Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

I would like to call the planning commission meeting for August in to order, and let's stand up for pledge of allegiance. I would like to now ask Cindy to explain the meeting process.

Pursuant to Saratoga City Council's remote public participation policy, members of the public may participate in this meeting in person at the location listed on the agenda or via remote attendance using the Zoom information listed on the agenda. Public attendees participating by Zoom are automatically muted and are not viewable on camera. I will now call the roll. Commissioner Shirdaran? Present. Hassan? Present. Brownlee is absent. Zeng?

Present.

Jim Moran? Present. Vice Chair Lee? Present. Chair Causer?

Present. And just for the record, Commissioner Brownlee has an excused absence. Now, moving on to the approval of minutes, which is the first item on the agenda. Can I please have a motion or if there's any additions or corrections to the minutes?

I'll move to accept the minutes as presented.

Second. Okay.

Moved and seconded. Can we please have the roll call vote?

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion

passes.

Moving on. Oral communications on non agendized items. Any member of the public will be allowed to address the planning commission for up to three minutes on matters not on this agenda. The law generally prohibits the planning commission from discussing or taking action on such items. However, the Planning Commission may instruct staff accordingly regarding oral communications. At this point, I would like to open public comments on non agendized items. Staff, can you please explain the process and announce your our first speaker?

Thank you, chair Kauser. Now is the time for anyone using Zoom to raise their hand using the app. If you are in the theater, you can complete a speaker card which is located in the box at the foot of the stage. I have one hand raised online. Again, these are four items that are not on the agenda if you'd like to speak. Chris Shen. Again, these are, you can speak if this is on something that's not having to do with an agendized item.

Oh, my apologies. I I was planning I

was asking to speak on

on an item that is on the agenda, so my mistake.

Okay. We'll have another, period for you to speak at that time. No, other hands raised. Chair Kauser.

Thank you, Francis. And there's no one in the audience either for nonagendized items. This moves us to public hearings, item number 2.1. And before we go there, just would like to remind everybody to the report on appeals rights. Interested person objecting to the whole or any portion of the discussion decision on this agenda may file an appeal application with the city clerk within fifteen calendar days of the date of the decision.

The city council conducts de novo review of appeals. Moving to public hearing, we have applicant 2.1. Is there any I would like to open this for public comments. Anyone on this agenda wanting to speak online?

No speakers online for this item, Chair Kauser.

And we do not see any speakers in the audience either. I have been told this applicant would like to move this item. So Cindy, would you please explain that? What do we need to do in order to move? So you would

need to continue it to a date certain.

Do we have a date? We just

Yes, it's the next Planning Commission meeting.

Okay. I would like I need a motion to continue this item to the next Planning Commission meeting. September 10.

Also move.

I need a second. Second. Moved and seconded. Can we please have a roll call vote?

Commissioner Sheeter Ram? Aye. Hassan? Aye. Singh? Aye. Jim Moran?

Aye.

Lee? Aye. Chair Kauser? Aye. Motion passes.

Now we're going to move on to item number 2.2. And at this time, which is the application for 13845 Saratoga Avenue. And we're going to start off with the staff report. Chris?

Okay. Good evening.

I'll go ahead and share my screen. The 1.6 acre project is located at 13845 Sherdog Avenue in the R 120000 zoning District. The average slope of the site is 8.2%. The site is bounded to the north by single family homes located on Veroni Court, to the East by Saratoga Avenue, to the South by single family homes located on Moran Lane, and to the West by Saratoga Creek. There are five existing residential structures on the site.

City records do not contain building permits to document the age of these structures. The structures are not listed on the city's heritage resource inventory. All existing structures and site improvements will be removed. The site contains a total of 121 protected trees. The project was submitted pursuant to the builder's remedy provisions of the Housing Accountability Act.

A stated purpose of the Housing Accountability Act is to significantly increase approval and construction of new housing for all economic segments of California communities by meaningfully and effectively curbing the capability of local governments to deny, reduce the density for, or render infeasible proposed housing development projects. The bill's remedy is a provision of the housing accountability act that is applicable to qualifying housing development projects when a preliminary application was submitted before Saratoga adopted a substantially compliant housing element. The applicant submitted a preliminary application for housing development project on 01/04/2024 after the state's deadline for housing element adoption and before Saratoga adopted a compliant housing element. Additionally, the project is subject to the city code as it stood at the time of the preliminary application where it was received. Housing Accountability Act limits Saratoga's ability to deny or conditionally approve a qualifying housing development project.

In addition, the Builder's Remedy Provision of Housing Accountability Act prohibits Saratoga from applying subjective standards to the project or relying on inconsistency rezoning and general plan standards as a basis for disapproving it. Housing Accountability Act maintains Saratoga's authority to enforce some objective standards and policies by imposing conditions of approval if the conditions are based on objective standards in effect at the time the preliminary application was filed and do not render the project infeasible or require a reduction in the proposed density. The surrogate does not have authority to impose conditions based on subjective standards. The proposed project was to subdivide the existing site into five lots, with each lot being accessible by a private street with connection to Saratoga Avenue. The lots range in size from approximately 11,302 to 22,780 per square feet.

