The City Council denies an appeal on a two-story home

By Kara Chalmers

Saratoga's Planning Commission on March 8, unanimously approved a plan to demolish an existing one-story home at 20550 Lomita Ave. and build a new two-story home in its place.

John Purvis, a neighbor who lives near the home, appealed the commission's design review approval to the City Council, who heard the appeal on April 19.

The City Council voted 4-0 to uphold the Planning Commission's decision and deny Purvis' appeal. Mayor Stan Bogosian recused himself from the proceedings since he lives on Lomita Avenue.

The home will be about 1,300 square feet larger than the home there now. But the Planning Commission held in March that the new home's height was compatible enough with the other residences in the neighborhood. The second story is planned to be 612 square feet--a small proportion of the planned total square footage of 4,258.

Purvis at that time said that the house would cause his family to lose their view of the hills and that there are mostly one-story homes in the neighborhood.

According to Purvis' appeal, the city did not follow the proper notification procedure for the Planning Commission's public hearing. The notice the city sent out said the planned home would be 4,068 square feet rather than 4,258 square feet. According to Purvis, some neighbors did not receive a notice at all.

According to Community Development Director James Walgren, the city's policy is to mail notices to all homes within 500 feet of the planned home. The city followed the usual procedure in this case, Walgren said.

On March 8, the Planning Commission discussed the error in the notice on the size of the planned home and decided, ultimately, that the error was not substantive enough to warrant notifying neighbors again.

The reason the plan went to the Planning Commission in the first place is because, in Saratoga, a public hearing is necessary for a property owner to convert a one-story home to two stories.

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