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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/24/2018 PC MinutesMINUTES OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR MEETING OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION JULY 24, 2018 CALL TO ORDER: Chair/Mok called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the City Hall Windmill Room, 21810 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, CA 91765. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Commissioner Wolfe led the Pledge of Allegiance. 1. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Frank Farago, Raymond Wolfe, and Chair Kenneth Mok Absent: Jennifer "Fred" Mahlke and Vice Chair Naila Barlas were excused. Also present: Greg Gubman, Community Development Director; James Eggert, Assistant City Attorney; Grace Lee, Senior Planner; Mayuko (May) Nakajima, Associate Planner; Natalie T. Espinoza, Assistant Planner; and, Stella Marquez, Administrative Coordinator. 2. MATTERS FROM THE AUDIENCEIPUBLIC COMMENTS: None Offered 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: As Presented 4. CONSENT CALENDAR: 4.1 Minutes of the Regular Meeting: June 26, 2018: C/Wolfe moved, C/Farago seconded, to approve Consent Calendar Item 4.1 as corrected. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: 5. OLD BUSINESS: 6. NEW BUSINESS COMMISSIONERS: COMMISSIONERS: COMMISSIONERS: None None Farago, Wolfe, Chair/Mok None Mahlke, VC/Barlas JULY 24, 2018 PAGE 2 PLANNING COMMISSION 7. PUBLIC HEARING(S): 7.1 Development Review and Tree Permit No. PL2017-167 — Under the authority of Diamond Bar Municipal Code Sections 22.48 and 22.38, the applicant and property owners requested Development Review approval to demolish an existing 2,956 square foot residence and construct a 9,769 square foot single family residence with 2,435 square feet of garage area and 1,951 square feet of patio/balcony/porch area on a 1.46 gross acre (63,774 gross square foot) lot. A Tree Permit was also requested to remove seven black walnut trees. The subject property is zoned Rural Residential (RR) with an underlying General Plan land use designation of Rural Residential. PROJECT ADDRESS: 2315 Alamo Heights Drive Diamond Bar, CA 91765 PROPERTY OWNER: Christopher and Rachel Lupo 2056 Highridge Drive Chino Hills, CA 91709 APPLICANT: Pete Volbeda 164 N. 2nd Avenue, Suite 100 Upland, CA 91786 AP/Espinoza presented staff's report and recommended Planning Commission approval of Development Review and Tree Permit No. PL2017-167, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the Resolution. Chair/Mok opened the public hearing. Pete Volbeda, Architect, said he was present to respond to questions regarding the project. Chair/Mok asked Mr. Volbeda if the Diamond Bar Country Estates Architectural Committee had approved the project and Mr. Volbeda responded "not yet" and Chair/Mok asked if Mr. Volbeda had any concerns about the approval and Mr. Volbeda responded not really, because he has their comments from previous reviews and there are no major items of concern. The committee usually requests a grading plan which he provides upon conclusion of this public hearing. JULY 24, 2018 PAGE 3 PLANNING COMMISSION Chair/Mok asked Mr. Volbeda if he would be replacing the two trees scheduled for removal with like trees and CDD/Gubman responded that the code mandates that trees have to be replaced with a protected species only which means one could replace a walnut with an oak or a willow or California sycamore. Chair/Mok said it was good to learn there would be more trees planted than what was required by code. Chair/Mok closed the public hearing. C/Wolfe opined that this would be a very beautiful house that definitely fits into the neighborhood, certainly with the adjoining houses on other side. C/Wolfe moved, Chair/Mok seconded, to approve Development Review and Tree Permit No. PL2017-167, 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: Farago, Wolfe, Chair/Mok NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Mahlke, VC/Barlas 7.2 Development Review No. PL2017-126 — Under the authority of Diamond Bar Municipal Code Section 22.48, the applicant requested Development Review approval to construct a new 1,967 square foot single family residence with an attached 422 square foot garage, a 25 square foot porch and a 71 square foot covered patio on an undeveloped 6,090 square foot lot. The subject property is zoned Low Residential (RL) with an underlying General Plan land use designation of Low Medium Residential. PROJECT ADDRESS PROPERTY OWNER/ APPLICANT: 20305 Flintgate Drive Diamond Bar, CA 91765 Sammy Elbastawesy 20702 Hollow Pine Drive Diamond Bar, CA 91765 AP/Nakajima presented staff's report and recommended Planning Commission approval of Development Review No. PL2017-126, based on JULY 24, 2018 PAGE 4 PLANNING COMMISSION the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the resolution. C/Wolfe asked if the applicant was moving one or both Edison poles to the east and AP/Nakajima responded that her understanding is that the existing pole on the property will be located to the west side. C/Wolfe asked what would be done with the utility cabinet, if anything, and AP/Nakajima responded that the applicant would have to work with Edison on that issue. C/Wolfe said he was concerned about the utility cabinet but the second pole is up against the curb which appears to be in the way of the driveway (about eight feet from the east property line) on this very narrow property. AP/Nakajima said that a copy of the plans were sent to Edison and staff did not receive any comments or concerns about that issue or any other issues. Chair/Mok asked if Laurel trees can be planted as close to the Edison pole as the plan indicates or do they have to be a certain distance away. AP/Nakajima said Chair/Mok's concern was valid and that staff would work with the applicant on that issue. CDD/Gubman said that if there is not already a condition in the Conditions of