Character, compatibility come into play in appeal
By Nathan R. Huff
Invoking the strengthened "neighborhood compatibility" wording in the town's new General Plan, the town council granted a neighborhood appeal and overturned a decision approving two new homes on Wedgewood Avenue.
Neighbors were smiling after a motion to uphold the planning commission's June 28 approval fell to a 3-2 vote. The council then voted unanimously to grant the lot line adjustment, but to return the architecture and site portion of the application to the commission for more work.
It was the second time the council had seen Stern and Champion Home Builders' two 3,500-square-foot homes, but the first time a council majority had made the size of the homes a major issue. On Aug. 16, the council continued the neighbors' appeal, asking that Stern and Champion provide proof of legal frontage for the lot line adjustment and two new homes. They also asked for wildlife and flooding reports and a list of the sizes of other homes in the area.
Those issues--minus the neighboring home sizes--disappeared on Sept. 5, as council members responded to neighbor's complaints that the two homes were out of character with the rest of the neighborhood. Most of the older homes on and around Wedgewood Avenue are in the 1,200- to 2,000-square-foot range.
While the council acknowledged the size of the proposed houses had been reduced since first submitted to the planning commission, the style and square-footage still didn't fit in with the neighborhood, it said.
"I think this compromise is not a viable compromise given what we're trying to achieve in terms of neighborhood compatibility," Councilman Joe Pirzynski said. Several council members compared Wedgewood Avenue to Chester Street, where two proposed additions earlier this year became symbolic of the debate over "neighborhood character" versus "neighborhoods in transition" philosophies.
Developer Steve Stern, arguing the latter, said the two homes were in line with other houses approved on the street in recent years, including a stucco home over 5,000 square feet. "Even if [the stucco home] is an anomaly," Stern said, "all three houses built on the street in the last 10 years or are under construction now are larger homes and we fit right in with those."
But neighbors rejected the idea that a few big houses meant all new houses should be equally large. "Just because there was one mistake made--and that was the stucco house on Wedgewood that really does not fit--I don't believe that enables us to go along and continue making mistakes like that," 35-year resident Don Waters said.
Other neighbors also brought up traffic safety concerns and questioned Stern and Champion's wildlife report which stated that while there was an occasional raccoon or possum on the property, the site should not be considered a wildlife habitat. Neighbors said bobcats, foxes and hawks made regular appearances on the property.
The council addressed the wildlife issue only in saying that smaller homes would equal more habitat, but the major concern was size and style, particularly the one stucco house. In granting the appeal, the council gave specific instructions to the applicant to work on design and size with the commission. The council also supported the usually frowned-upon shared-driveway concept, arguing it provided the safest entry to the two lots.
Councilman Jan Hutchins, who led the unsuccessful motion to uphold the planning commission's approval, said he felt the neighborhood compatibility issue was not so clear-cut. "It really seems to me," Hutchins said, "[compatibility depends on] which direction you head out the driveway on Wedgewood."
Stern later said the company was still "reeling" from the decision, and had not decided whether it would proceed with the project. A considerable amount of money has already been spent on architecture, engineering and re-engineering, he said, and it was difficult to move forward when a new issue becomes the central issue each meeting.
"It's certainly easier when the rules, no matter how tough they are, don't change," Stern said.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
