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HomeMy WebLinkAbout7/12/2011MINUTES OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION JULY 12, 2011 CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Shah called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the South Coast Air Quality Management District/Government Center Auditorium, 21865 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, CA 91765. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 1 2. 0 4. ROLL CALL: Present: Chairman Jack Shah. Absent: Lee were excused. Commissioner Nelson led the Pledge of Allegiance. Commissioners Steve Nelson and Tony Torng and Commissioner Jimmy Lin and Vice Chairman Kwang Ho Also present: Greg Gubman, Community Development Director; David Alvarez, Assistant Planner; Natalie Tobon, Planning Technician, and Stella Marquez, Senior Administrative Assistant. MATTERS FROM THE AUDIENCE/PUBLIC COMMENTS: APPROVAL OF AGENDA: As presented. CONSENT CALENDAR: 4.1 Minutes of the Regular Meeting of June 28, 2011. Chair/Shah asked that his comments in response to the Public Comments matter regarding 22909 Ridge Line development: that "the Planning Commission will take the matter under advisement" be added to the minutes. Therefore, he suggested the matter be continued to the next meeting. C/Torng moved that this item be continued to the July 26, 2011, meeting. C/Nelson seconded the motion. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: 5. OLD BUSINESS: 6. NEW BUSINESS: COMMISSIONERS COMMISSIONERS COMMISSIONERS None None Nelson, Torng, Chair/Shah None Lin, VC/Lee JULY 12, 2011 PAGE 2 7. CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARINGS: PLANNING COMMISSION 7.1 Development Review No. PL 2011-50 — Under the authority of Development Code Section 22.48, the applicants requested approval to construct a new 11,083 square -foot single family residence, 925 square -foot second unit, and two garages and a workshop totaling 4,857 square feet on an 8.51 gross acre (370,695 square foot) lot. The subject is zoned Rural Residential (RR) with a consistent underlying General Plan land use designation of Rural Residential (Continued from June 28, 2011) PROJECT ADDRESS PROPERTY OWNER 2244 Indian Creek Road Diamond Bar, CA 91765 Mike Tsai 18240 Senteno Street Rowland Heights, CA 91748 APPLICANT: Roland Wahlroos-Ritter WRoad, LLC 2404 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 9E Los Angeles, CA 90057 PT/Tobon presented staff's report and recommended Planning Commission approval of Development Review No. PL2011-50, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the resolution. C/Nelson asked if there was a landscape plan that would provide for slope stabilization and erosion control after the proposed annuals die back. AP/Tobon referred C/Nelson to the landscape architect. Roland Wahlroos-Ritter, Architect, gave a Power Point presentation of the proposed project. He stated that native plant species would be used to stabilize the slopes. Some will die but there would be a large amount of water usage if the large areas were landscaped intensively. There are many active and passive green areas built into the project. The applicant attempted to be respectful to the neighbors by designing the landscape so as not to obstruct their views. The landscape architect, Mark Montonaga, from Rios Clementi Hale Studios, explained the proposed building envelope, landscape plan and plant palette. Mr. Ritter continued explaining the project layout and design features. Chair/Shah asked if the applicant intended to pursue LEED certification and Mr. Ritter responded no because there is not much gain for the client, JULY 12, 2011 PAGE 3 PLANNING COMMISSION although the project would likely qualify for LEED certification. Chair/Shah asked Mr. Ritter to explain the use of Feng Shui in the grading plan. Mr. Ritter responded that the client hired a Feng Shui consultant who is working with him on the citing and other considerations of the building, floor plan and layout. C/Torng asked if the courtyard was a Feng Shui design and Mr. Ritter responded no, that the design was his idea that they brought forward. C/Torng asked why such a big lot for only an 11,000 square foot house. Mr. Ritter responded that the client asked him to find a site for the home. He researched many sites and the client fell in love with this site which is more like a park. The clients asked for sufficient space for the grandparents and for the nanny to be living with them in the same building and not a separate building. The client asked for other amenities which fairly dictated the size. C/Nelson commented that this was an outstandingly awesome house and would expect to see this home in Sunset or Architectural Digest sometime in the future. He congratulated the