Each of the lots will be developed with a two story single family residence with lots one and five containing a detached ADU which we de restricted as an affordable unit. Single family dwellings and ADUs are permitted uses in the underlying zoning district, subject to the regulations contained in the city code for single family residential districts. These standards include regulations requiring minimum lot sizes that limit the square footage of structures which can be constructed on the site, lower all height, setbacks from property lines, and limits on impervious site coverage. Although product is is inconsistent with several development standards in the R 120000 District, the city may not disapprove the project based on the project's noncompliance with these development standards pursuant to the Builders Remedy Provision of Housing Accountability Act. The project arborist inventoried a total of 121 protected trees on-site.

City arborist determined that 32 of the protected trees that are shown crossed out on the slide would conflict with the project and meet the city tree regulations allowing them to be removed and replaced. Emplacement trees are to be planted prior to final inspection. The remaining existing trees on the site will be incorporated into the project landscaping. The project will contain three different residential unit types for the five parcels. These are the exterior elevations for building type a to be located on Parcel 1.

The split level structure will be two stories with overall height approximately 25 feet. Lease of the first and second story floor plans for the type a structure. The proposed floor area is 4,511 square feet and will include four bedrooms, living room, combined kitchen and dining room, and a two car garage. These are the exterior elevations for the type b structures, which are located on both parcels two and three. The structures will be two stories from overall height approximately 29 feet.

These are the floor plans for type b structure. Those floor areas of 4,656 square feet to include five bedrooms, a kitchen living room, and a two car garage. These are the exterior elevations for the type c structure located on both Parcels 4 And 5. The structures will be two stories and overall height approximately 29 feet. These are the floor plans with type c structure.

Closed floor plan will be 4,203 square feet, include five bedrooms, kitchen, living room, and a three car garage. Both Lots 1 And 5 will include a detached 498 square foot ADU. This ADU will be de restricted so that it can only be rented as an affordable unit. Height of the ADU will be 13.5 feet. The single family homes in the ADUs will feature contemporary architectural design.

Exterior colors and materials for each of the five homes will include fair and hues of stucco in both natural wood colored redwood siding and gray colored standing seam metal siding. All five homes will have a dark gray colored standing seam metal roof. The ADU will be consistent in design with gray colored stucco siding and a gray colored standing seam metal roof. The landscape plan illustrates that the proposed landscaping will consist of existing trees as well as new trees, including eight coast live oaks and six western redbud trees as well as flowering shrubs and ground covers. The city code provides that the planning commission should not approve any tentative map if the commission makes any of these nine tentative map findings.

The project is not consistent with findings one and two. However, under the Builders' Remedy provisions of the Housing and Accountability Act, such inconsistency may not be the basis for disapproving the tentative map. Proposed resolution, therefore, does not make this negative finding. The staff report includes evidence concerning each of these findings, and that evidence supports approval of the tentative map. These are design review findings that the commission is to make to approve the project.

The project is not consistent with findings C, D, and G. However, under the HAP Builders Remedy Vision Housing Accountability Act, such inconsistency may not be the basis for denying design review for the project. Therefore, the proposed resolution recommends approval. Staff recommends that the Planning Commission adopt resolution number 25,012 to find the project to be categorically exempt from CEQA pursuant to section 15,332. This concludes my staff report. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions for staff? Go ahead, Paul.

Yeah. Then three questions for clarification. First one, with respect to what the commission can do or not do, we cannot make any rejection of approval or condition of approval based on the design handbook subjective standards.

That's correct.

This project's exempt from that. Additionally, we can neither disapprove or make a condition of approval based on the new objective standards that we applied because those standards were adopted after the date required by statute.

That's right. When the project was submitted, the regulations in place at the time apply. Nothing after that apply.

Yeah. And then the third question, the, we could make a condition of approval based upon health and safety considerations.

That's correct.

Thank you. Any

other questions? Seeing none, I would like to invite the applicant and or their representatives. We

have

a total of ten minutes maximum for opening statements and all interested persons may appear and be heard during the meeting regarding the items on this agenda. So the applicant please come up.

Yeah. It's like starting the Zoom call during COVID. It's been twelve minutes getting ready for it. Thanks for having me. My name is Michael Steele. I'm also part of well, Jura Ventures is my LLC, so you'll see Jura Ventures as the name, and we set that up when we bought the place to do the work. Think I'm just Chris did a really nice job of covering a lot of actually what I've already got in my presentation, so I'll try to skip through that and be as brief and to the point as possible so you can ask questions. And I'm just going to say first thanks to Chris for the work you've done with us over the last three years in this project. It's been a lot of work, we appreciate your guidance, and thanks to you also for hearing us out.

