Historical & Landmarks Commission - Regular Meeting

It is 02/06/2025, 06:06PM. I now call call to order the historical and landmarks commission meeting, and we'll start with roll call. Vice chair, Farga Smith?

Here.

Commissioner Selsu?

Here.

Commissioner Insiarte? Here. Commissioner Stocks? And I'm chair Lang. I'm here. We have quorum. Commissioner Romano and both commissioner Kirby indicated they're gonna be a little bit late today. Do we still need to do excuse, or should we just wait for them? Okay. We'll just note their time when they come in.

K. First item we have is the continuance exceptions. This part of the meeting allows for applicant and members of public or other interested party to request the item to be continued or withdrawn or taken out of order. Are there any requests for applicants to public or commission for continuance or exception for any of the items on tonight's agenda? Seeing online.

Seeing none online.

Thank you. Let's see. Oh, the historical landmarks commission has seven members. Whenever the full commission is not present, applicants have the option to continue their item for another meeting. We don't have full commission until, like, the two get here.

So I don't think we're gonna have that issue tonight. So the first item we have for vote on is actually consent calendar. The procedure for consent calendar is as follows. The consent calendar items may be enacted, approved, or adopted by one motion unless requested to be removed by anyone for discussion or explanation. If any member of the historical and landmarks commission staff, the applicant, or a member of the public wishes to comment on the consent calendar item or would like the item to be heard on the regular on the regular agenda, make this request now.

Items listed on the consent calendar with associated file numbers constitute public hearing items. We have one item tonight for the consent calendar, and one a is the HLC meeting minutes, 10/03/2024. Generally, like, members who attended the meeting are allowed to to vote in affirmative for it. We actually only had four commissioners at that meeting in October, and one of them is actually absent right now, so we don't actually have the full vote to do it. So I think we're gonna pull this item and continue it. Do we need a vote to continue this item?

Yes, please.

K. Do I have a, motion to continue the minutes on 10/03/2024?

So made.

Thank you. Motion made stocks. Do I have a second? Second so so. Those who are in favor, aye. Aye. Unanimous to absence. So we'll continue the minutes the approval of the minutes. For oh, well, yes. We can continue the item, but you can't vote in affirmative for the the the minutes.

Yep. Okay. And then we'll move to public presentations. In this portion, I will ask if anyone would like to address the commission on items that are not on the agenda tonight. Any of yeah. We're we're not able to action on any items that are brought up during the this portion because it's not an agendized item, but we can look at if that's something we can, agendize late at a later date. This is open to any members of the public in in house online or any commissioners that wanna bring up any topic that are not agendized for tonight. You're online?

Can I add something for the future? Maybe discussion of funding and budget

What was that?

With additional funding that was that was discussed in an email that we received. Maybe we could add that to a future agenda item.

That's actually something we're gonna be discussing tonight because we're looking at work items for the for the rest of the year for the for the work plan. That's that's gonna roll into part of discussion. So yes. Thank you. Cool.

Seeing none, we can open this up to public hearing, items. We do have five items tonight. I do have to recuse myself from the first item I'm going to bring up. So, yeah, so I'm gonna actually move this item over to vice chair of Arya Smith.

Evening, everyone. Alright. On the the first item that we are going to consider tonight is a consideration of a historical preservation agreement, a Mills Act contract, PLN2400465 for 1435 Lexington Street. And presentation?

Thank you. This will be presented by Alex. He's a newer planner you may not have met before, so he'll be providing the presentation.

Thank you so much, Rebecca, for the introduction. Hello, everybody. My name is Alex. Hello, everybody. My name is Alex, I'll be presenting the first item.

Alrighty. So I'm gonna be presenting on 1435 Lexington Street. As mentioned by the vice chair, this is planning application PLN24Dash00465. As mentioned, the request for tonight, recommendation is to recommend this historical agreement for or is known as a mill contract. So on our left is the image of the existing home.

This picture was taken in 2015. It is a Queen's act Queen's Anne home architectural style house, really common in the earlier twentieth century. This particular house, it's a subtype of that architectural style. It's a Queen Anne's cottage style architectural home, and those homes have certain different architectural details that I'll be mentioning later on this presentation. This home is also found in the old quad, as you can mention on the image on the right.

This home is between Lexington Street and Madison. There's not a lot of actual properties in this neighborhood that are already have a mail exact contract. Right. So for the existing conditions, as mentioned, this home was built in 1892. What makes Queensland College style, I guess, popular is because these homes were originally popular in the East Coast.

And as people started selling in the West Coast, the style also started to be, I guess, picked up here too. And so these were plants that were mailed order. People could order these plants, they were shipped to them. And they people in it after would get the plants and actually build these homes. Some of the defining features of this subtype of of Queen Anne is that it has the East Lake decoration, the windows with cutaway corners and pendants, has a prominent cross gable hip roof that's mentioned on the historical d d, DPR form.

Also, other stuff is that it has a spindle work detail and full height angle bay projecting front on the front, facade. As you can mention here, this is the bay window that's projecting a little. So there's another image from the front elevation, and this image from the rear as shown for a home that's from 1892. It's really been preserved for the past, like, over a two hundred years almost. So next up, we have the ten year restoration plan that the property owners are committed to, follow if if they get a this MELLSAC contract.

It's pretty extensive. They do have various items they would like to work on starting with stripping the paint from the front door, inspecting for termites. One of the recommendations the staff gave the, this, applicant is to inspect for pests and termites twice during this ten year plan. So as you can mention, you you will see that it's shown twice in their plan. Other than that, other stuff they're proposing is regular maintenance, just like repairing the plumbing or any electrical systems, landscaping the front yard, cleaning the gutters, and also cleaning the AC.

For this application, we record staff recommends that the historical and landmarks commission find that the MELSAC application and associate ten year restoration and maintenance plan accomplished the intent of preserving and maintaining the historical significance of the historical property, therefore recommend city council to approve the Millsac contract and adopt this ten year restoration and maintenance plan associated with the historical preservation agreement for the property located at 1435 Lexington Street. And that's the conclusion of staff's presentation. The applicant is online if you have any questions, and, also, staff is available for any questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioners, any questions for staff? Are there any public speakers or someone online, the owner?

Yes. The owner is online. Jonathan, you can go ahead if you have a presentation to share if you just wanna say a few words.

Hello, everyone. My name is Jonathan Yee. Unfortunately, my wife couldn't make it tonight because of work, but we are the proud owners of fourteen thirty five Lex, and we bought the home back in December 2023. I know the committee has already reviewed the statement of justification I submitted with our Mills Act application, so I'll just say a few quick things. So our path to the old quad kinda began with our first home purchase back in 2020, which was a craftsman style home in Northside San Jose that really made us really appreciate the historical architectural features that have remained with the home over the many years.

Its ownership kind of changed hands. So when we began searching for our next home, we knew we wanted more than just a house. We were looking for a home with character and a sense of community. And when we saw this property just over a year ago, we fell in love with its distinctive design features. But what truly drew us to this home was its place within the old quad. So we understand that when we bought this home, we became a part of the city's heritage with a role in preserving and enhancing the community and its architectural legacy. And our application represents our commitment to do just that, and we hope the committee moves forward with the Mills Act contract for fourteen thirty five Lex. And I appreciate everyone's time and consideration, with respect to our application.

Thank you. I'd like to commend you on your extensive list for for the Mills Act contract. Some wonderful additions that you're doing in maintenance. It's a beauty, and thank you for choosing Yule Quad to move to and be part of our preservation culture that we have going on here. Any questions or comments for the owner, commissioners?

Can we see if there's any public speakers? Any public speakers?

Forgot that. Pardon me. Are there any public speakers in the audience? They online? Seeing none. Is there a motion to close public hearing?

Motion to close public hearing.

Thank you, commissioner Celso. Is there a second?

I second.

Thank you, commissioner Stocks. Is everyone in agreement?

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Thank you. Okay. Now any questions for the owner? Comments?