Approval, the Commission could add one to require that the landscape plan be subject to review and approval by Edison and if there are any modifications needed, the condition could specify it would be subject to the Director's approval unless the Commission preferred to have the landscape plan come back to the Commission. In light of the fact that this is on the side of the property facing vacant land and privacy is not an issue, the Commission may be comfortable to defer to CDD/Gubman's review. AP/Nakajima confirmed to Chair/Mok that there has been no response or concerns from the neighbors. Chair/Mok opened the public hearing. Shirley Liu, 20220 E. Walnut Drive S., Walnut, CA 91789, spoke about concerns of the residential community in which the project is proposed and presented a letter by those residents detailing their many concerns. Samuel Elbastawesy, owner/applicant, explained that the box on the property is a Caltrans count station which is going to be eliminated when Caltrans relocates the existing pole. A count station was installed on the other side of the sound wall during reconstruction of Lemon Avenue. He further stated that he has worked closely with the City of Diamond Bar and JULY 24, 2018 PAGE 5 PLANNING COMMISSION has tried to make the house look similar to neighboring properties and match the square footage of the remaining houses in the area. The house will sit about one story lower than the street because the property is at a lower elevation than other properties in the immediate area. C/Farago asked if the pole on the street side would be relocated or would the powerline cross the applicant's driveway. Mr. Elbastawesy said the pole would remain in place. He provided a copy of the property survey and explained the location of the pole in relationship to the driveway. Chair/Mok closed the public hearing. C/Wolfe said it is interesting to fit a house into property that is this narrow but it is a nice house and he understands the applicant has spent a lot of time working with City staff on this project. It looks like it will work, it will be tight. He agrees with CDD/Gubman that the Commission should add a condition that the landscape plan be reviewed and approved by Southern California Edison. CDD/Gubman stated that as indicated in staffs presentation the challenge was to design a house that would be appropriate for the neighborhood. Certainly the lot is unusually narrow being a vacated street right-of-way and only 40 feet in width. The applicants worked closely with staff to achieve a design where the second story element is stepped back 20 feet from the front of the garage to reduce the scale of the house as effectively as possible. It is a brand new home and 2,000 square feet is likely as big as the house wants to be on that lot so the challenge was to configure the structure so that it does not have a presence that is out -of -proportion with the lot dimensions. In light of that and the fact that it is a legally recorded lot which is zoned Residential and the property owner has a right to develop it, provided it complies with all of the Development Standards and Design Guidelines, staff is recommending approval because staff believes it has not only met the Code requirements but has also achieved the intent of the Design Guidelines, C/Wolfe said that while he appreciates the speaker's comments about the aesthetics of the neighborhood, it is not the responsibility of this property owner to pay for Edison to underground cable or somehow create a more aesthetically pleasing appearance to a neighborhood that has overhead wiring. JULY 24, 2018 PAGE 6 PLANNING COMMISSION 51 a C/Wolfe moved, C/Farago seconded, to approve Development Review No. PL2017-126, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the draft resolution with the addition of a Condition of Approval that Edison review and approve the landscape plan prior to its final approval and, if there are changes, that it be referred to CDD/Gubman for final approval. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Farago, Wolfe, Chair/Mok NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Mahlke, VC/Barlas PLANNING COMMISSION COMMENTS/INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: None STAFF COMMENTS/INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: 9.1 Project Status Report. CDD/Gubman stated that the August 14th Planning Commission will be canceled due to lack of agenda items. On August 16th there will be a General Plan Advisory Committee meeting to discuss Draft Policies for additional Elements of the General Plan and the Planning Commission and general public are welcome to attend and participate. Tonight's meeting will be adjourned to August 28th for which there are two public hearing items currently scheduled, both of which are additions to existing single family residences, one located at 1401 Valeview Drive and one located at 21065 Glenwold Drive. C/Wolfe asked if staff had anything further regarding the email asking that the Planning Commission meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. CDD/Gubman said he forwarded the responses from the Planning Commissioners to the City Manager's office and has heard nothing subsequent to sending out the emails. There are two other Commissions and CDD/Gubman anticipates a decision being made regarding all Commissions in the near future for which a City Council Resolution would be required to make that change. What he is hearing is that most Commissioners overall are indifferent or would prefer to have the meeting begin at an earlier time. JULY 24, 2018 PAGE 7 PLANNING COMMISSION 12. SCHEDULE OF FUTURE EVENTS: As provided in the agenda. ADJOURNMENT: With no further business before the Planning Commission, Chair/Mok adjourned the regular meeting at 7:37 p.m. to August 28, 2018. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 28th day of August, 2018. Attest: Respectfully Submitted, Greg Gubman Community Development Director i l�vi - � Iis'�/ I.•