I have no idea.

There we go. So this is the project site. You've seen that on Chris' presentation, but I wanted to show it in perspective. And I also wanted to show it for another special reason. That is because we're not really your typical land improvement folks. We actually live next door. When I left my company four years ago, two weeks after, the property next to us, which has renters, went up for sale. My wife and I kind of joked about how it would be interesting if we could control what goes in there, and we walked away. And then the next thing you know, bought it. So we decided it would be a fun project.

I didn't realize how much work it actually took to be a developer. So you can see I'm I'm not really a developer. I just just play one on TV, and that's about the end. So this is again another view of it. That's my home on the left corner where you see the pool bordering the land. So you can see the interest we had in making sure that what goes into this property is something that sort of preserves the nature of the neighborhood and it's good for everyone, including, selfishly, ourselves. But I think in the end, what we've come up with is something that neighbors and the new owners will enjoy. I don't need to spend much time on this because you've already seen it. That's the simple site plan. But I will just give a few highlights just to put this in perspective.

So our goal again was just to ensure that there was thoughtful development for the neighborhood. It's fairly straightforward. There are five structures there now, various ages. They're now being replaced with five new structures plus two associated affordable ADUs. The lots are pretty good size. They're roughly between eleven and twenty two thousand square feet each. So roughly averaging 12,000 square feet if you look at neighboring properties in the entire area. They're mostly larger than almost any of the properties in the area. And again, our concern is also to preserve as much of the natural elements as possible. Some of the trees have to go away, but there are 121 trees back there, including some giant redwoods and oaks, and most of those are preserved.

Again, it's in our best interest as a family living next door as well. At the same time, you've seen the location. It's on a major thoroughfare between 85 and downtown. What we're doing there, if you see what it looks like today, it's fine, but what's going to come out of this development is something that I think will make a major aesthetic improvement to the overall curb appeal of the corridor. I know there are some specific features that maybe the Commission is concerned about.

Certainly some of the neighbors and our friends who live in the area have mentioned to me. I wanted to start with setbacks. What we've done here is improving the setbacks. What you see here in red are the existing structures. Many of those are right up against the fence next to neighbors on the Boroni side, which is opposite of where I live.

What we've done is to do this development properly, had to modify the road and where it actually exists and centralize the locations of the home so there's both space in front and behind so it's a pleasant place to live. And the result of that is to improve the setback location overall. Now in some cases, you'll see at the very corner back there, next to our friends, Claire and Chew, I think they're concerned about the sidelines and the setbacks as well. The good story here is that part of that structure is a one story building. So even though it is near the fence in similar location to the original structures, the one story has a nice sight line that's blocked by both landscaping, existing trees which are not being removed there, and the fencing.

Also our neighbors, the Nydens, who live in that little slot up on Saratoga Avenue, I can see how there could be some concerns for sight lines there as well. But again, there's one story that's close to the corner there, which will be low enough that there won't be much of a sight line issue. And also you'll notice, you may not see it from the picture, but that first home sits on a fairly noticeable grade downward. So the two stories sort of drops down a bit. So it's almost as if it's a single story from a sight line perspective.

And again, there will be significant landscaping as part of the process. And again, just along the lines of privacy, the entire property will be fenced with fairly standard fencing material, wooden fence. Possibly, Dolly Yang and her husband may, at the front there, may not necessarily want that fence, and we're happy to work with them to figure out whether we just flow into their existing stucco wall or we build a fence along with it. And this is one more example. I think, again, privacy is a concern of many people here, not just our neighbors, but it's going to be a concern of the people who live there, so we have to pay attention from both sides.

What we've done, this is one sample which happens to be the entrance, lot one, and this is the actual colorized version of the landscaping that you'll see in the plan. There's a significant set of landscaping on both sides to protect both neighbors who currently live there and again we've this was done by Karen Aitken who has done a lot of work in the area and I'm pretty happy with the work she does and again we're also focusing on native California plants as much as possible. So that's what I have. I'd like to hand this over to Mark to talk a bit about the architecture and then we'll open up for questions.

Hi, Mark Hogan with OpenScope Studio. We're the architect for the homes on Michael's You team

can probably skip that. I just didn't summarize it.

And just very, very briefly, you know, there were no real design constraints, so we wanted to try to do something sensitive here. Kept the footprints similar to the footprints in many of the surrounding homes in the area. We do have two stories, but we used a low slow pip roof. We're using quality materials. It's a contemporary project, but not aggressively modern.

Tried to keep to different tones of stucco, siding, standing seam metal with natural wood accents, you know, where appropriate. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. This is just one of the houses, but Chris's presentation went over the rest of the floor plans. As you can see, a couple of them have one story portions. We tried to not put the two story buildings right on the property line anywhere. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions? To the applicant. Go ahead.

Hi. I have a couple of questions.

