Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

with the roll call. Commissioner Chen.

Here.

Commissioner Quake. Here. Commissioner Wong.

Present.

Vice Chair Choi.

Present.

Chair Davis. Here. Thank you. All commissioners are present.

Thank you. Next up is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you're able, please stand.

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. Next up is the agenda review. Do we need to make any changes? OK, cool. We have one set of minutes to approve. Any corrections or motions? uh well i guess i push uh i move we approve the minutes of august okay um fourth right yeah fourth meeting i'll second it okay what happened to me yeah he was faster than you but can we vote oh that's right i'm still not used to this wait i went to oh dear i went too far Oh, yeah. Hit second. There you go. Now vote.

There we go. Thank you. Motion passes 5-0.

Thank you. This next up on the agenda is the public communications part of the evening where anybody who would like to speak on a topic that is within the purview of the Planning Commission, but not on tonight's agenda. This is your opportunity. I have a speaker slip for later. I don't have any others for now. Anybody on Zoom? Nobody on Zoom or speaker slips. Thank you. All right. So then we'll move on to our public hearing. Which is 266 La Cruz Avenue. It's a public hearing on a design review permit application to allow the construction of a 699 square foot first story addition that will be part of a future 800 square foot ADU, a 537 square foot second story addition, and a 400 square foot second story deck to a two story residence in the single family residential zone. Staff report.

the city will present this project sorry what's his name question

Amit Cohen. Amit, and is he new?

Yes, he's a contract planner helping us out, and he'll be the project planner for this project.

Excellent. Thank you. Welcome, Amit. Go ahead.

