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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