One of you please come up to the podium. Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah. I think I'm seeing some neighbors here and I also have seen the neighbors reports submitted to the commissioners. And I'm curious, have have the neighbors and you, have you all discussed about this project before?

I, so I've done two rounds of discussion. Well, some of the neighbors are on my street so we already know each other and we talk on a regular basis. Those on Baroni I don't know as well but I've made a couple of rounds of visits to them. There's one family that I've just not been able to find at home so I've left notes at their house. But in general, yeah, I've spoken to everyone up and down Barone and everyone up and down Moran.

Awesome. So this has been at least met in person and discussed.

Yeah, it's actually been good and it influenced some of our decision making and how we present this.

Okay. Great. My next question is privacy concerns. I know it's a subjective standard. Like before the changes of the housing element, our commissioners definitely consider all the second story houses will come here and for us to review and to protect the prices.

But since builders I mean, since the housing element that was removed and it doesn't even come to commissioner, I just want the audience to know. But I think there's some mentioning about fences just to keep the neighbors between I mean, both sides, the new residents and these residents. So do you plan to put in fences?

Yeah. One of the slides I showed was showing the perimeter fence. Of course, it won't be in the front and it won't be on the creek side, but on both sides where it borders neighbors. Certainly fencing nets is better or as good as or better than what's there today. So yeah, we're trying to take every privacy issue into consideration.

Okay. Thank you. That's all the question I have.

Thank you. Any other questions, commissioners?

Do you have questions? Yes. You, Chair. So basically, my question is about privacy again. I think you have a couple of second story structure. So you also mentioned in one of the slides, you have the you will do a lot of gardening, right? I think you're going to plant some of the plants, either trees or something, but it's no detail, cannot tell, no gardening tree or some kind of, you know, plants can help in mitigate the privacy impact. So, could Are you share

a little you saying that the landscaping plan that's part of the overall plan didn't have that detail?

Yeah, you don't have I don't see any plans you're going to actually do to mitigate the impact of the privacy.

Oh, I see. I'll have to go back and look at that. I think the detail is in the landscaping plan, but I can speak to that anyway. Okay. Especially since I live on one side of the property. We've already planted some plants there for that purpose. Things like podocarpus or pitasporum, which are generally large hedge type of privacy plants that grow fast. These things typically grow at twenty, twenty five, sometimes even 30 feet. Because we have the same kind of privacy issue because our our bedroom is honestly in the 2nd Floor and we're looking out over there as well. So, we're a two story looking at a two story.

They don't want us looking at them and I don't want them looking at me. The same thing on that side. So, the plan for landscaping would be similar on the other side facing Baronias to have where it makes sense, hedge style sort of bushes that will grow it to a reasonable height. I don't think you'd want to have the entire line with the same kind of plans, and I don't think that's what's in the landscaping plan.

Yeah. But my understanding is like after you do the subdivision, you're going to have the new property line, right? In between you, the other property, and also among the other, the new properties.

Oh, you're talking about in between the properties?

Yes. I mean, yeah.

Yeah. There's so yeah, I did not show the fencing on that. But you're right. The slide was not accurate in that way. So, would be fencing between the properties as well. And there should be landscaping plans that show landscape in place for those delineations. Okay. Thank you. Sure.

Thank you. Commissioner Bagdhri?

I had a quick question. You mentioned privacy, and I think we covered privacy of the neighbors. Yeah. But I also remember the first house is kind of lower. So what about the privacy of whoever's eventually buys that home? How would that be affected?

There is So you're talking about the first home which is sort of at an angle.

Correct.

And it's on the slope. And you're you're asking about the privacy of that home. I

think you mentioned that that home is is low is lower level than Right. Or at least the the property kinda goes down a gradient.

So if you if you were to visit the property, you'll see that there are I 121 trees there now of various shapes and sizes. So, some of those trees will come into play to already create a privacy, not hedge, but a privacy wall essentially.

For them as well. Got

it. There's fencing that'll be added there as well. And then if you look on the landscaping plan, there is actually landscaping that shows in between both the existing house on the corner on Saratoga Avenue and that first house.

Got it. Cool.

I had one question. I I don't know if it's in the comment here, but are the property dimensions properly demarcated? I think somebody seemed to have some concern about that, whether the

Say that again?

Whether the property lines were correctly demarcated or something.

I think that's I

think I know the question you're talking about. Yeah. Before you go further, I can address part of that. Okay. If you're a if you're a citizen of Saratoga and you look at the Builders' Remedy page with this plan, you'll see the initial drawing, which is almost more of an artistic rendition. If you actually so there's some room for, I think, misconception. If you look at the actual plan, it does follow the actual surveyed property lines. Got it. So I think that might have been the issue because we did hear about that concern. I've spoken with the neighbor and I think we figured out that we're in good shape.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you so much. Okay.

Thank you.

We will now be opening public comments. And if anybody in the audience would like to speak, please make sure you complete a card and give it to Chris. And Francis, if we have anyone online, please recognize them first. And then we'll go to everybody in the audience.