Thank you. Good evening, Chair Davis and members of the Planning Commission. Like Roscoe said, my name is Amit Cohen. I'm a contract planner with Urban Planning Partners on assignment here at Millbrae. It's nice to meet you all and tonight I'll be presenting the project at 266 La Cruz Avenue. So this is a public hearing on a design review permit application to allow the construction of a 699 square foot first story addition that will be part of the future 800 square foot accessory dwelling unit, a 537 square foot second story addition, and a 400 square foot second story deck to a two-story residence in the single family residential R1 zoning district. So this map shows the project location. It's located in the Lower Highlands neighborhood. The project is zoned R1 single-family residential and is located on a 6,985 square foot interior lot. There is an existing 2,797 square foot two-story single-family residence with an attic located on the site. And the project proposes a first-story addition, second-story addition, and the second-story deck to be added to the existing residence. Here is the existing site plan. In the rear of the home, there's currently a covered patio. And in the front of the home, there's an attached garage on the first story. And this is the proposed site plan. It shows the shaded area as the scope of work for the project, which includes an interior remodel of both floors of the home, the addition and the new rear deck. A new street tree will be planted in front of the home and new screening trees will be planted along the sides of the proposed deck. the project meets all r1 development standards except for a few non-conforming features of the home that are existing and permitted to remain as they are not to be intensified or extended by the project and i'll discuss those on the following slides this is the first floor plan on the left is the existing and on the right is the proposed so the proposed first floor plan remodels the existing unfinished garage and multi-purpose room and adds the 699 square foot addition to the rear of the home on the proposed floor plan to the right you can see the proposed 800 square foot accessory dwelling unit it consists of the 699 square foot addition and 101 square feet of converted existing floor area While the permit for the accessory dwelling unit will be submitted as a separate application, the property owner has submitted a statement attesting that the area labeled as an accessory dwelling unit will be used as such. Staff also recommends the adoption of a condition of approval requiring the applicant to apply for and obtain an accessory dwelling unit permit at the time of building permit issuance for the addition. In the rear of the home is also the enclosed foundation which supports the new second story deck. The existing garage is converted to include storage space, a main house room, bathroom, laundry and mechanical room, and a home gym. And this is also one of the existing non-conforming elements of the project, which is the parking. The existing garage includes space for one 20-foot by 10-foot parking spot, while the Millbrae municipal code requirement in the R1 zone is for two side-by-side garage parking spots. However, it would be infeasible to expand the garage entrance to accommodate the two side by side parking spots. So the proposed project is permitted to maintain the one current garage spot. This is the second floor plan, second story floor plan, excuse me again, the existing floor plan on the left, proposed on the right. The proposed second floor plan remodels the second floor, adds a 537 square foot second story addition and adds a 400 square foot second story deck. The proposed second story will include two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a walk-in closet, powder room, nook, unenclosed front porch, mudroom, kitchen and pantry, family room, and the rear deck. Additional non-conforming elements that are currently existing are the front ground floor setback, front second story setback, and side second story setbacks of the existing home. However, these elements are not intensified or extended by the addition and the new deck and are therefore permitted to remain. The project otherwise adheres to all other R1 development standards. So this is the front elevation of the home. It shows the existing two-story home, but the front facade is not proposed to be altered by this project. Next slide, please. Oh, thank you. This is the proposed rear elevation. New stucco and roof shingles will match the existing in color and materials. New glass doors with white frames open onto the deck, which is ringed by a black metal railing. The building height of 24 feet 4 inches is not proposed to be increased, and the addition measures 23 feet 5 inches. This is the proposed right side elevation. New windows match the existing with white frames and brown wood trim. The additions facade includes the same colors and materials as the existing home. This is the proposed left side elevation. This elevation also shows the separate entrance that is required of the accessory dwelling unit. And this is the 3D rendering from the front and rear of the home. It is also the color and materials board, which I believe you all have. The home has a beige stucco finish with a brown wood trim and accents, white window frames and brown asphalt shingles on the roof. The addition will match the existing home in both color and materials. This is the proposed landscape plan. One new street tree is proposed. The proposed conditions of approval require it to be a London plain street tree to blend in with the neighborhood streetscape. Part of the existing concrete front walkway is proposed to be converted to gravel. to comply with the front landscaping requirements of the R1 zone. In addition, eight screening trees are proposed along the sides of the deck to provide screening. Per the proposed conditions of approval, the two lemon trees that are already existing in that location will be permitted to remain if they are over 15 feet in height and provide sufficient screening as assessed by staff. Otherwise, they will need to be relocated elsewhere on the site along with the dwarf lemon trees impacted by the deck. In addition, the new screening trees must be fast growing with maximum heights of 15 feet to 20 feet. and here is the privacy study conducted by the applicant staff proposes two conditions of approval to ensure privacy for the neighbors first the screening trees mentioned on the previous slide are required along the sides of the deck second the bottom half of the window circled in red is required to be frosted as it lines up with the neighbor's second story window So with the adoption of the proposed conditions of approval, staff finds the privacy of the neighboring homes would be sufficiently protected. As a result, the finding that the project will not cause a significant visual impact to neighboring views from the principal rooms of the residence can be made by the Planning Commission. This is the neighbor consultation response results. Eight forms were distributed. Six forms were unreturned to the planning division. The two return forms support the project with the property owner at 272 La Cruz Avenue supporting the project with additional comments. So the 272 La Cruz Ave property owners supported the project, conditioned on a handful of concerns and also sent additional correspondence. Shown on the slide is a summary are included in the planning commission packet. So I'll go over a few of these. So staff provided contact information to the property owner for any further questions as requested. Concerns about drainage are mitigated by condition of approval 23. which requires the applicant to submit drainage design prior to building permit issuance subject to the building division approval, which shows which should show, among other things, the great sloping away from neighboring properties to reduce drainage that will infiltrate into those neighboring properties. The property owner had concerns about driveway access, which are mitigated by proposed condition of approval number 43, which requires the applicant to prepare a construction management plan, showing the location of vehicular parking and temporary construction barriers prior to the building permit issuance also to be reviewed by the planning department. standard condition of approval number 11 is included regarding construction hours and condition of approval number 30 requires the applicant to obtain written agreements from affected neighbors if any improvement requires encroachments I'm also happy to answer any other questions about these items in the question portion if there are So in terms of additional review, if the project were to be approved, a building permit would be required and the building division and Department of Public Works and Engineering will review the plans for consistency with applicable codes. In order to approve the design review permit, the Planning Commissioners must make the following findings. With the proposed conditions of approval, staff finds that these findings can be made. One, the architectural, landscaping, and general appearance of the proposed building or structure and grounds are in keeping with the character of the neighborhood. Two, the project complies with all applicable development regulations. 3. The project will not cause a significant visual impact to neighboring views from principal rooms of the residence. 4. The proposal is not detrimental to the orderly, harmonious, and safe development of the City and will not impair the desirability of investment or occupation in the neighborhood in which the building or structure is proposed to be erected. So staff recommends the Planning Commission review the project, consider the public testimony and the findings as presented, and adopt the attached resolution approving the design review permit application to allow a 699 square foot first story addition that will be part of the future 800 square foot accessory dwelling unit, a 537 square foot second story addition, and a 400 square foot second story addition to a two-story residence in the single family residential R1 zoning district. and with that staff i believe the design team project manager is here as well and the property owner there here are available for any questions thank you does anybody have any clarifying questions at this point

Yeah, thanks for the presentation. What if any off-street parking requirement would apply for this if the ADU were to be permitted?