I have a question for the owner, mister Yi. Good evening. Can you tell me did you look at the condition of the foundation of the home as you were considering the ten year plan, and what did you find?

Oh, there we go. So my understanding is is that the prior owner, when he rebuilt the home essentially, he maintained certain aspects, but he actually did a deep dive into the foundation. And so that I believe I'm not entirely sure when that happened, but I do know that there was a permit filed for it, and he did a lot of foundational work, when he was rebuilding the home.

Thank you.

I was just wondering if the homeowner already has a plaque for the property. And if not, would you like a plaque for the property with the date that the home was built?

Yeah. That'd be lovely. That'd be great.

Okay. Thank you.

Any other commissioners, comments, motions? Questions? No. Is there anyone entertaining a motion on set?

Motion to close the comments and go to discussion.

Motion made by commissioner Stocks. Second motion made by commissioner also. That closes comments.

Do we have to vote all in favor?

Roll call or all commissioners in favor?

Aye.

Well done. Is there a motion regarding the Smills Act contract by any of the commissioners? Any further comments or questions?

Yeah. I wanted to say

I read the GPR. It's it's probably the longest one I've ever read. It's so in-depth and and great amount of detail. I know we should definitely commend the person put it together. I commend the homeowner for coming

coming to us with it.

They've got all their paperwork squared away.

Any other comments?

No. I it looks seems like a very thorough ten year plan. I was reviewing it earlier. I didn't find anything that, you know, stuck out as as an issue. So I will make a motion to approve the contract for the property with the inclusion of a plaque.

Do we have the budget? Do we have the budget for a plaque? Do we have the money for a plaque?

We do. Cool.

Alright. Motion made by commissioner Salsa, and a second made by commissioner Stocks.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. I wanna make take notice here that commissioner Kirby has just joined us. It's 06:23. Welcome. Well, congratulations to the owner, Jonathan, and on your new Mills Act contract. The commission has spoken. Yes.

Thank you, Jonathan.

Be just a few minutes while we bring back the other commissioners. He's not here.

And we're back, and we have the full commission. Thank you. It disappeared. I'm in the alternate reality. Okay.

So let's move on to item two. It's twenty four eleven forty two, a public hearing for a consideration of the proposed demolition of the existing single family residence and construction of a 2,446 square foot five bedroom, three bed three bathroom, two story residence with an attached two car garage in 970 Poplar Street, PLN 2400600 located within 200 feet of a historic resource. I'm gonna send this over to Steph.

Thank you. To clarify, this is item three at 970 Poplar Street. Daniel will be presenting this item. Thank you.

Much appreciated. Thank you so much. Anna Subcheck, City of Santa Clara planning. The request in front of us today is to review the proposed demolition and the construction of a single family home within 200 feet of a historic resource. As you can see on the screen, the existing site is rather small, about point one five acres and surrounded by single family and some commercial properties as well.

The commercial properties being the corner properties on the north and the west. The general plan is very low density, and the zoning is r one six l, which is a single family. There are HRI properties within the 200 feet, mainly just being the four time Lafayette. And that is it. We have the school in the park here being historic, but it's outside of the 200 foot radius.

The project proposed is is an architectural review. Currently, there is a one story house as well as a shed and a detached garage. Those structures will be removed, and a two story house will be put in the put in its place as well as an ADU. The ADU is not part of this review as it will be done ministerially and has not been reviewed yet. Here are the elevations, both the front right to left and south.

As you can see, there's quite a bit of step back, of the 2nd Floor to the 1st Floor, which meets our design guidelines. The garage is a side entry garage that is at the back of the house. Here are some three d mock ups. Note that there are two separate porches, the smaller front porch, which conforms to the characteristics of the neighborhood as well as this rear entry porch. The historical evaluation for the property, the DPR form five twenty three a and b were both prepared by Montgomery.

The existing house is a nineteen forty six wood frame structure built in a minimal traditional style and clad and stucco. The existing residence does not meet the criteria of historic significance for at at any level. However, the project proposed would match the characteristics of the current neighborhood, including the smaller front porch and the similar roof style. So moving on the neighborhood compatibility portion, the proposed house does meet the city's the city's design guidelines and that the 2nd Floor windows are oriented towards the front and the rear to maintain privacy on either side. The second floor is also proposed to be at just 54% of the 1st Floor, which will not exceed the city's 66% threshold.

And the 2nd Floor is stepped back from the 1st Floor at least five feet in the front and three feet on the sides. And there is a hip roof that is proposed to reduce the overall bulk of that second store. So finally, the recommendation is that the HLC find that the proposed project located at 970 Poplar Street will not destroy or have a significant adverse effect on the integrity of the HRI property within 200

feet at 410 Lafayette Way and that and that the

demolition and proposed residents are compatible with the surrounding neighborhood and recommend approval of the architectural review. Staff is here, and the applicant is here as well if there's any

Thank you for the presentation. Are there any quick questions for staff before I invite the applicant?

I have a question for staff. Hi, Daniel. The place next door, the commercial property at 976, do we know how old that is?

Good question. I think that we we can find out.

Okay.

We can move to the the applicant, and

we'll 1956 is

Oh, that's fast.

1956 is what the map says. Take that with a grain of salt, but it's not I don't think it's that far off.

And that's not on a any historic at that age?

Not yet. No. Well, it's not listed as potential, but we can confirm that on our end.

Thank you. You're referring to the the commercial?

Yeah. Like, Mission style commercial. I'm not sure if it's, like, seventies or if it's actually thirties, but, it doesn't

Okay. Fair enough. I know. Then just to ensure, like, since this property is not historical, what we're evaluating is the impact of the demolition and the new project to in relevance to the to historic property on, I wanna say Lafayette. Unfortunately, Lafayette.

So just for that. So next time, we're gonna invite the applicant to come in to address the commission if you wish to. And then we may have some clarifying questions, like, from the commission for you. And then we'll open it to public comments, and then we'll close that and then go back to commission discussion. So, applicant, if you like, please come on up.

Yes, please. Welcome.

My name is Antonio. I'm the applicant for this project, and I think the staff did a great job as did Bonnie Montgomery, and I would totally hire her again. That's all I have to say. I mean, 410 Lafayette is great, but if I stand in front of my house, I can't even see that house. That is around the corner, one house down. So if that's the point of discussion, I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys have, but I really don't have anything to add other than what Daniel already said. Thank you.

Well, thank you. Are there any questions from the commission for the applicant? No? None?

Go for it.

Is this a residential property that you're gonna be living in?

Good questions.

Yeah. Oh, yes. We're gonna

One more

time? Are you gonna be living in this property? No. It's a rental?

It most likely will be a rental. Yes.

Okay. Is that what is the historic property that we can't see that you're referring to? Is it a school, you said?

The property that I referred to the historical, I believe Daniel spoke to it. It's also a rental that sits around I believe it's up on the screen. That is that the one we're talking about, the historical? Yeah. Actually, about I I remember that project. That was probably 12 ago. A gentleman bought it to turn it into a rental, and, they totally fixed it up. They actually the city allowed them to raise it about five feet so he can make the the basement, livable. And, yeah, I I know it was a big deal with the city, but, ultimately, he got the permits to do it. I think it looks great.

That's the property around the corner we're looking at.

So from from my house, what I can see is oh, let's see. To my left if I'm looking from my house out to the street, to my left is a I believe it's a hair salon. Kitty Corner is a strip mall. Next to the hair salon is a seven Eleven, and then across the street from me is a big house that's, I believe, the neighbor of the house on Lafayette.

Thank you. You're welcome.

I have a question for the home. My name for you. Would you wanna go?

I was just gonna say something that stands out to me is the fact that it is two story and looking at the other houses along. I don't know the aesthetic of the street, if it's going to throw it off some because it very clearly is single story buildings except for across the street. I did notice as it panned around, the one across the street does appear to be two story. But aside from that one, it appears as most everything else is single story. So that's just something that kinda stood out to me. The other thing I would like to compliment you on, though, is the mention of the porch, and I believe it said the roof on there sticking to the style. So I feel like that's an attempt to sort of make it blend in a little better.