Okay. Thank you, Chair Kauser. We have our first speaker on line, Chris Shen. Please accept the prompt to speak.

And I would just like to remind everyone you have three minutes to speak. Go ahead, Chris.

Thank you. Good evening, members of the Saratoga Planning Commission. My name is Chris Shen, and my property is located at 19952 Moran Lane directly adjacent to to the lot being developed. So I think as stated, you know, all of these proposed homes are going to be two story houses. I actually was not aware that if these were going to be two story homes prior to receiving the notice of the hearing.

The homes on parcels 123, And 4 all directly border my home on Moran Lane, you know, which currently currently there is nothing along that property border. And unfortunately, it's the fact that all four homes have rear yard setbacks that are significantly less than Saratoga's current requirement of 35 feet for the first story and 45 feet for the second story. When I looked at the site map, it indicated the rear yard setback for Parcel 1 was 41 feet eight inches for both stories. Parcel 2 was only 25 feet eight three inches for both stories. And Parcel 3 was only 30 feet 38 feet 11 inches for both stories.

And Parcel 4 was only 22 feet four inches. My property on Moran Lane is a kinda long skinny lot. And, you know, the distance between my home and the property boundaries is close as 13 and a half feet in some instances. And why I appreciate that Michael is saying that he's going to be putting up a fence. The fact is the the shorter setbacks for all four proposed houses combined with the fact that they're all gonna be two stories will mean the residents in parcels one through four are you know, can look down into my patio area and and as well as into the windows of my home, including some bedrooms.

You know, I think any resident would reasonably be concerned by this. So I would, you know, respectfully request, you know, mister Steele also consider, you know, additional mitigations such as, you know, increasing the setbacks of the four proposed homes from the property line, especially for those second stories. Or, you know, consider reducing the homes to single story structures and and as well as installing, in addition to the fencing, the, you know, tall landscaping along that entire property boundary between my home and and the parcels one through four. Thank you.

Thank you. You have another speaker, Frances?

No. There are no other hands raised online, Chair Kauser.

Okay, thank you. Can I have the speaker cards for Thank you? Our first speaker is Dick Kim. Could you please come up? DC Kim. Please come.

My name is DC Kim. I just basically live across the Street from where you are. I really appreciate the presentation. It's really good.

Just

a few questions. There's nothing.

If you could please speak into the mic.

Thank you. Oh, yeah. Just a few questions. Just, this is real minor, but on the agenda, it says it reads Saratoga Road, but it should be Avenue, right? Just pointing that out. One, first thing is, are the plans available for the public? Like, especially the tentative map? Is that going to be, once at today's, you know, agenda, is that, is the tentative map going to be approved?

I'm sorry. We cannot answer your questions. If you could please just make your statement, and then as a commission, we will try and get you the answers. We cannot have a discussion with you at this point. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. After this approval then, will the design be changed, or the tentative property lines change is my second question. And another question is the second story buildings, I know that the slope of the site goes down. And, will the second story buildings be visible from the street? And, basically, that's it.

Oh, the third the last question is, at the actual design of the buildings, will that change during this process? I'm assuming you're going to get a building permit at the end. Will that change as time goes along? Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker is King Yang.

Good evening. My name is Claire, and I live in Veroni Court, directly adjacent to House Number 5 of the proposed project. So, I this is pretty new to us because we moved there we moved to Buroni Court in 2023, but we didn't learn about this project till this year. And we didn't learn about the details till we got the public hearing notice and we studied the site plan and everything. So but we did got a chance to talk to Michael yesterday in person, and that's the first time.

And she he did clarify some of our questions today. But I I understand that this is a builder's remedy project, and this limits the city's zoning controls. I'm not here to oppose it, but I do want to ask the city to do what you can to ensure this project is built safely and responsibly. And so I just learned that this house Number 5 is like 29 feet tall, and that is much taller than I thought. And because House Number Five's garage is direct it's like 10 feet from where from the property line.

And the house sits much closer to our house than others. So the upper story windows along the north side face directly to our our yard and living area. So I think this raises privacy and livability concerns. So given the available space on the south side of the Lot Number 5, so I just wonder whether it's possible to push the garage and house back to the south a little bit maybe, because we have some space on the south, and it's very close, like 10 feet from where we live. And also, I want to request conditions to protect privacy, including one, careful placement of the windows on the second floor of the north side of the house, and also the tall landscaping screening.

And also, I hope the city can make some conditions to limit the construction hours, just to control and measures to prevent drainage impacts because it's really close to where we live and it's it's it it will be a long time of constructions. So even under builder's remedy, I think these safeguards are reasonable and it should benefit both the new residents and the existing community. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker is Ling Zhao.

Good evening, chair and commissioners. My name is Ling. I live at 19931 Baroni Court, directly behind the proposed development at that address. I'm here today because I'm very concerned about the impact of those new five two story homes approximately about 30 feet.