The ADU is within a half mile of a public transit stop, so there would be no parking requirements that could be applied to it. Okay, thanks.

Anybody else? Alan?

A question about the future ADU. On the drawings it marks on the plan view the first floor and then it shows the shaded area that represents the future ADU and I guess when I look at the drawings it shows that there's a large room in between the the homeowners portion of the building and then the ADU portion. But I don't see, it's kind of like an unfinished room. It doesn't have any access. There's no doors. Can you explain Why that is, why is there this unfinished drawing and need for certifying statement that it's a future ADU rather than just having an ADU right off the bat?

Yeah. So the certifying statement is so that, well, ADUs can be approved ministerially. so it's more efficient to have the ADU be approved afterwards so that it can go through a ministerial process we still check the drawings to make sure generally that the ADU standards will be applied for example the exterior entrance the the size requirements the the kitchenette but more or less it's more efficient to have it go through a separate process and have the owner provide that statement so that we know that all the the standards that apply to ADUs under 800 square feet can be applied properly

Is it an omission that there's no, I guess, passageway into that one room of the ADU, that there's no door listed?

I mean, I would defer that to the architect. I believe there should be a door. Through the chair?

I just wanted to clarify. The project before you does not include the ADU. This is a future ADU. Asking clarifying questions, but I just want to make sure that the decision of the Planning Commission doesn't have any bearing on this ADU. That's a ministerial process.

So that's why that part of the drawing is unfinished because it is not in our purview and we're not having anything to do with it tonight.

That's correct.

Any other questions? Kathy? On page 5 of 13. am I reading here project location project address 1017 Crestview Drive um on page five of the staff report um figure four it shows project address 1017 Crestview oh I apologize for that that was from the example report that I used okay thank you for catching me

going on like that so a question for staff if the Commission tonight were to adopt the COA requiring the applicant to apply for an ADU permit and the ADU permit is unsuccessful what does that mean for this project's approval Roscoe, do you want to take it down?

Yeah, I can fill this. So the ADU law allows the applicant to exceed the maximum FAR up to a certain size. And because the applicant is going to be utilizing that section of state code, which allows that, they have to essentially build that ADU because that is what the provision is for. Now, if they ended up not doing that, they'd have to reduce the size of the addition. Thank you. That answers my question.

Thank you. Does the architect or applicant want to say anything in addition? No? All righty. Then we'll do public comment for this project. I have one speaker slip. Is there?

anything else there's no other hands raised on zoom and no other speakers thank you carol boonin can you come up my name is carol hewan and i live at 272 la cruz and i want to thank the new owners and the project managers for the information and the detail about the project and the opportunity to review it i am pleased that i had the opportunity to tell everyone about the drainage issues that have i've observed at 266 because in reality it's been major flooding over the years and so there's a safety issue and hygiene issues with the flooding. I also appreciate you listening to my other concerns about the traffic. There are trucks and a lot of vehicles at the end of La Cruz near Poplar. And so it's a very congested area. And often my drive, my little tiny driveway is blocked. And I appreciate you listening to my concerns about the construction distress and how long it will go on. I'd love to know. I also want to thank the Planning Commission, and especially Mr. Amit Cohen for the outstanding outreach, communication, and professionalism shown by the Planning Department. I'm very proud of you, and I'm very proud of Mildred.

Thank you.

Thank you. All right. No other else? Any motions to close the public comment? I'll take a motion. the microphone or put the little buttons please oh sam beat you to the no it's not the button there's a glare okay i make a motion to close the public i'll second okay and please vote thank you motion process 5-0 all righty moving on to discussion then anybody want to kick it off lincoln

I guess I have a question for the applicant in terms of the staff recommendation to frost the window. Which room was that window for? How do you feel about that? Is it? Is it? Yeah, just how do you feel about it?

Hello, my name is Alan Sophia. I'm a project manager for this project. So this window will fall into the family room, living room. But it's not to have it frosted. It's not. I think it will be acceptable to get this approved.