That's all.

Thank you. Yeah. The the house across the street is indeed two stories. Pretty bulky house. And then behind me, not directly behind me, but kinda diagonally, there is a two story multifamily house as well. Right.

I was looking at the pitch of the roof, and it seemed very much like it matched your neighbor to the left. Is that something you did on purpose or not on purpose? Or

The pitch of the roof, honestly, it was not done on purpose. It was done to basically, when we build a two story home, you're limited to keep it under 25 feet. And I drew the house, by by the way. I didn't hire an architect. So for me, it's more like what looks good. And maybe subconsciously, I did match it, you know, seeing the other ones. Mhmm.

Good.

I was just wondering if any of the elements from the original home that are there now are gonna be kept in use in the new construction. The doors are pretty unique.

The bars?

The the front doors?

The front doors. Let me see.

Yeah. They're turquoise. It they appear to be.

Yeah. So if you look at some Google the the Google Maps, the color of the house as well as the doors have changed over the last ten years. When the previous owner bought it, I believe that's when what it looked like when the previous owner bought it, but I'm not sure. What year is that? The 2014? Yeah. So my plan are you talking about the color scheme? No. Just Or the doors themselves?

The doors themselves or just in general any of the building materials that are existing? Are they gonna any of them gonna be recycled or find their way to the new structure?

So as far as using it in a new structure, the those windows are not original. They're vinyl windows, so it'd be really hard to reuse those. I know by law, now you have to re when you do a new construction and you demolish a house, you have to recycle about 90% of the stuff you tear down. You have to actually get a tag from for the city. But as far as reusing what's there, I was not planning on it.

My daughter wanted me to keep a sign that said Pluto. I guess the the kids that lived there before called it Pluto. But, unfortunately, when I went back to retrieve the sign, I the kids must have come back and gotten it because that sign is gone. So that was about the only thing I planned on keeping. Would have been a nice little memento. But, yeah, maybe I can get in touch with the previous owner to get in touch with the previous tenants, see if I can

get that back. Good luck.

But as you can see, I don't know what that sign says. I think the house changed names over the years as well. I wouldn't mind keeping I'll tell you what. I wouldn't mind keeping the sign that says 970. I mean, that's that looks like in pretty good shape. As far as the doors, my design has a single door, those are double doors.

Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions for the applicant?

I have another question again. Just out of curiosity, what is gonna be the siding, or how are you gonna clad the exterior of the home?

My plan is to do the way it is right now, stucco. Stucco? Okay. Keep that as is.

That seems to be kind of the prevailing exterior finish for the homes in the area.

Mhmm.

Can you go back to the page right before this? Because that's where it said about the porch, and I believe it said was it the roof, the second? It it can you go back to the page before this? You were just on it, like, two seconds ago. There was a page, and it talked about how there we go. The porch and the roof styles. Those are the two I want to note again. Thank you.

In reading the the report, the 15 page report that Bonnie wrote us, apparently, this house originally had a porch. And at some point, one of the owners, I believe it was a previous owner, enclosed that porch. So the porch disappeared, and I'm bringing that back.

The question, is there any rendering or way to see what the new construction would look like from the historical property? So I'm looking at the historical property and I look over at the new construction. Can I see the second story?

Well, I think if, Daniel takes us to the Google Maps there, there oh, right there, you're standing in front of that. And the the two story house that sits next to the historical home, I believe blocks 100% of the view. I don't have any rendering other than what we are seeing on the screen right now.

Mhmm.

Good? Cool.

I just have one other question. Okay. So there haven't been any comments from any neighbors, for example, about the potential impact to, you know, sun, Mike, in terms of sun coming in through their windows and things like that?

Have you gotten any com I have gotten zero comments. The the house, the way it sits, south is to the back. So all the sunlight as a matter of fact, it would be the setting sun. Right? If I'm in the backyard, yeah, it's this house pretty much sits north to south. So this house, I would imagine, would have zero effect on sunlight.

Staff has not received any has not received any comments yet. No.

Okay. And the notice was placed, you know, that

Yes.

With this property. So any, you know, neighbors would have had an opportunity to comment on it?

Yeah. There are two notices placed, and the applicant has the 11 by 17 sign in the front as well.

Okay. Cool. Thank you. Welcome. Let's open this to public comments. Are there any any public members who would like to comment on this item that are in chamber tonight or online? And if you do online, please raise your hand.

Seeing none online.

Thank you. Seeing none, do I have a motion to close public comments?

I move to close public comments.

Okay. Do I have a second? I second. Thank you. Those who are in favor, aye. Aye. Unanimous. So we're closing comments. Discussion on this item? And I'll also entertain a motion.

I'd like to commend the homeowner for putting together DPR on the home. And I think that that shows that they care about our opinion here, and and I appreciate that side of things.

I like the mention of the porch and the roof. Just mentioned in the report that it was similar to the surrounding houses. I I feel like although it's a new house, it sort of makes an effort to to, you know, match. Okay.

Thought it was a great choice that you were thoughtful in trying to blend that property with the surrounding neighborhood. So good job.

Any others before I go?

I just wanna say it seems like a very well thought out plan, and I'm really impressed that he drew this himself without, you know, hiring an architect. And so I do hope you find that sign, the Pluto sign. But, yeah, thank you.

Wanna Kathleen, anything? No? Okay. You know, I'll I'll echo some of the sentiments. Thank you for getting the historic report done, like, on the on the property so we know what we're working with. I do understand, you know, we do have the pressure of, like, trying to create a little bit more units and and spaces in the neighborhood. I do appreciate the the drawing, like, having referencing the porches and how it blends in the neighborhood. And I also especially appreciate the the setbacks where it's, like, really off the street. It's not, like, a big giant thing that we're looking at in some of the designs we've seen before. So, you know, I I commend you for for the design of the of the home and, like, not trying to Frankenstein what we have right now to make it bigger.

So so, yeah, with that, like, I I'll entertain a motion on this.

Motion to approve the staff recommendation for this project.

Thank you. Motion stocks. Do I second? I second. Second. Those who are in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you.

Thank you, staff, for working on this one. Really big packet. I'm trying to scroll.

Sorry. Okay.

So we are at item four, six, five, twenty five eleven nineteen public hearing for a recommendation on a proposed 627 square foot 1st Floor addition and 1,270 square foot 2nd Floor addition to existing 1,954 square foot single story residence resulting in a 3,939 square foot four bedroom, three bedroom, two story residence with attached three car garage at 807 Park Court located within 200 feet of a historical resource. So I'll send this over to Steph.

Thank you. And just to note, we did receive post meeting material on this that was emailed out, which was, I believe, three two letters of support and then one informational letter from Lori Garcia. So I will turn it over to Alex for a presentation on this item.

Thank you so much, Rebecca. Good evening, commissioners. Again, my name is Alex Taeus. I'm an assistant planner here with the city of Santa Clara, and

I'm gonna

be presenting on item four.

Alrighty.

So as mentioned by the chair, item form is is on 807 Park Court. It is a planning application PLN 24Dash00585. So the request is to review the proposed second story addition remodel in accordance with the 200 foot referral policy in our historic preservation ordinance on the Santa Clara city code eighteen point one three zero point zero seven zero. And the purpose of this is for neighborhood compatibility and consistency with the city design guidelines and make a recommendation on the architectural review at the development review hearing. Alrighty.

So this is the existing site at 807 Park Court. It is Addressed Park Court, but this project was developed after the original 1920 subdivision that's kind of famous becoming famous here in Santa Clara. This lot is 9,202 square feet. As probably all of you are aware, this home is surrounded by single story and two story single family homes. It is a single family r one zone, and, also, the general plan land use destination is very low density.

