The Cupertino Courier
News
Proposal for adding to home in hills nixed by planners
By Cody Kraatz
The Cupertino Planning Commission rejected an application from longtime resident Janet DeCarli to build an addition to her 6,171-square-foot home, which sits on a ridge at 11640 Regnart Canyon Drive. The 689-square-foot addition would have exceeded a 6,500-square-foot cap the city has set for the hills.
"To me this is really a question of fairness, and we need to abide by what's in our ordinance," said Commissioner Cary Chien, arguing that the city should apply the cap firmly and consistently. Under the residential hillside zoning ordinance, DeCarli needs planning commission approval for any addition, even within the size allowed, because her house is on a hill. She has 14 days to appeal the decision.
Commissioner Gilbert Wong voted alone in favor of the DeCarli addition and persistently lobbied the other commissioners until it became clear he had no support. He said he tries to support private property rights whenever possible.
"We should take into consideration generational families," he added, indicating that he sees value in allowing children to grow up with their older relatives in the same house.
The addition would have included two bedrooms and a bathroom for DeCarli's nephew Ken Tersini, a local real estate developer, who moved into a multipurpose room after DeCarli's husband died. He shares that room, which is larger than the proposed addition, with his wife and two children, age 2 and 4.
"As you can imagine, two adults and two children living in a space that was created for one person has made the living situation extremely cramped," said Jennifer Jodoin, who works for Tersini and presented the application.
"Looking at these plans, there's plenty of room within the existing building," said Commissioner David Kaneda.
In 1999, the city approved a 2,081-square-foot addition to the house with a requirement for a comprehensive landscape plan that would shield views of the house from the valley floor. The city cannot find records of that landscaping plan because it was not required to retain them at the time.
DeCarli never installed the trees and plants, and the city is confident it can and will enforce the earlier requirement, according to the planning department.
"For the applicant to come back after not meeting requirements on the last addition and to ask for another addition is very hard for me to accept," said Commissioner Marty Miller.
Jim Walker, a neighbor, voiced support of DeCarli's addition but urged the commission to require landscaping around her home, which he called "obtrusive."
The city has made efforts recently to restrict homes built in its hills. The city council recently decided to retain some restrictive language in the R1 residential zoning ordinance affecting properties in the hills, despite objections from homeowners who said it decreases their property values.
The council on April 17 gave residents around Lindy Lane an extra two weeks to reach consensus on language for the R1 ordinance, potentially preventing further planning commission hearings.