OK, thanks.

ellen another question for the architect so the neighbor uh at um 272 lacrosse she pointed out the flooding issue and i believe that the 272 is um you know higher elevation uphill than 266. so um was the owner at 266 aware of the flooding issue and have you investigated

that could be that there's flooding it's not draining properly down the hill and it's spilling over into the neighbor's uphill property um so we planning to have i'm sorry we will have to have a drainage design special design for that to solve this problem obviously so we will um they'll have to hire engineer for that for that

Was the owner or the were you aware that there was a flooding issue? Or have you investigated? No validity of that?

We wasn't aware till the neighbor.

Can you comment also on the any modifications or considerations of the driveway so that one might allow for more parking or and also to for constructability access? Imagine a lot of the construction is going to be going on through the side yard And maybe if there's a lot of foot traffic and contractor traffic going in and out of there, have you considered widening that left of the house to allow for more parking in addition to more access for construction?

Excuse me, through you, Chair. I just wanted to mention that there is maximum paving in the front yard. amount of paving in the front yard is limited to 40 so there is right now they're right at that limit so expanding the driveway would wouldn't be consistent with the zoning code thank you and also important to mention that we was trying to maintain the same facade of the front

not change the appearance of the house and the neighborhood so any modification in there will affect that okay thank you thank you i just want to say this is a good project i think it's a project where um that's a project where you're adding square

is from the public right of way. I also want to appreciate the conditions of approvals recommended by staff. I think having those implemented does make the project better. Every time I see a project like this where a homeowner is investing in the parcel, for that site, but also around the site. So thank you for that. I do have a question. I noticed that there are two maybe fireplaces within the house. It looks like you're demolishing the fireplace, which is fine. Are you planning to keep the chimneys?

So we can remove it because we're not going to use it. But if we would be easier to keep it for approval and for planning for the appearance of the house, we will keep it. What is your preference? What is the applicant or the architects? My preference is to keep it. So it's just stay within the same appearance of the house. Thank you.

anybody else have policy like to share discussion kathy um no i think it's a nice project too thank you very much try to keep as much greenery in the front as you can yes it was really trying to we will add this tree to comply with code and trying to keep it yeah when i drove by it just looked a little um what can i say not very inviting because there was so much cement in the front

oh yeah so we will we will convert some of the cement into a gravel yeah something a little bit more attractive definitely all right i think you can sit down thank you any other discussions no no i'll just make a quick comment that yes it is a nice design we didn't change the front so we don't have to worry about that but it's a good use of a large lot and the um adu will be a welcome addition a new home for somebody in milbury right downtown which is fantastic and aren't we planning a street tree for kathy this is i saw that in special conditions there's going to be a new street tree out front so there's your greenery but you can always add a little more it just softens the house alan uh yeah comments so

I think there's a very minimal change to the front of the house, so a little in terms of architectural review for the facade or street facing. We do recognize that there is enlargement of the house and that may prompt additional parking. So current codes, if it were up to the modern code, it would require more parking, but as a precondition, pre-existing condition for a single family garage so that remains in place and that's that's the rules and the law that they can stay with that the flooding on the side yard should be something that homeowners should look into especially with the access for the ADU on that side of the house so you may look at the elevation and the grading and make sure that there's no seepage in into the house otherwise it could become a bigger issue for the house nothing's worse to houses and structures and water damage for the most part but otherwise than that looks like the the drawings are well done like when they have all the thoroughness of the landscaping designs and the

shading studies so it looks like they've done a thorough job with these designs i appreciate that thank you anybody have a motion i can make a motion i think okay to approve the project um do we read it from here now or we read it either way okay um from the resolution if you want um same

on the design public hearing move approval for the design review permit application to allow the construction of 699-square-foot first-story addition that will be part of a future 800-square-foot accessory dwelling and 537-square-foot second-story addition and 400-square-foot second-story deck. with two-story residence and single-family residential or one zoning subject to public conditions attached. Thank you.

I'll second. There you go. Thank you. And we can vote.

I just want to double check. What are the exact conditions? There's several conditions of approval. They're all here. They're all there. Oh, on the resolution?

the regulars all the extra things and the last page is the special condition okay we're all here in the resolution hmm Has everybody voted?

Yes.

Thank you. Motion passes 5-0.

Thank you. And where did it go? I have to read something. Had it pulled up. Thank you. Actually, the Planning Commission is considered final pending a 10-day appeal period and the payment of a required appeal fee. For anyone that wishes to appeal the decision of the Planning Commission, please contact the City Clerk at 650-259-2414 or e-tran at ci.milbury.ca.us. Congratulations.

Do you want it back?

Next up is new business. I don't see any. Next after that is staff updates.