Can you speak closer to Okay. Thank you.

I'm here today because I'm very concerned about the new buildings, which is like everyone is about 30 feet tall, and it will affect our family's privacy. The proposed site is already sits at a higher elevation than our property. With this elevation difference, the second story windows will directly overlook my backyard and into my home. If grading further erases the building paths, the problem will be even worse. From my perspective, this is not just a visual change to neighborhood.

It's a year round loss of privacy. And I respectfully request the commissioner consider the privacy mitigation measures such as, like, taller fence at least, like, eight feet instead of six feet, and also evergreen landscaping or dense trees to block sidelines year round round, and also adjusting the building placement or window designs to reduce direct views into my property, avoiding any gradients that may rise the home higher than the current proposed path elevation. So here, I appreciate your time and consideration in ensuring that the new development respects the privacy of existing neighbors. Thank you. And I draw a little bit explanation of the situation.

So my house is here. You can see the elevation is really low, lower than the planned site. And with those two story buildings, they'll definitely they can look over my house and backyard. So, that's my main concern. Thank you, everyone.

Thank you. Next speaker is Julie St. Gregory.

Yes, I think I got it, Arthur. Thank you. Hi, everyone. My name is Julie St. Gregory, and I live on Baroni Court.

And I would just like to say, first of all, just a statement. I really I would well, I would like to know when how how if you're if the state can still put builders remedies on other properties in Saratoga, the reason is because I mean, Saratoga, it says on your own website, is a city of trees. And you're gonna have to take that down pretty soon if you keep eliminating all these beautiful trees. Yes. I understand you replace them with small little trees that will decades and decades later grow into the same tree that people are seeing.

The property of Michael, some of those trees are so immense and so beautiful. They shade all of they shade the streets of Baroni. So if you're chopping, I would like to know what trees are being chopped down because some of those trees, like I say, they're so big that and outward that they put shade on our court. And I just I just think it's really a shame that you guys didn't get your housing plan on time. And now this is a result of of of that, where lots and lots of trees are gonna be taken down.

And I mean 32 trees for a small acre like that is will make a difference. I mean I know you say, oh we're gonna plant these little trees and you know one day, you know when we're all dead they'll be as big as they are now. So I just I just wanted to ex express my displeasure at what is happening to the beautiful city that we have and all these gorgeous trees that are homes for the birds and all the animals that are being taken away. And

that's that's it. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Dolly Yang.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Dolly Yang. I live in 13837, which is right next to this project. And my concern, of course, is for the privacy and the safety because, you know, the street is going down like this. Some of my backyard is covered by the tree.

So I was wondering if you take off all the tree, that means my house will be totally open because the landscaping, the bushes are very short, very low. And, you know, I don't know. This is private street. It's not a city street. So if sometimes you have a big car, like a truck, parked very close to my property, they can stand up to see my whole house, backyard.

And I don't feel very safety. So this is my concern. So I really would like to have commissioner to ask your request to have the applicant install a complete landscaping between my wall and the new street. And then definitely, I don't want to have any car parked very close to my property. I'm pretty sure the project will make the city look very pretty, but safety and privacy is my concern. Please accept that. Thank you.

Thank you. I do not have any more speaker cards. If there's anyone else who wants to speak in the audience, let us know now. Seeing none, and Francis, just one more time, is there anyone else online?

There is not.

Thank you. At this time, we close the public hearing. And I would like to invite the applicant back. And you have five minutes for closing statement.

Okay. Thank you. And, yeah, thanks to everybody who had comments. I can appreciate everyone's perspective. I was actually pretty aware of what some of these concerns would be, and I hope to have addressed those in the presentation. Again, I think one thing to keep in consideration is I live there too. So, I really care about what goes in there. We like the trees. We like the birds. I don't like squirrels as much. But, you know, we have no intention of ripping down trees unnecessarily. In fact, the entire perimeter is not being destroyed. There are a few larger trees that are coming down out of the 121 that are there. I think 30 are coming down. So, you still have 1.6 acres full of 90 trees, which is a lot.

That's a lot of trees and we're pretty happy about that. At the same time, I'd also like to say that we're very willing to work with all the neighbors on their concerns as we go through this process and continue moving towards buildings. So I'm happy to discuss, you know, further what we can do. If there's any other questions you have for me, I'm also more than willing to answer.

Thank you. Thank you.

We can't ask no other questions.

Do you have other questions to ask?

For the applicant, yes, is now the time to do that?

Can we ask questions? We just have a couple questions for you. Go ahead.

Mike on.

Sorry about that. One question was, there was a reference made by one of the people speaking that they hadn't seen the landscaping plan in Illinois. Has that been available to the or to the neighbors? Have you shared the landscaping plan and where the which trees are coming out and that kind of stuff?

