Sordy. Is there any other discussion? Commissioner Bernett? Yeah. And I just want to say that I think our town architect tried to work with the present architect and the and the applicant and I think he gave some good suggestions and I um and I agree. I think we do need to change things up a little bit. But we also have to remember that town of Lascatus is built on the charm of the neighborhoods and we do have a residential design guidelines. So wandering too far off of that and I think this project did whereas I think our town architect tried to pull it back in and say hey we can do something here maybe have everybody happy and I think that's the solution we're working for. Thank you. Any other comments? Then I will just quickly comment that I appreciate what Commissioner Sordy said. Um, I also don't think we want cookie cutter throughout town and I I feel that with this design there might be just some softening that needs to happen. Um, there are different style homes in that neighborhood. I walk through it pretty regularly. Um, and I think just with probably some simple changes that it would become more in line with the various design styles in that neighborhood. So my hope is that this isn't a massive redesign, perhaps a bit of a a softening of the design. And if there's any other discussion, if not, I will call the question. All in favor? All right. Passes unanimously.

Mr. Pollson, are there any appeal rights? There are not. All right. We will now ask for a report from the director of community development. Thank you. I don't have anything to report this evening. All right. Are there any subcommittee reports to speak on this evening? No. All right, then. Um, are there any commission matters that we would like to discuss? All right. None. Thank you. This meeting's adjourned.