This home is around 90 feet away from a Melzac property, 794 Park Court. That is a Craftsman bungalow. And they were, as Rebecca mentioned, they were one of the people that sent a post meeting material in support of this design. So the proposed construction is to do a second story addition, which triggers the need of a public hearing, and they're gonna be remodeling the 1st Floor. Here is the proposed site plan.

You can see here what is dashed is the footprint of the second story. So this home second story element will have substantial setbacks so to protect the privacy of all the neighbors and also to ensure there's not like a McMansion. On our left is the existing elevation. So as you can see, the existing home currently is pretty typical of a postwar track home that's what we known for, that was built to create, like, this, like, suburbs. So a lot of times after the war, they were developed with little minimalistic architectural details.

So just to to keep costs low and to help people just be able to afford these homes after the war. They're proposing this design on the ride. It's a modern farmhouse style architectural design. There's a lot of articulation, and the fenestration with the windows are aligned. So it does pretty much it's not a big mass, so it it does kinda blend the historical homes in the original Park Court subdivision with the postwar homes that this neighborhood surrounds or this home surrounds.

As mentioned and one thing we're looking for is to see if this proposal is compatible with this the city's design guidelines. As mentioned, the 2nd Floor windows are oriented towards the front and rear, while the side windows are more than 15 feet away from the property line. So there's a lot of privacy, ensure that it's protected from both the homeowners in this property and also the neighbors. The proposed 2nd Floor element is 49% of the 1st Floor, so it's a substantial smaller element compared to what they're proposing for the 1st Floor. The 2nd Floor exceeds the step back guidelines.

They're more than five feet from the front wall and three to oh, and three to five feet from the side and rear walls of the 1st Floor. They're proposing around, like, seven feet for the sides, they're proposing substantial, so for the front step back for the 2nd Story. The architectural style and design of the proposed addition are consistent to the architectural form of the existing residents and to the neighborhood. Staff does recommend that the historical and landmarks commission find this proposed development that will not destroy or have any significant adverse effect on the integrity of the HRI property mentioned at 794 Park Court and that the historical landmark commission find that the proposal is compatible with the surrounding neighborhood and recommend approval of the architecture review at the development review hearing. And, the applicant is also online and present too.

So if, if you have any questions, they're here to answer. Thank you. That's all.

Thank you for that presentation. Does the commission have any quick questions for staff before I invite the applicant?

I

do. What are the can you show me images of the houses on either side or across the street? I'm curious how this is compatible.

Of course. Let me I can go on Google Maps and show that.

One thing to note while Alex is pulling that up, this is kind of a uniquely situated lot. It is surrounded by street on three sides, so it's only actually sharing a property line. Well, actually, it's sharing a property line with two neighbors, but it is uniquely situated.

It's a bit of a peninsula where it is.

So here's the Google Backstreet view of the existing home. So this is 807 as currently it looks like. As Rebecca mentioned, it's in the corner. So this home really does serve, like, a like, the middle between what is the famous, well, becoming famous Percord neighborhood, right here on the right. So an older image, but this is the HRI property and many of the original craftsmans built in that neighborhood.

And then as you can as I mentioned in my presentation with the park with this site, most of the homes on this subdivision are similar to this home. The only difference is in materials used for the front elevation. So as you could see, many homes do have the similar roof and then, like, one car garage or even two, some of these homes. So with the proposed, I would serve a little of a tradition of the architectural design as the homes this proposal will look a little more blending, like if it was there when the original parkour was developed. Yeah. Hopefully, answers the question.

I have a question. The historian is preparing a context statement for Park Court, and this is on Park Court, but I wasn't clear. Is this inside or outside of the boundary consideration?

Yeah. Based on the informational letter, this parcel will be outside because this was developed after, like, in the in the fifties.

You know when the home was built?

Yeah. This house was built in 1948.

Okay. Thank you.

Then for the letter that Laurie sent, it was just informational about what she's doing. There's no affirmative or anything

from us? That's correct. She mentioned studies. She just wanted to inform the commission about her work.

And then for the

two letters that are in support, you already showed us the location of the other one. So that one is properly in Park Court. And then the other one that's, I believe, just across the street from them on Linden.

I think so. I can look that up. Mhmm.

It looks like in the Park Court zoning vicinity map that the HRI property is Kitty Corner from the proposed project?

Sorry. Can you repeat that?

Yes. That's correct. Thank you.

Is it possible to navigate on that view to oh, okay. It's that one with the fence. Right? You can't even really see it.

That's correct.

Just not a fence.

I remember looking at that property at one of our meetings.

And this is the the front of that property. Okay.

Thank you.

Any other questions for the applicant before I invite the I mean, and for the staff before I invite the applicant? Cool. The applicant wanna address the

Oh, you got one more? Go ahead.

Just so that we're clear, this is more than 200 feet away from the HRI property? No.

This property actually is 90 feet away from the HRI property. Like

Oh, okay.

So it's within the 200 foot referral area. Okay.

It's like it's right here. This guy

is the

it's a garage.

I have one other question for staff. The letters in support, were those emailed to us, or are those available on the website, you know, with the meeting agenda and all that?

They were emailed to you because we received them after the agenda was but they'll be posted on the website after the meeting tonight.

So they are on the website? If I navigate to the

Not yet. But you should get an email have an email from Elizabeth with the letters.

Oh, okay. Yeah. I saw the letter with Laurie's or I saw the email with Laurie's letter, but I didn't see the two letters in support.

Was the email today? Oh, okay. Yeah.

Okay. Thank you.

Good. I'll invite the applicant if you want would like to address the commission, and we may have some questions for you.

Hi. My name is Tony.

I'm the

homeowner of that home on 807 Park Court. I've been there since 2009, and I've lived in Santa Clara for forty seven years, which is my entire life. So I grew up in that neighborhood, and I wanted to stay there. So I purchased that home and did some minor renovations. But as my family's grown and our needs have changed, like, living with four people in one shower is kinda challenging.

So we're really trying to build, like, our forever home, and there's a lot of foundation issues and stuff. So we felt that trying to keep as much of the original house as possible but expand to meet our family's needs is kind of exactly what we wanna do. I love that old Santa Clara vibe. So we tried to have, like, a little bit of a modern flare, but kinda keep some trim and grid windows and and roof lines and stuff to kinda fit in with our neighborhood, which is the the stucco side of Park Court and not necessarily the historic part. And speaking with a lot of the neighbors and showing the the drawings and stuff, pretty much everybody seems to be in support.

So I'm kind of excited about that, including the Mills Act home, which, I face the back of. So I know I'm within 90 feet, but, Megan can't really see my house, you know, from her front door, but she does feel that it's a good design.

Great. Thank you. Any questions for the applicant from the commission?

My only comment is it it seems like it's it's a lovely modern design. It just doesn't seem to fit with the neighborhood, and it's my only concern. When you look around, you feel like, where did this come from? You know? If it's just so different. You know? Like, it would would it set a precedent for that entire area?

Well, I think, you know, working with our architect over the last six months, I feel like we've tried to keep with the design elements of the neighborhood, but we, you know, just needed more space and the modern kinda clean look with some classic elements, I think, is kind of a good bridging of the gap with, like, a lot of the newer homes we see that don't fit in and kinda keeping some classic flair.

I have a comment more than necessarily a question, but I was very caught seeing the pictures. I love farmhouse. I think it's beautiful. But, also, looking at the neighborhood, just thought, I don't know if this really fits here. You know, this is gonna be so different. But I will tell you listening to you, you gave me just that little bit to get over that hill. I love when you said your forever home, and I thought that showed, like, your dedication to maintaining it and wanting it to be a place that you're going to hold on to. So just wanted to comment that sort of nudged me a little in making a decision.

Thank you.

Any questions for the applicant before I open it up for the public?

You have a question. Just out of curiosity, is the color shown in the rendering there, is that the planned color that, you know, you're gonna paint the house?

Probably very close. We were trying to play with two tones to just try not to make it look like a cube Yeah. And just kind of accent the multi faces of a lot of the homes in the area when they when they are two stories.

