HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - PC - 2023.09.11BURLINGAME CITY HALL
501 PRIMROSE ROAD
BURLINGAME, CA 94010
City of Burlingame
Meeting Minutes
Planning Commission
7:00 PM Council Chambers/OnlineMonday, September 11, 2023
1. CALL TO ORDER - 7:00 p.m. - Council Chambers/Online
The meeting was called to order at 7:01 p.m. Staff in attendance: Planning Manager Ruben Hurin and
Assistant City Attorney Scott Spansail.
A moment of silence was held in memory of the nearly 3,000 lives lost in the tragic events that occurred
on September 11, 2001.
2. ROLL CALL
Comaroto, Horan, Lowenthal, Shores, and TsePresent5 -
Pfaff, and SchmidAbsent2 -
3. REQUEST FOR AB 2449 REMOTE PARTICIPATION
There were no requests.
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
a.Draft August 28, 2023 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes
Draft August 28, 2023 Planning Commission Meeting MinutesAttachments:
Commissioner Tse noted that she was not present at the August 28, 2023 meeting, but has read the
meeting minutes and feels comfortable participating in the vote.
Commissioner Comaroto made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Horan, to approve the
meeting minutes. The motion carried by the following vote:
Aye:Comaroto, Horan, Lowenthal, Shores, and Tse5 -
Absent:Pfaff, and Schmid2 -
5. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Planning Manager Hurin noted that Item 9a - 5 Rio Court has been continued at the request of the
applicant. Public hearing notices will be sent once the item is placed on a future agenda.
6. PUBLIC COMMENTS, NON-AGENDA
There were no Public Comments.
7. STUDY ITEMS
There were no Study Items.
Page 1City of Burlingame
September 11, 2023Planning Commission Meeting Minutes
8. CONSENT CALENDAR
There were no Consent Calendar Items.
9. REGULAR ACTION ITEMS
a.5 Rio Court, zoned R-1 - Application for Design Review and Hillside Area Construction
Permit for a first and second story addition to an existing single -unit dwelling. This project
is Categorically Exempt from review pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA), per Section 15301 (e)(2) of the CEQA Guidelines. (Audrey Tse, Insite Design
Inc., applicant and architect; Angela and Sandy Yee, property owners) (38 noticed) Staff
Contact: Fazia Ali
5 Rio Court - Staff Report
5 Rio Court - Plans
Attachments:
This item was continued at the request of the applicant.
10. DESIGN REVIEW STUDY
a.1137 Cabrillo Avenue, zoned R -1 - Application for Design Review for a new, two -story
single-unit dwelling and detached garage. (Hannah Chiu, Thomas James Homes,
applicant and designer; Brenden Kelly and Jessica Wijtman -Kelly, property owners) (59
noticed) Staff Contact: 'Amelia Kolokihakaufisi
1137 Cabrillo Ave - Staff Report
1137 Cabrillo Ave - Attachments
1137 Cabrillo Ave - Plans
Attachments:
All Commissioners have visited the project site. Commissioner Comaroto was recused from this item for
financial reasons. Planning Manager Hurin provided an overview of the staff report.
Acting-Chair Lowenthal opened the public hearing.
Hannah Chiu and David Pockett, designers, represented the applicant and answered questions regarding
the application.
Public Comments:
>There were no public comments.
Acting-Chair Lowenthal closed the public hearing.
Commission Discussion/Direction:
> Provide a revised site plan and landscape plan showing intended location to tuck the garage further
into the rear corner of the lot; it is a good idea to do that. Looking at the landscape plan, it seems like an
unusable space in the back corner as its proposed now.
> Unfortunately, I like the existing house. It looks like an East Coast shingle -style house by the
architect H.H. Richardson. I thought it’s pretty cool to have that here in Burlingame. I do appreciate that
the new house is not maxing out the floor area ratio that they have available with the extra wide lot. The
Page 2City of Burlingame
September 11, 2023Planning Commission Meeting Minutes
detached garage is a good thing because there are so many attached garages in the street. The trend
towards a one-car garage is frustrating for me. A two -car garage for that home size is better, but I
understand that it is the requirement. We are losing a lot of trees, but the arborist report said they are in
poor condition. I really like the proposed extensive landscaping. The left elevation is a bit plain. The roof
line on that side of the house just goes front to back without much interest. The porch roof pitch is 3:12
which looks a bit like a shed compared to the pitch of the rest of the roof. It has a nice generous front
porch. The roof line makes it a little odd to me. I do like the glass front door better than the solid front
door. In the rendering, it looks like a very solid wall.