Yeah. So, that's it's been available if you search for it. So, I can understand why if I didn't stop by the house and show them you wouldn't find it. Because before I was involved in doing this work, I wouldn't have looked for it either. I think you're talking about the neighbor on Baroni who's concerned about the sight lines, which I understand. I knew the previous neighbor and I had spent time on Baroni canvassing that area about a year and a half ago. And a couple of new people have moved in. And I guess I should have, but I didn't go back over and talk to them, you know, several months ago. I did make a canvas through, two weeks ago on a Sunday, and nobody was home. And then I went back yesterday, and I left that particular neighbor a note. And I'm happy to to speak with her further about her concerns.

I also heard from some of the Paul

Just before we go to the next question, I think staff would like to clarify something that was just said about the landscape plans.

Thank you.

So the plans are copyrighted by state law. The applicant can release the plans to the public. The public can come in and look at the plans in person. So I don't know if you want to speak to that. Mr. Steele.

Oh, so you're speaking of the fact that I said the plans were available but they're not quite as easily accessible, as I said? That's just because

They're not available online. If the public wants to see, they can come to this office to see them.

Right. I understand. Thank you.

Go ahead, commissioner.

Okay. So, and that will stand. You're not going to make them available online?

I don't think you can because of state law.

Oh, I I don't I don't think

He can release

The applicant can release

the

plans to the public. Yeah.

How do you want to speak to that, Amanda or Matt? I'm glad to speak to any neighbor who wants to stop by and talk with me about any plan whatsoever. Any landscaping, any fencing, any structures, any sight lines, anything that we've developed here in an attempt to, what I think is do the right thing because there was an alternative if five was not the guy doing the work.

Can I just clarify something with staff about the plans? Just so that we are all on the same page. The plans are available at planning department to be seen by anybody without the applicant's permission. But if they have to be posted online, then you need the applicant's permission. Is that correct? So, in other words, they are available and the community can go to the planning department and request to see the plans on in the office.

Okay. I that's The the notice on the

I'm sorry. We cannot take questions. We can ask her after the meeting.

You could even review it. You couldn't do it. I mean, there was I

I'm I'm sorry. But we have to stay on track. Thank you. Go ahead, Commissioner.

There were a number of public comments that were this is my word choice asking for customized fence heights that were some sounded like they wanted them higher and maybe different than what's on the on the drawings. And would you like to speak to that?

Honestly, I don't know if we're allowed to build higher fences based on city code, but I'm not sure I can speak to that.

Yeah. I I can speak to that. So the fence height by code is eight feet. So it's six feet of solid fence and two feet of lattice. I believe the fence that he had mentioned is a six foot fence, it could be two feet taller.

I don't know if I really specified or if we even specified in the plan. So, again, you know, we're pretty flexible in in doing whatever is necessary to keep the things private. I mean, keep in mind, again, I mean, I understand all the public comments for the people and neighbors, but there are people that are going to live there too and they also don't want to look at the neighbors. So, you know, and those houses will not sell very well if the privacy is a big concern. So, we're motivated on both sides.

Any further questions? Anybody else have questions for the applicant before we thank you. At this point, we close the public hearing and bring it to the commission. The commission can discuss among themselves. Or if you have any additional questions of staff, we can ask them now.

Yes. I have questions for staff. So mainly, it's the privacy concern. So basically, I see all this new development, all the structures, they are two story high. And I think all of them are exceeding the maximum height. So based on remember, we had this new Saratoga code for the subjective standard. Part of it is the privacy impact and standard. So all those designs really comply with those new subjective standard we put into our book, City Code, yesterday.

I think you're referring to the objective standards. Is that

the Yes. No. Yeah. Subjective standard.

Right.

The The objective standard. I'm sorry, objective standard.

Yeah. The objective standards include requirements for window glazings, windows that are 42 inches above the finished floor, windows that are kind of angled different directions. So I was looking at the plans that would say that the windows don't comply with the objective standards.

But I remember there is a setback requirement if we have a second story building. So basically, the setback between the property line to the second story blueprint, I think, will be larger or will be longer if your height is max the maximum price.

Right. But this project came in January.

Okay. So basically you're seeing the remedy project, the previous remedy project is now subject to those standards.

Well, Bills Reimproject, when they submitted the plans Mhmm. They were subject to the plan, the regulations that were in place at the time. So the objective standards came after the fact. And so these projects are not need to comply.

So which of the state laws saying that? I I don't recall. So if we have a builder's remedy project, you can actually violate the owners rules, you know, owners to city code.

You can ask for different rule regulations in the city code, Clue, that's correct.

Okay. Thank you.

Other questions? Go ahead, Bing.

Yes. I think one of the residents had some questions that asked that we cannot answer on the spot. Can we answer it now? Yes. Go ahead. Okay. I think I missed one probably. So one of the question is, can the property line change during the process from now?

Once it's approved, you mean?

Once it's approved, yeah. I would say no. Okay.

The tentative map is approved the way it is.

