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Big houses: City Council delays vote a fourth time
By MICHELLE KU
The City Council at the March 15 meeting continued to put off making a decision on the amendment to the residential homes ordinance.
For the fourth straight time, the ordinance was agendized.
For the fourth straight time, residents spoke about the issue.
For the fourth straight time, the City Council continued it to the next meeting.
For the fourth straight time, it is anticipated that council will approve the ordinance at its next meeting--in this case on April 5.
In contrast to the previous three meetings, the City Council made few changes to the proposed amendment, which has already included more than a year of work and discussion at the Planning Commission level.
Councilmember Don Burnett's proposal to lower the maximum wall heights for single-story homes was one reason the council delayed the vote. Council also instructed staff to streamline the approval process for projects.
"We're going back to fix the ordinance up to include the changes about wall height," said Bob Cowan, director of community development. "It's very, very close."
The bulk of the discussion centered around a slide show presented by Mark Srebnik, consulting architect. The photographs, of homes in Cupertino and the surrounding communities, were used to gauge what council felt was acceptable and unacceptable in home designs.
Council did not discuss the most controversial aspect of the housing ordinance--the floor area ratio. At their last meeting, councilmembers seemed set on a fixed FAR of .35 for two-story homes that don't undergo architectural review; with review, two-story homes can expand to a maximum .45 FAR. The maximum FAR for single-story homes is .45 with no review requirement.
The information gathered by Srebnik will be used to develop the guidelines of the Residential Design Review Committee, which will determine whether two-story homes can exceed the .35 FAR. The committee will judge homes on architectural compatibility with the neighborhood. It will also allow neighbors to provide input.
"When do you cross the line in an architectural format?" Dean said. "That's very hard to legislate."
Councilmembers agreed they did not want to restrict the color or type of materials home owners may choose to build with.
"I think we have to be very careful that we don't limit people's styles and ability to modernize," said Councilmember Sandra James. "I don't think we have to legislate to that extent."
Councilmembers were quick to point out the difficulty in setting up design criteria. The main issue is for the design review committee to determine whether or not the proposed plans harmoniously fit in the neighborhood.
Developing design criteria is complex because of the diverse home styles in Cupertino, said Councilmember Michael Chang.
Another issue the council did not address, but might do so in the next council meeting is reducing the number of days in the pipeline, said Bob Cowan, director of community development.
A pipeline is the length of time residents have to submit plans under the old ordinance before the new one goes into effect.
Currently, the pipeline is 60 days, but because this has been an ongoing issue for so long at the council level, it may be reduced to 45 days because people know the new ordinance has been in the works, Cowan said.
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Cupertino, California Since 1947