You know?

Most of them are just boxes, but but all of the two stories, they kinda have a cool character. So we tried to keep with that.

Okay. Yeah. Cool. Thank you.

It

looks like the other applicant might be online, Tara. Oh. She had some if you wanna add anything.

Hi. Can you hear me?

Yep.

Hi. I'm Tara. I'm Tony's wife. And thank you for all of you and your time to listening to our proposal. I just wanted to add that we did try to also incorporate some different materials than what we already have on our home right now.

And with the porch facade, bringing in some stone to kind of help bridge that gap with some of the homes on Linden and around our home that have those materials. So it's really not that traditional. I know the word farmhouse can kind of or modern farmhouse can kind of pigeonhole

a home a

little bit. I I don't think that's what our house is. We're not using the siding or the big wood planks to give it a farmhouse look. We really wanted to maintain a stucco exterior. And, really, if if you look at the home behind us on Linden, the two story home, it's it would be quite similar actually in materials to what we're proposing. But yeah. So I just wanted to add that because I I know that the word modern farmhouse can seem a little off putting in a neighborhood like that, and and I don't think that's really what we're going for.

Thank you. Alright. I'm gonna open this to public comments. Thank you. If any if there's anyone, in in chamber or online would like to comment on this item, please raise your hand or come up. I'll wait for online for a second.

Seeing none online. Thank you.

Seeing none online. Do I have a motion to close public comments?

Move to close public comments.

Thank you. Do I have a second? I second. Thank you. Those who are in favor, aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Unanimous closing public comment. Discussion.

Go ahead, madam chair. I have a few thoughts. I agree with the staff recommendation that because it is across from even though the address is on Park Court, it's not part of the nineteen twenties development and does come later and is not impacted or would be even in consideration of what Lori Garcia is doing to put in the context statement. It's outside those boundaries. So I don't have any concerns with it as far as the Park Court aesthetic.

There are only a few as I use Google Maps and go up and down all the surrounding streets. Only I counted only three two story buildings, and it is a little it it would stand out differently as does the two story on Linden from the rest of the postwar single story homes, but we don't have a context statement for postwar homes yet. So I'm I'm hesitant because I know that's coming, but right now, we don't have that. So this one's a tough one as far as the two story part.

And that's what I was sort of leaning toward. It's a beautiful design. It's a beautiful house. It's amazing what they've done, but it just looks so different, and it just stands out. You know? That's what I'm wrestling with.

I would agree with that about the different part because when you look at the two story on Linden Boy, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

This one's interesting because it doesn't have anything to the left of it or to the right of it that you kinda have what have a need to blend with. I see letters of support from opposite and kiddie corner in the historic home. I think that's really important. Enjoyed hearing the homeowner talking about age and place and a whole life lived in Santa Clara. Maybe I'll get there. And and I felt like they enjoyed the design phase. They talked about it with a passion and can make that corner their own. That's my feeling there. I wanna know what's in the garage.

I say the the thing that's helping with this proposed design is the fact that there's no context statement. And and just going back, adding to what the applicant mentioned, he's been here forty seven years, growing up here, just kind of a a testament to evolving with with the times with Santa Clara. And so since there's no context statement, I think he it makes sense. Makes sense to approve.

I have a question. I don't know if it doesn't make a lot of sense, but are there any other things that could be added to sort of make it fit more? Just maybe the lights that are used or, I don't know, picket fence. I don't know. Just some little things like that that could sort of help it. That's just what I'm seeing when I look at it.

I don't know if that

could be off base question. But

Yes, please. Come on up.

One of the things my wife and I have talked about is around the perimeter, which you don't see here, we have a lot of fruit trees. And because we're on a double corner, we get a lot of people walking by, and we've always dreamed of, like, a picket fence one day. But I think right now, it's not in the budget. But I do think that would be that actually that is something Tara and I have talked about multiple times. I think this is just overwhelming enough right now to try to get past this hurdle. And but it would be nice because, like, one day, they'll be grandkids, and they can play out there safely as well.

To comment on what commissioner Stock said, that corner is both a blessing and a curse. Right? It's a blessing because you're this amazing, beautiful house, and you're gonna be the only thing people see on that corner. Right? And just what an introduction and how beautiful. But then it's also sort of a curse because it sets you out by yourself, and it makes it really obvious. So it it's like a blessing and a curse.

Thing you can't see from this rendering is the house on Linden directly behind us is another family who's been there their whole life, and that's also a two story.

I think to me, like, the important thing is how the second story is added on there is there's a lot of setback. It's not, like, a overwhelming structure that's on top of it. I think that's fine. I think design.

I have to say it's one of the better additions that I've seen. Yeah. I really like the rendition of it because you some that we get before us, it's very obvious

Mhmm.

Where the original structure ended in the new begin. And I felt like that doesn't really stand out. It's done very well.

Kind of blended in a setback. I think, you know, being on that peninsula, it's far enough away from the main parkour, the 1920 subdivision. So that really shouldn't have too much of an impact on it. And, yes, like, you know, we're we're not doing post war yet, so we don't really have, like, context on how to do improvements on it to make it, you know, keep the keep some of the characteristics and stuff. But I do see some flares of that here.

Yeah. I like the project, actually, in general. So

Yeah. I get what you're saying, and I wouldn't wanna penalize the homeowner because we have because we know we're going to do it, but we haven't done it. Yeah. Right? The context statement. So, yeah. I mean, it's a beautiful rendition. I have no problem with that. It's just, you know, it does take away from the rest, but we're not there yet. So

I have a question. The other two story house on Linden Street, that someone had mentioned earlier, is it is that visible from this property? And then can we see that on can someone pull that up on my Google Maps so we can get an idea of what that one looks like, please?

Of course.

So this is the two story linen

then.

It is behind this property or this project site, but there is a those are substantial space between the two story elements between both of these homes.

It's hard to say for sure, but just looking at that, it looks like it's a second story addition upon the original structure as opposed to a whole new layout.

Okay. Thank you.

There's not a comment. I understand emotion as well.

Okay. I'll make a motion. I move that we approve the recommendation from staff to go with the proposed plan.

I second.

Motion is second. Those in favor, aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Those who have objection, nay. Alright. So we have excise one nay from Anna. So motion passes. Thank you.

Move on to the next item. This one's yours? Okay. Item 525121, a public hearing for consideration of the new construction of nine two story townhomes with attached two car garages at 4249 Cheney Street located within 200 feet of a historic resource. And I'll turn this over to Steph.

Alright. Thank you. Good evening, and it's been a while since I present to historical landmark commissions. Steve Lee, senior planner. So good to see everyone in person.

Let me just share my screen here.

I'll be presenting on item number five here. This project is here before you in accordance to the historical preservation ordinance for the 200 foot furlough policy for neighborhood compatibility and consistency with the city's design guidelines and make recommendations on the architectural review at the development review hearing. Just overall process, this is more than just the architectural review. The property would go through general plan amendment, a rezone as well as a tentative map for condominium purpose. It's going to be developing nine townhomes here.

A little bit more about that in the next slide. The existing site here is on the north of the city, in the Agnew Village. It's a point five, and a half acre vacant site. So nothing on these two parcels. They're gonna combine the two parcel and then divide that for nine townhomes.

Surrounding neighborhood, mainly one and two story single family and multifamily residents. Mix of different architectural style, old and new. The current zoning district is single family, R 16 L, and the current general plan designation is very low density residential. The two historical resource inventory properties within the 200 feet of this project, you show here in the proximity, 2086 Agnew, fronting Agnew is just to the back left here. And then 4262 Davis Street is on the sharing a corner of this project site.

This is the two properties here on the left, 2086 Avenue, built in 1890 as a school. Then later, the school closed in 1927, and it's been used as single family residence since. On your right is the 4262 Davis Street, and that's built in 1920 as a Greek revival. It's been used as a single family since the project site in proximity to these properties here on let's look back at Agnew. The project will be on the back.

