TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Mark Danaj, City Manager
FROM:
Richard Thompson, Community Development Director
Jason Masters, Assistant Planner
SUBJECT:Title
Appeal of the Planning Commission's Approval of an Amendment to an Approved Coastal Development Permit and Minor Exception to Construct a Roof Deck on an Existing Single Family Residence with a Non-Conforming Front Setback at 121-20th Street (Plache) (Community Development Director Thompson).
CONDUCT PUBLIC HEARING, UPHOLD THE PLANNING COMMISSION'S DECISION
Line
_________________________________________________________
Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council conduct the Public Hearing, and uphold the Planning Commission decision in Resolution NO. PC 14-10, approving the project subject to certain conditions.
Body
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no fiscal implications associated with the recommended action.
BACKGROUND:
The Planning Commission decision was placed on the August 12, 2014 City Council agenda to receive and file. At that meeting, a City Council member called the matter up for review and requested that the item be scheduled for a public hearing.
The application is a request for an Amendment to the approved Coastal Development Permit and Minor Exception to construct a roof deck on the third level of an existing 2-story single family residence with a non-conforming front setback at 121-20th Street. Structural modifications are needed to modify the existing nonconforming front setback to tie the new roof deck into the existing house which requires a Minor Exception. A Coastal Development Permit is required since the project included a greater than ten percent addition and the project site is within the appealable area of the Coastal Zone, where a decision is appealable to the State Coastal Commission. A Public Hearing was held on July 9, 2014, at which time the Planning Commission approved Resolution NO. PC 14-10, with conditions.
In July, 2013, the Planning Commission approved a Coastal Development Permit and Minor Exception to convert the existing duplex to a single family residence, construct a 374 square-foot addition and remodel the existing 1,747 square-foot residence matching the non-conforming front setback for a total of 2,121 square feet. That project is now under construction. Staff approved a separate administrative Coastal Permit to demolish the existing detached garage and replace it with a new conforming two car garage with a 483 square-foot guest suite above. A Minor Exception is not required for the garage since it conforms to Zoning Code requirements. The total buildable floor area (BFA) for all of the buildings on the site is 2,604 square feet, or 60.3 percent of the maximum allowed BFA.
The Minor Exception allows the project to maintain and match an existing non-conforming front yard setback where five feet is required. The existing front setback varies between 4 feet ½ inch and 4 feet 11 ¼ inches at the first story and between 2 feet ½ inch and 2 feet 8 inches at the second story. The rest of the building's setbacks are conforming and will remain conforming. The Zoning Code allows three-stories in this area, and the project will remain at two-stories, plus the 3rd story roof deck which will meet the height limits and setbacks, with the exception of the front setback.
At the July 9, 2014 Planning Commission hearing, the neighbors expressed concerns about pedestrian access between the existing house and proposed buildings due to a proposed property line fence, as well as height and density increase and visual, privacy and noise impacts from the proposed third floor roof deck. There was also concern with the proposed garage with guest room above which is not part of the subject application. The concerns expressed at the hearing were not related to the Minor Exception application, but rather to other aspects of the project which meet code criteria.
The Planning Commission received questions, comments and concerns at the public hearing from several residents, but determined that a balance was reached between the applicant's proposal and neighbors' concerns, and the application met all of the Code criteria.
PUBLIC NOTICE:
A notice (1/4 page ad) was published in the Beach Reporter on August 21, 2014 and a copy of the notice was mailed to all property owners within 300 feet of the subject property. As of the writing of this report, staff has not received any written correspondence regarding the subject application since the appeal of this project by the City Council.
CONCLUSION:
Staff recommends that the City Council uphold the decision of the Planning Commission approving Resolution NO. PC 14-10 subject to certain conditions.
Attachments:
1. Resolution No. PC 14-10
2. July 9, 2014, PC Staff Report & Attachments
3. July 9, 2014, PC Draft Minutes
4. Appeal Notice of PC Decision