architect. His comments were to the landscape architecture and that it maximize the use of California Walnuts because this is in an area where those trees are in a high concentration, and secondly, that the owner consider for the ground cover in addition to the annuals that they use Nassella, a native needle grass that will remain present throughout the year and prevent any kind of runoff erosion. Chair/Shah asked if the community association had looked at this design which is radically different from other homes in the area. Mr. Ritter said that he has met with the architectural board three times and the last meeting will be this Thursday. The community is very supportive of the project and they are very excited to see the project built. Chair/Shah asked if the screens opened on a mechanical basis and Mr. Ritter said that at this time he is working on a mechanical system that would allow the owner to centrally control the opening and closing of the screens so that in the absence of inhabitants, the screens can automatically close when there is too much solar heat gain; or to the contrary, in the winter, solar heat gain by opening during the daytime. This is a difficult undertaking because the screens are bi-folds. The fallback option would be to have them manually operated. Chair/Shah asked if there were solar panels for the screens and Mr. Ritter said there is a solar panel array located on the easterly slope. Chair/Shah asked what the most southerly pad was intended for and Mr. Ritter responded that he intended to combine the pool with the workshop and situate the pool behind the workshop so that the roof level could be used as a hang out space around the pool. Chair/Shah asked if there was a special turnaround for the fire vehicles and Mr. Ritter pointed out the turnaround. Chair/Shah asked about a turnaround where the road ends and Mr. Ritter JULY 12, 2011 PAGE 4 PLANNING COMMISSION stated that the fire department told him a turnaround east of the workshop would not be needed because they have access around the workshop. Chair/Shah congratulated Mr. Ritter on a very interesting project. C/Torng asked if the extra pad on the south end was for future development and Mr. Ritter explained that when "The Country Estates" was developed in the 1970s there was a lot of illegal grading and the pad is a residual of that activity. One of the reason nothing is being done in the area is because it is illegal grading and the soil is loose so that the applicant would have to excavate all of the material and re -compact and rebuild the entire slope which would be very difficult to do without disturbing the creek and native trees. No building is planned for that area. Chair/Shah opened the public hearing. With no one present to speak on this matter, Chair/Shah closed the public hearing. C/Torng moved, C/Nelson seconded, to approve Development Review No. PL2011-50, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the resolution. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Nelson, Torng, Chair/Shah NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Lin, VC/Lee 8. PUBLIC HEARING(S): 8.1 Development Review No. PL2010-354 — Under the authority of Development Code Section 22.48, the applicant, Kevin Yang and property owner, Chiou Y. Lin, requested approval for a 728 square foot addition to an existing 1,884 square foot, single family residence on a 0.47 gross acre (20,651 square foot) lot. The lot is zoned Low Density Residential (RL) with a consistent underlying General Plan use designation of Low Density Residential. PROJECT ADDRESS: PROPERTY OWNER: 841 Cold Stream Court Diamond Bar, CA 91765 Chiou Y. Lin 841 Cold Stream Court Diamond Bar, CA 91765 JULY 12, 2011 PAGE 5 PLANNING COMMISSION APPLICANT: Kevin Yang 9138 Olema Street Temple City, CA 91780 AP/Alvarez presented staff's report and recommended Planning Commission approval of Development Review No. PL2010-354, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the resolution. C/Torng asked what Attachment 2 was and AP/Alvarez responded that it was a photo of the site. Kevin Yang said he was present -to respond to questions and concerns. C/Nelson asked a question about lot coverage and possible infringement on the percentage of the lot that was supposed to be left permeable. AP/Alvarez stated that the current lot coverage is 7.8 percent and the proposed addition would bring it to 11.3 percent. The maximum allowed is 40 percent according to the City's Development Standards. Chair/Shah opened the public hearing. With no one present who wished to speak on this matter, Chair/Shah closed the public hearing. C/Nelson moved, C/Torng seconded, to approve Development Review No. PL2010-354, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the resolution. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS NOES: COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS Nelson, Torng, Chair/Shah None Lin, VC/Lee 9. PLANNING COMMISSIONER COMMENTS/INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: C/Torng said he was excited about the project the Commission approved tonight. C/Nelson said he appreciated the makeup of the Commission and the fact that Commissioners can agree and disagree without disharmony and get business done. Chair/Shah felt this was the first modern house in the neighborhood and felt it was a verygood design. He commented on a design by a German designer whose project included windows that would open and close to compensate for the solar gain and loss. Overall the plan presented this evening was very interesting and he spent time looking over the plans and found the architect had done a good job. JULY 12, 2011 PAGE 6 PLANNING COMMISSION 10. STAFF COMMENTS/INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: 10.1 Public Hearing dates for future projects. CDD/Gubman stated that the next Planning Commission meeting is on July 26. There is one item on the public hearing agenda, a new single family home at 3015 Wagon Train within "The Country Estates." Tonight's approval is a showcase home and will most certainly appear in periodicals and publications. Staff is very excited to have a project of this caliber in the City. CDD/Gubman updated the Planning Commission on the situation at 22909 Ridgeline Drive, the issue that was raised at the last meeting. This project was approved by the Planning Commission in the summer of 2007 and has been under construction after receiving a time extension. The last milestone inspection occurred November 2010 to certify the pad. At that time, and staff has photos to document the circumstances, everything was exactly per the approved plans. Subsequent to that and for reasons staff can only speculate at this point, the applicant began raising retaining walls, extending retaining walls and piling dirt onto the site, presumably to create staging and maneuvering areas for equipment which was not done with City authorization. It appears that the applicant's intent is to have raised these walls and brought in the soil on a temporary basis to accommodate the construction equipment; however, that was done without City approval and they did it in a manner that is creating slope instability and erosion in angst to the neighboring property owner who spoke at the last meeting. The City's Public Works Department was dispatched to the site, documented that at the last inspection everything was to plan and identified numerous deviations from the approved plans that are now evident. Staff will have a site meeting with the contractor tomorrow and the first order of business is to essentially shore up the site to protect that downstream property and then proceed with corrective measures to bring the site into compliance either by allowing the temporary wall heights if warranted, given the tight conditions on the site to create maneuverability. Certainly the end product will be exactly per the approved plans just as the site was per the approved plans at the last milestone inspection. Staff is working on this matter and actually visited the site on Thursday morning, two days after the last Planning Commission meeting to inspect the site along with representatives from The Country Estates Homeowners Association which is involved in partnership with the City and with the affected neighbor downstream regarding the conditions. CDD/Gubman assured the Planning Commission that the plans that were approved and permitted were exactly what the Planning Commission approved and deviations will be corrected. JULY 12, 2011 PAGE 7 PLANNING COMMISSION C/Nelson asked if the City would shut down the project until it was remedied and CDD/Gubman responded that the project is effectively shut down and the applicant will not be authorized to recommence construction activity until immediate corrective actions are taken. Chair/Shah thanked CDD/Gubman for the update. He asked if the City and/or the Homeowners Association should report this to the state and the State's Contractors Licensing Board. CDD/Gubman said he did not get into that issue but the contractors' state licensing board is also taking corrective action against the contractor and some of the sub contractors that were operating in violation of their licensing stipulations. 10. SCHEDULE OF FUTURE EVENTS: As listed in tonight's agenda. ADJOURNMENT: With no further business before the Planning Commission, Chairman Shah adjourned the regular meeting at 7:59 p.m. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 23rd day of August, 2011. Attest: Respectfully Submitted, Greg Gubman Community Development Director Jack Shad, Chairman` i