The Agnew site, the the resource is actually just the front house there. The back is a newer ADU, and then the project site is behind that. On the Davis Street property, it shares that corner on that side where the project arrow shows. And then I will show you on the next slide the other perspective. So from Cheney, the two vacant site here, you can see where Agnew would be on the left and where Davis would be on the right.

A little bit more on the proposed project. Again, it's a rezone and a general plan amendment to construct nine two story detached single family homes. It's gonna zone up zone to r two, and general plan is gonna go from very low to low density. And it comes along with a tentative track map for condominium purpose and architect review that will go to DRH. There are some pictures here.

The applicant will go more talk more about their project design and layout and approach. It's gonna be a fun row, four townhouses, and then access by one l shaped road to the back of five townhouses to the rear. It shares similar finished material in the neighborhood, stucco, sidings, hip roof, front porch in the front, and a big fence. From historical evaluations, there was a report prepared by the Treynor HLs, which studied the potential impacts of the project to 2086 Agnew. The evaluation finds of the proposed project is consistent with two standards of the Secretary of Interior Standards for Rehabilitation, Standard nine and ten.

There's no alterations to immediate surrounding neighborhood, and the design is compatible in scale. One is a two story townhouse in density as the immediate neighborhood. There's actually a townhouse project just behind this as well. Project design can be distinguished from the historical resource, and the the evaluation's conclusions would apply to 4262 Davis Street as well. Both historical structures are 90 feet away from the project, the the nearest townhouse, and you would not be able to see from the the project frontage Cheney where the resources would be, as you can see earlier.

As far as neighborhood compatibility, the proposed project complies with the city's single family design guidelines, and the proposed second story windows are oriented towards the front and rear. The project proposed a hip roof style second story, which reduces the overall bulk and appearance of the second story. And the architectural style and design of the proposed additions are true to the architectural form of the existing residence and the name. With that, staff recommendations is that the Historical and Landmarks Commission find that the proposed development at 4249 Cheney Street will not destroy have destroy or have a significant adverse effect on the integrity of the HRI properties within 200 feet, 2086 Acne Road and 4262 Davis Street, and that the historical and landmarks commissions find that the demolitions and proposed residences are compatible with the surrounding neighborhood and recommend approval of the architectural review development review here. That's a long one.

But, yeah, that concludes staff presentations, and the applicant is also here with the presentation. Our consultant trainer, HL, is also online in case you have any questions.

Thank you for our presentation. Are there any quick questions for staff before I move to the applicant?

One quick one. Is the zoning changing on the lot, or is it staying R 16 L?

Is the the zone is gonna up zone to R 2.

Is that is that within our purview to discuss as impact to the neighborhood?

Not for that. It's for architectural only per day. K. These only just higher density in order to get the nine units. I

read this before, but somehow the word demolition just took out when I noticed it. What is being demolished again?

Not nothing has been demolished.

It's the biggest site.

Alright. I guess I just read that. It's always a red flag.

What you're looking at is the vacant two properties,

yeah, where they're gonna build up. There's two lots right now. What's that? There's two lots kinda next to each other.

Yeah. Yeah. There's two lot. Let me see if we can show you here. You see, R 16 L here in this box? That's where the project site? Is a line in the middle. It.

And from the historic homes, when they look backwards, are they seeing any of this? Or

Yes. Let me show you that view. Yeah. So this is the view from the front of those two properties, one on Agnew. You would not be able to see behind that two story ADU another townhouse because you're it's so it's set maybe more than a 100 feet back from that Agnew frontage. And to Davis, you're you're also a 100 feet back, and you're just seeing the corner. So you won't be seeing the two two story townhouse behind that Davis.

Okay. Because when I first looked at the design, it seemed like a lot. But you're saying we won't see any of that from this view?

The the the front. So

both of those HRI's properties are basically in the front of their lots.

Yeah. So if you look at the orientations of this map here, Agnew on the left here, it's feature was the screenshot is from here. You won't be able to see these. And it's in with Davis. It's something the opposite street.

Davis, there's already a DUP on it, or was it

It's Agnew that has the IDU.

It's an 18 foot setback. Does that require a variance?

What? 15 foot setback? It's an

18 foot setback on the back of the property. Is that with the variance?

I'm not sure which 18 foot setback So

Right. Right there where your mouse is. Yeah.

So the property that backs five feet from this side Yep. And leave either 15 or 18 back here is 15. 15? Yeah. So that's does not require it meets the minimum it's more than meets the minimum of 15 feet setback for this zone part.

I thought I heard you say that there was a picket fence.

Just in the front.

For the four units in front?

Yeah. For the four units in front.

So they're gonna have, like, yard space?

They'll have a little bit of yard space and a porch.

Okay. Thank you.

In the units in the back, that top left corner, that would be the closest to the properties.

Will be sharing this corner here, and then right over here would be the Agnew.

And there's no setbacks in style or anything like that that

Back in the design the building design?

Only in, yeah, in the building style itself. No? They're just straight walls.

So only a bit on the front. So you see on the bottom left here is the the rendering of the back unit. It steps back on just this corner, but this wall on the left, that meets the five feet setbacks. Yeah.

What's in front of the these condos? Are there are there more houses?

I would have to go to Google for that. So one second. So single family homes, maybe duplex, and then some two stories set back here, and then apartment here to the right.

Few more questions before

I invite the applicant?

Is the the 11 By 7, is that up on this site?

The 11 By 7.

The the notice of development.

On-site sign. Yes. Yeah.

Is it accurate then? Because it looks like if you let's say you're standing in the front yard of one of the proposed townhouses and you're looking across the street, it looks like if you look to your left, there seems to be more single family homes, but kind of directly across the street property? From the proposed development, if you're, like, theoretically standing in the front yard of one of those four townhouses in the front and looking across the street.

Is this where the four townhouses might be? And then

Yeah. Yeah.

And then you're looking at

Yep. So it looks like and correct me if I'm wrong. But if you look to your left from that viewpoint, then there seems to be a lot of single family homes. But if you look directly across, you know, there's that multiunit dwelling. And then to the right, it seems like there's more development on that right side.

Right side?

Yeah. Is that fairly accurate to say that to the left, it seems like

None of these are fairly new. They're these are the apartment you're referring to. These might be single family. I don't know about this one here. Maybe multifamily.

Yeah. Okay. And so, like, on the other side then, it seems like maybe it's a little older. There's more, like, single family homes. Okay. Just wondering if that was kind of the trend.

I invite the applicant to come up to address this, and then we can also ask them questions too. Okay. Applicant would like to come up to address the commission. And

I believe that applicant has a presentation, and Steve will be sharing it and will click through for him. Okay.

Let's do that. Thank you.

Thank you for having me, commissioners. I won't cover Steve did a wonderful job of actually covering the project and some of the essentials. I would like to add that what I consider a soft front. When we set the four the four units, we split them in twos just to give it a closer feel and look to the single family residents in the neighborhood. So and I I think you can see it on the rendering.

And if not, you can see it on the site plan. I think we can actually go to four. I would like to go to one more. Yeah. So those pictures, three of those are at the Davis Street side, and that historical home has apartments across the street from it if you're facing it to the left.

And then the left of that has the multifamily that would be back to back to our project. So that that street there has quite a bit of mixed use, if you will, and fewer single family homes. Definitely a blend with duplexes as well. What we try to do is grab some of the character, not only in the pitch and the hip roofs, but we try to blend some siding with stucco, but keeping some of the modern rock out of it so we can stay within the parameters and keeping our blend with the neighborhood. That was important to us in going forward with that.

One of the areas that I would consider a concern that we make sure we're mitigating during the construction of the project is really during the compaction. I have ample experience with that as I built near historical sites in the past in Carmel By The Sea in 2006 to 2012. I So really learned my way around doing it gentler than usual. And what I mean by that is we're general contracts. We're also general engineers, not only developers.