Yes, a few updates this evening. Thank you, Chair Davis. The first is there won't be a meeting for the first week of September. So Labor Day to you all. And then The next is that I mentioned this before, the city received a grant from MTC regarding parking management and the grant. So MTC ties their OBAG funding to compliance with the transit oriented communities policy. design different points to different facets of the four categories one is density the other is housing the other is parking management and station access and cities can have partial compliance or full compliance full compliance is 85 points partial compliance is 40 points um the majority of the funding will be tied towards cities that achieve partial compliance with and if the cities that do achieve full compliance it'll be a competitive grants will be a smaller pool of cities in theory so over the next several months the city will be taking forth our amendments to our zoning code and specific plans to to comply with a transit-oriented communities policy so what that means is the city we already meet our maximum residential density but we will have to amend the code to increase minimum Residential density, minimum commercial density and maximum commercial density. We also going to be amending parking requirements to eliminate parking requirements for the parking maximums in the area, which is a half mile from the. Melbury Transit Station and as well as housing. So there's going to be several ordinances to for tenant protections and things like that. So there's going to be over the next, I would say about six, six, eight months will be a lot of policy items and amendments that you all will be considering. um and because these are policy items and amendments to the zoning code and the specific plans there will be recommendations to the city council will then adopt or make a decision on those adopted amendments so that's exciting a lot of good work um amit and his firm will be working on the density amendments we have a consultant that's working on the housing portion and um then we receive the grant for the parking management and we'll be working with a consultant that MTC has proved through their pre pre approval process so a lot of So a lot of advanced planning over the next several months. So that's not going to, we have to be compliant with the TOC policy in the first quarter of 2026. So either the way I think it'll shake out is there'll be, they won't, we won't take all of the policies at once because the ones that are ready, we'll just take those forward. And the ones that are a little bit behind, we'll take that a separate time. our goal is to i think you know speaking with staff we are planning to achieve full compliance so 85 points um out of a maximum 100 so that's great for the city um and then uh lastly uh so with a heavy heart that i announced that this is going to be my last meeting with the city of millbrae it has been an absolute pleasure serving you all i've been here for almost six years and we've accomplished a lot the alexandria project longfellow project 959 is under construction 1301 Broadway affordable housing is under construction many many more there's 80 ordinance that the first these first 80 ordinance passed and you know there's plenty more work to be done but never the work never stops but I'm confident that the city will will bring in a very capable replacement for me but in the meantime Community Development Director Andy Mogenson will be will be managing these these meetings until my replacement is found so it's been a joy I do appreciate the Commission's productivity, we're able to get a lot done. And it's been, it's been a very memorable part of my career. But you know, it's just another chapter and another chapter will start. And, you know, I'm sure the city will, will succeed in the future. And so thank you very much for your support about my time here.

Thank you. Thank you for the work that you've done. You'll be missed.

Thank you.

Well, we're sorry to see you go.

You'll be missed. You were instrumental when I joined the commission. Thank you for the transition. I'm glad that we were able to recruit you on the commission. Good luck with everything with your next chapter. Thank you. I appreciate it.

There's been just a tremendous amount of work done in the last few years in general plan, you know, documental reality projects. So I really appreciate all the hard work you put in. It's a lot of work and A lot of community input and engagements that you helped facilitate. So really appreciate that too.

I will say it will be back once 959 is done. I'm really excited about that one. That's going to be a great project.

Terrific. With that, are there any announcements?

Yes, I want to remind everyone about the Art and Wine Festival for Labor Day weekend. And I had mentioned the Millbrae Volunteers of the Year. We have winners now. The volunteers, the adult volunteers are going to be Lynn Ferrario and Sherry Teresi. And the student is Lucas Du, D-U. so um i just wanted to bring that up and mark your calendars for october the 17th is just right around the corner so that was that and then um do you can you just say a couple of words about the meeting a couple of weeks ago about the mills estate park were you at that event

you referring to the the garden no not the state park uh yeah the one mills of the state the big no i i wasn't um kathy i was there what what's your question i'm just kind of a little update oh um it's it was the on-site um collection of people's thoughts there are three proposed plans um And there'll be another one. It's in September. It's at the Rec Center. I don't have the date off the top of my head, but you'll have another opportunity. There's also an online survey available for people to share their thoughts about the park. Thank you. No other announcements? Beats and Brews is Thursday.

Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.

Yeah. But other than that, I think we are adjourned. Thank you.

Michelle recording stopped.

Michelle