>Looking at the floor plan of the house, aside from the ADU, there are a number of bedrooms but I
don’t see a lot of closet space. These days, people use garages for two things: either for parking or for
storage. With as many bedrooms as there will be in the home, the ADU, and the one -car garage it seems
that storage space is also limited; suggest applicant consider storage space a bit further. There is a lot
of space in the floor plan and there are opportunities for some additional closet spaces to be created. Am
a little troubled by the description of the house being Arts and Crafts style; it doesn ’t look like an Arts and
Crafts house to me. In the rendering, it looks more like a modern farmhouse than anything. Arts and
Crafts and Craftsman style homes are defined by real materials like wood, stone, brick, etc. We don ’t
even have a wood entry door for this house, it is a fiberglass door assembly. Often at the front porch, even
though it can have a low roof pitch, the posts are generally clunky. They have a heavy base usually
wrapped in brick or stone, either tapered or bulky columns. Especially with the nine -foot plate height, this
one has a skinny and slender post at the front and does not give off the feel of an Arts and Crafts home .
An Arts and Crafts or Craftsman house will be a nice improvement if you want to apply some of those
details to the design of the house. Suggests considering a proper fireplace chimney. We see it jutting out
on the left elevation and it quickly dies into the face of the house. There could be some added charm to
the house if there was in fact a true chimney possibly wrapped in stone or something. A bit of the
character of the house is missing. It is stripped down and looks more like a development type of home .
Some of the fine details you would find in a Craftsman style house are missing. Lastly, I am not quite
sure what the window grids are trying to be. Most often, we see this three -part breakdown and then there
are some areas where there are some taller single -hung windows where it was broken down into four
panels. Consider a simple cross two -by-two grid for the window; it might be an improvement to the design
of the house. It is not in our purview to comment about colors, but since you specified specific colors
that you plan to use on the house, the rendering is pretty much a black and white house. Often Arts and
Crafts homes resonate more with nature, so we see a little bit of brown, auburn, green, or even red colors .
Suggests going with the style intent of the house and the style can look a little bit more befitting of a
Craftsman style home. The front door can work with that color scheme but the black and white does not
work for me all together.
>I also do like the existing home. Listening to my fellow commissioners and looking at the house
again, this house looks similar to a lot of the many houses that we have approved. It is a fine design. It is
unfortunate that such an unusual and a different design is being replaced with something that does not
stand out that much. To piggyback off the Arts and Crafts comments, there are a couple of small things
to change that. Generally, anything that makes it look like it was handmade or rustic is appropriate as
opposed to completely machine -made materials. I concur about the front door. The house does feel like it
came from an assembly line, which is fine, but there are a lot of improvement opportunities especially if
they want to lean into the Arts and Crafts style.
>I concur with my fellow commissioners. It does come off as a development look. To take away from a
house with so much character and replace it with a sterile design is unfortunate. It can use a few details
and a different color palette can make a huge change. The overall design is pleasing; it is not an ugly
house and it proportions well. The upper windows look squatty with the horizontal mullions. Adding a
vertical mullion across may fix that and can be the same for the smaller windows. Unfortunately, per the
rules, we cannot have a nine -foot upper floor plate height. Because of the long slenderness of the bottom,
it is not proportional in my opinion.
Acting-Chair Lowenthal made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Tse, to place the item on
the Regular Action Calendar when plans have been revised as directed. The motion carried by
the following vote:
Page 3City of Burlingame
September 11, 2023Planning Commission Meeting Minutes
Aye:Horan, Lowenthal, Shores, and Tse4 -
Absent:Pfaff, and Schmid2 -
Recused:Comaroto1 -
11. COMMISSIONER’S REPORTS
There were no Commissioner's Reports.
12. DIRECTOR REPORTS
Planning Manager Hurin noted that at their meeting of September 5, 2023, the City Council adopted the
North Rollins Specific Plan and Addendum to the Burlingame 2040 General Plan EIR.
13. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
No Future Agenda Items were suggested.
14. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 7:37 p.m.
Page 4City of Burlingame