So we actually will move the dirt, compact the dirt, create drainage, all utilities, do it in its entirety. So one of the things that we learned over time was to maybe take an extended period on your compaction and use smaller equipment. So we wanna be very vigilant on that. And, actually, as we're doing it, stay in contact with the historic homes very specifically to make sure that all goes well. Well, we're always gonna be very cognizant of our surroundings. But that's what I have for the project. Any questions?

That? Yeah. Are

these affordable housing? I mean, what are the price points on these condos? I'm curious.

I believe that there was one BMR unit that is getting purchased by the owners. So I don't think there will be any affordable housing.

Okay. Is this, like, million dollar condos? Or I'm just curious.

One more time.

What does one condo go for? I'm curious.

Townhomes, I think mill is quite short now. Probably 2,000,000. We haven't done our analysis yet, but I'm thinking that's closer to the range.

Oh, thank you.

Other questions for the applicant? Commissioner, so so did he answer your questions about the surrounding buildings earlier?

Do you have one more question? Probably the same question I asked in the other one. Are there any renderings of what the new construction will look like from the point of view of the historical properties? Not just the I'm just not the building, but if you're in their property, are they gonna have, you know, new shear walls at the end of their property?

Relative to the historical?

Yeah. So if you're on you're at the one at Agnew, right, the the school. Right? If you're standing at the back of the school building, you look out, now it's gonna be a completely different view and of what the neighborhood looks like. Right? Because now you're gonna have two story buildings right there at the end of their property.

Is that correct? Good question. The Agnew's historical home is really edged up on the front edge of Agnew's with either one or two structures in between. It's kind of a deep set lot. And I don't think the viewpoint I don't think they'll have quite a straight shot or a straight view in looking back towards a townhome.

There's obviously privacy issues that we've taken care of by having no windows on the sides of the townhomes. Interesting enough, the townhomes on the backside of us have no windows on their back. So we'll have windows on our back and windows on our front, but we won't have them on the sides.

I have a question. What was on the site before?

That, I'm not sure. Steve, can you help me with that?

Trucking lots. There were just parking trucks there. I see. Thank

you.

Materials that you're you mentioned shingles, or is there gonna be a wood element to the

What we're doing we're using yes. We're a composition roof, but we're doing a board and batten on the side to keep as much as we can as the wood feel on the upper parts of the townhomes. The lower part will be a smooth finish stucco with no no exterior stone to keep it soft. There will be pavers go on the on the entry and on the to the right and entry of the garages.

Thank you.

One more question before did you speak with any of the neighbors? Did you get any comments or feedbacks?

Yes. We've spoken. We also had our community meeting, but interesting enough, I've been part of this project even prior to this. I was a part of this from 2017. So I've had quite a few discussions with the neighbors, Gotten to know pretty well, actually, the folks that are at the historical home and and next to it. Family's been there for a long time. So, yes, we've had discussions.

Anything negative as far as the discussions go? I'm sorry. I didn't see it.

You you know, interesting enough, when we did our first round and I was actually gonna own it, the architect, I thought, did a horrible job and gave modern looks to the buildings, which the first thing when I sat with Steve, you stare at each other where those buildings are leaving. I go, yes. So we made sure because there was a comment on that that far back. So we wanted to make sure we did have a blend to the community and, you know, really try to actually assist in valuation by doing this right, bringing a softer front with the picket fence and the vegetation in the front, splitting the lots, less in the front, more in the back. Those things made sense.

And we definitely listened to the neighbors on this time around. No comments on on the actual architect, architectural style. Actually, the the family on the Agnews, the historical home and the home next to it, we're just actually wondering what was gonna be the dividing wall as they have their children playing quite a bit on the back. So we answered those questions for them.

Commissioner Kirby.

So I'm really struggling with the right words here. I tried to let everyone speak before I said what I have to say. In four years of being on this commission, I've never said what I'm about to say. The Agnews Village area is very, very special and very unique, and it does not get enough attention. Rarely do items come before this commission for it.

It reminds me of a part rural, part city, small little quaint community maybe in the country, like where my grandmother lived. It's very special with the train station. I've done a lot of research on it and the proximity to the hospital as a historian. I've done lots of research on it. That image just I had a very visceral reaction to that. As much time as I have spent in that area, I cannot see if that's what that image is to look. I cannot see that there. I cannot see that fitting in. People might make the point. There are other newer condos and things.

And there are at this point, a lot of them are older themselves. But what I would say to that is this neighborhood has been chipped away at enough. It has been, and yet it has somehow managed to keep that unique vibe that it has. I really feel like it's a neighborhood you do not see in Santa Clara, and I think it is worth protecting, right, and keeping as much of it as we can. So that's my reaction is to that design.

As much time as I've spent there, I just immediately, when I saw the picture, thought, oh, wow. I am really struggling with this because I I do not see this fitting in with what is there and what I know of the people that fill that area and that community. And, you know, I've spent time at the park there, the beautiful new park the city put in maybe five years ago or so on the July 4 and watched the kids from all over the neighborhood stream to it. It's it's just it's a dynamic in that area that I really feel it's got an element of working class to it. You know, what I see is all of our other neighborhoods in Santa Clara.

People come in, and they buy houses, and they tear them down, and they build these big monstrous. This is the area that you can still find the little cottages, and you can still find pretty much untouched and in their element. And it's so refreshing to see that, right, to see families. So, anyway, I I'm just I'm really struggling with the design that just and I I've never had this reaction in four years as I had to that.

So that's what I had to say.

Thank you very much, Kirby. Oh, say my piece too. Like, the design to me sticks out, and I don't think, to me, it's not in a great way. Because, like, in the the change of material vertically, in particular, I I'm struggling with. So I'm just wondering, like, for for a question for you, is there a wiggle room with the design on exterior?

Excuse me.

Is there a wiggle room on, like, changing up the design on the exterior to

ideas.

I'm not gonna design a dais, to be completely honest, like, because that that never comes out good. And I'm not gonna try to mandate you or anything. But I was wondering if there were any other ideas, like, before, narrowing down to this design.

Yeah. And I I mean, I wouldn't mind hearing from you. If you have some ideas in your mind, it's okay. You can speak them out. It's just open forum. You have an idea.

I know I know there are some strong reactions to this.

It's to me, immediately off the bat, it's way too modern. The design just jumped off the page to me as being way too modern for this community and the other houses. Because like I said, even one could make the argument, there are other duplexes. There are apartments. There are but even at this point, those are twenty and thirty and forty years old. So this is just even if you could make that argument about a new property being there, it's not new as this is. It doesn't stand out to this extent. So I think that's just so modern. It just really I feel like if you were traveling down the streets of this Agnew Village and you it would just jump out at you because it would just be so odd for the neighborhood around it.

I get what you're saying. So just maybe this would help. I looked at the Google sites. Maybe we can pull it up for 4232 Davis Street, which are the townhouses on the backside of the lot that you're gonna be building on. Just to see what yeah. 4232. They're just two doors down from one of the historical properties. And those are the Yeah. Townhouses on the other side.

And, like, to me, as a commissioner, had I been around even when those were done, I probably would not even have liked those. But, you know, you can't go back. You can't go back to this point. They're there. They're done. You have to deal with them. Because, you know, I would have wanted to keep this area as intact as you could. It's it's a very special area.

Chair, I just wanna point out we do have a hand raised online when we're ready for public comment.

Is that part of the team, or is that extra public comment? We'll get to that. Any more questions for the

I do have a question. So you mentioned that you spoke with neighbors. You had a discussion. What was the the input there? And this might be, like, off topic, but why not affordable housing since that's the that's like a working class neighborhood?

I'm actually the developer. I'm not the owner of the property. And, personally, it probably wouldn't pencil.

You mentioned discussions. What what was, like, the input there?

Again, they they actually like the design. They didn't have any any problems or any issues with it at all. They didn't have any at the community meeting that we had. Again, the only the only questions that they had was the dividing wall. What was it gonna be built out of? And that's where their concerns were.