Okay.

And then another one is can design change? I mean we, it got presented to everybody. I Can that

would say not major. There's always some minor tweaks when projects go through building department. Small tweaks. But they're always very small. So I would say no. No large changes to the design.

All right. Any other I

think there's one question.

I think Cindy was taking some notes too.

I think I might miss the first one.

So there were some questions about construction hours and drainage. So drainage is covered in condition of approval number eight. And the construction hours and the construction management plan are covered in conditions number eleven and twelve.

Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Go ahead, Zaheer.

What's the timeline for this project? How long will it take for all these houses to be built? Probably a better question for the applicant. I don't know what his timeline is. Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions?

Yes. I have questions. So the tentative map approval tonight, you call them conditionally. Is it because they are not compliant with all the nine findings that we have here? That correct? Because, you know, I read all the nine findings for the subdivision. So, looks to me, all these nine findings, we cannot make the findings, right? Can we?

These are negative findings?

Yeah.

And so, the commission, kind of odd in a way. So if the commission can make a finding, then you can't approve it because it's supposed to not make that finding. But in two of the findings, you can make that finding. Because of those remedy projects, you can't, you know, enforce it.

So what do they mean by make the negative findings? I don't understand. So basically, they are not compliant. If you use the series code, they cannot make the fundings. But because it is an active funding, so we

Builders remedy.

Of I know that. Yes. Builders remedy. So we're gonna okay. Okay. Thank you.

Chris, you're going to explain it a little bit?

In terms of the negative findings?

Yeah, like.

So I will go to the map findings, for example. So number one says that the proposed map is not consistent with the general plan and the applicable specific plans. So typically the, for a project, it is consistent with those. So you can't make that finding, right? So if you can make that finding, then you, that's a finding of, you don't want to be able to make. You shouldn't be able to make those findings because

Okay.

The project is not, it is, for most projects it is consistent, general plan and specific plans. So this case, that finding is true. Okay? But because of those remedy project, it kind of we can't make it. Does that make sense?

Yeah. So you're going to approve it anyway. Correct. That's why you call this a conditional approval. Is that correct?

Well, it's conditional approval because it has conditions like you need to get a building permit, for example. Those are conditions.

And I think it also has to go to the city council for the final map approval. So we recommend to the city council and then the city council makes the final approval. Okay. It's my understanding when you're doing a land division, correct?

That's true at the

that's true at the final map stage. For the tentative map, your approval is is the approval unless it is unless it is appealed. The final map is a future step months, years from now. And that goes through the process that you just laid out, recommendation, and then cancel approval.

Okay. Thank you. Go ahead, Paul.

Yeah. Then given where we are, I'll say that I'd like to affirm concurrence with the staff findings that this project does not meet the design standards and the objective standards, you know, that that is true, that we agree with you that those things are not met. But given the fact that it's under a builder's remedy thing, I'm going to make a motion that we approve the staff report as written.

Improve the project.

Do we have a second?

Yeah. I second, given that, I think our, the owner of, or the builders is willing to work with neighborhood, the neighbors to help. Could we build taller fences or could we set up more landscape to help the neighbors? Then I do see he's willing to work with the neighbors. So I'm going to second.

Oh, I think Zahi seconded before you, so we're going to take yours as a comment. And anyone so now we have a motion. Is there any discussion on this? Or if not, then we can do a roll call vote.

Commissioner Sridharan?

Aye.

Hassam?

Aye.

Zane? No. Remarad? Reluctantly, aye.

Vice Chair Lee? Aye. Chair Kauser? Yes. Motion passes five zero one or five ten.

Thank you. Moving on to the next item, directors' items. Do we have any reports on that?

Well, good evening. Planning Commissioner did a great job. Very difficult project. So thank you for your professionalism. I'd like to thank Cindy, Gabe, and Chris. Excellent job tonight. Chris, you've been dealing with Builders Remedy for two years, over two years now. And so this is the first one. So thank you very much for your leadership. And Cindy, thanks for jumping in. I would like to share that next Thursday, the twenty first, at the Saratoga Fire Station, we'll have a WUI community meeting. So WUI is the wild land urban interface. And so the council recently adopted the state fire maps. And so our next discussion with the community is

In just a second.

Oh, yes.

But if we don't mind, could you please all speak outside so we can continue our meeting? Thank you.

Thank you.

So the WUI meeting is really a local discussion. There it's our boundaries. And so it'll take place Thursday, August 21 from six to eight p. M. At the Saratoga Fire Station. And it's essentially just an opportunity for you to talk and give us your opinions and what you'd like to see on the map. And it'll be a couple rounds with the city council too once it gets to them for further discussion. So if you'd like to attend, please come. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Brian. Do we have any commissioner's items? I'd just like to welcome everybody back. We had a summer break and I think we do have a meeting in September. So looking forward to seeing you all then after Labor Day. And can we call for a gentleman then? You. Thank you. Thank you.