On that dividing wall, did they get what they want? Pardon me? What did they ask for and what are

they getting? They didn't ask for anything. They were just asking what it was gonna be built out, and I said more than likely, it'll be a CMU wall. So and they were actually happy with that.

I'm sorry. What is a CV wall?

EMU.

Oh, CMU. What is that?

That's so those are the the concrete blocks.

Oh, how tall is the wall gonna be?

It should be about six feet.

Six feet. And that's gonna be on both sides?

Yes.

Okay.

Mister Insiarte, just to kinda piggyback off, you were saying recently, had a coworker that I work with say, you know, oh, we can't afford anything in the city. It's so expensive. You guys have anything in Santa Clara? And it's a young family. Instantly, the first thing that popped into my mind was you should look in the Agnews area. That is just such a great little community for a family. So I'm I'm just always championing that area.

You know?

Didn't you say that one unit is gonna be below market rate?

No. All nine will be competitively sold. That one is being purchased back by the owner.

Okay. Isn't there some kind of, you know, rule or something that if a developer produces a minimum number of units, then they have to offer, you know, a certain percentage of them as low income housing?

Golden number is 10. So if you do 10, you need to have one affordable unit.

Oh, okay.

This is nine, so they're just doing a in lieu fee instead.

Okay. Thank you.

I'll accept a public comment. Thank you. Sure. If there's anyone in in chamber who would like to speak, please come up. If there's a hand online, we can bring that up.

Natalie, you should be able to unmute and speak.

Okay. Awesome. Good evening, everyone. I am the owner of the building that is almost, directly across from this development, at 4224 Cheney Street. And, I was unable to attend the community meeting.

I was out of town. But, you guys had a question about what the other side of the street is, and I can tell you our property, it's that gray one that you're pointing to with the picket fence. Our property has, like, a front house, and then it has, three apartments in the back, when you drive, yeah, when you drive down that, lot. And similarly, with the house, with the building next to ours, that peach colored building, that's also a house in the front, and then it has some rental units in the back. I believe each one is, like, four to five rentals.

And similarly, I I think the one to the right of the Peach House is that way. So, to answer your question, that's what those buildings are. They're all, rentals. And, and I we've owned that property for about ten years. We love that neighborhood, and I've seen that lot be vacant, for a long time, and I was actually hoping it would be developed. So when I saw that there was announcement that something was gonna go in there, I was pleasantly surprised. And, and I actually think it would be a great improvement for the neighborhood. So I am very in support of that. Like I said, I didn't attend the community meeting. I wasn't in town.

But, but now that I see the elevations, I think it would be a great addition. The only thing I would add is there is sometimes an issue with street parking. And and I'm just curious how street parking would be impacted by having, nine, you know, units. But other than that, I think it would be a very welcome addition to that street, in my opinion.

Thank you for your comments. You're welcome. Online?

Seeing no additional hands online.

Thank you. No more comments. Do I have a, motion to close public? Oh. Oh, is there any comments to, the public comment that you would like to add to or rebut or anything like that?

They all do have two car garages, and there is two visitors spots on-site as well. So K. If if it's a family of two or three with children, I think they all park in the garages.

Thank you. Do have a motion to close public comments?

Motion to close public comments.

Thank you. Do I have a second? I second. Thank you. Those who are in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Anonymous. Okay. Discussion?

Let me bring up the the file name historic resources evaluation dot PDF and go up to page number

So

No. It's historic resources evaluation dot PDF.

The one from trainer ID.

The document.

You're going to the eighth page section. Got the front elevations in two d in it. They say their report.

Just a reminder that the consultant is online to answer your questions on this report.

Yeah. Let's zoom in on the front elevation. So the I'm imagining I'm standing on the street, and I'm looking, and I the discussion point was that the two front buildings were split to kinda look like single family homes. And then I noticed as well that the kind of two real buildings have a different arrangement to the roof. I thought that was a quite nice detail that somebody had spent time to turn those around.

I did agree with earlier comments about the the stark difference between the the siding and the stucco. However, the when viewed from the historic resource home over the six foot fence, they would only see the wood siding. Right? So my comment is perhaps that the view from the street and the view from the historic home are differing in in one gets to see natural material than the other. Kind of some differentiated

view of rear houses.

I'm sorry. I didn't catch the end of that. You're

My my my thought here is is that sat standing on the street, you you see, you know, the rear houses kinda have the roof going one direction and the front houses have the roof going another direction. I quite like that differentiation. You don't have that, you know, cut and paste approach. Right? So I appreciate that design detail. It's great to hear the house that looks at this on the on the phone. Right? So feels positive about what they would elevations they would see.

I was just wondering while, you know, kind of cruising the streets via Google Maps, I was kinda noticing that most of the single family homes have somewhat light colors for the paint. They're kinda pastel or sort of subtle light colors. I'm just wondering, like, you know, what was the reasoning for choosing such bold colors? Like, it's a dark wood tone on the top, and there's really bold contrast, which is nice, I think. You know? But I'm just wondering in terms of the overall feel of the rest of the surrounding neighborhood being more softer colors, you know, maybe what the reasoning was for that decision for that color scheme?

Yeah. We'll refer that to the applicant to answer.

Okay.

So your question is asking to lighten up some of the colors to be able to blend a little better in the neighborhood?

Well, I'm just wondering if, you know, that was considered or, like, if you have you know, what your reasoning is, I guess, for choosing such, like, a such a dark color that seems to be somewhat, you know, in contrast with the surrounding neighborhood. Just wondering.

Yeah. Actually, I think that's a good point, and that's something we were address addressing internally to lighten up the colors. It's something that actually, think, would be a good idea.

Okay. Thank you.

I would like to clarify with what the person who was speaking, the homeowner. It's not that I don't think development of the site would be good. I understand having a empty lot and what that can do. It's just what has been proposed. So I think if the right thing absolutely would be an asset to the neighborhood. Right? But my hesitation is in that design. When I think back over being on the commission, the only other thing I think came close to this is when we had the Memorex because that neighborhood there sort of reminded me the same. It was this mixed use with businesses and small houses. And when we were deciding to put this big, enormous data center, we really wrestled with, well, do we wanna do that to this community?

And I have those same feelings with this. So that's what's coming to mind.

Would it help if we looked on the same report that we just had as a three d elevation including the neighbor neighbor buildings, and it's on this page. I can't see that. So if you can scroll down in their report can we have the report

back again, please?

Just keep down past the renderings. There's

some keep going.

The page number disappears, so I can't do it. We're looking for a two d black and white drawing.

See the black and white?

It's got it's got the site, and it's got the adjacent residences, some planting. Zoom out. I wish they had page numbers here. Sorry.

Let's get

And to pick up on something that, again, the speaker and the owner kind of had went back and forth on the parking. You know, if these are million dollar plus condos, there's gonna be a lot of roommates, and there's gonna be a lot of subrentals, and there's gonna be a lot of five and six renters and, you know, to make a go of it. And so I just don't necessarily think that's a view of thinking, oh, well, they're gonna park in the garages and things like that because I guarantee there'll be a lot of extra cars and a lot of extra people, you know, for them to to do it.

A three point zero using this numbering scheme.

What is the

A three point zero.

A two point zero?

A three Three. Point zero. You go. So this was a view that I saw that showed the, you know, the adjacent property and the height.

Zoom in.

Mention the height, and I kinda wanted to flash that up because that helped me visualize height.

Property on the left side of that elevation on the bottom, is that the Agnews property, or is that the

This is the backside of the project, the other townhouses, the two story townhouses.

Okay.

Yeah.

What's the one on the top? That's the front elevation of the four?

The top view, you're looking at the front on Cheney, looking at the four front units. And then on the left are some accessory structure and the house in the front. And then on the right are some adjacent residence.

Okay. Yeah.

I was curious too. There's a church on the corner.

Yes.

Did did you all get feedback from the church? Did the church have an opportunity to, you know, kinda look at the plans and give their feedback?

We got no feedback from the church.