3A Public Hearing 2008 0707 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Appeal of the BZA Approval 2 July 7, 2008 PLN2008-00022 The alternative to reduce the addition to one-story resulted in the covered parking spaces being deleted from the plans; however three or more parking spaces would still be provided on the property, at a concrete parking pad at the rear of the building and along the driveway that serves those spaces. The proposed one-story addition made it impossible to provide the required two- covered off-street parking spaces on the property. However, the revised plans to reduce the addition's height and bulk were intended to address the neighbors concerns. On May 15, 2008, the Board of Zoning Adjustments found the proposal as an acceptable and appropriate compromise to the interested parties, thus the Board approved PLN2008-00003 subject to the recommended Conditions of Approval. On May 30, 2008, Mr. Woolston and Ms. Franke, adjacent neighbors to the east of the subject property, aggrieved by the Board's decision have appealed the action on the basis that the approved project does not conform to and/or violates the City's General Plan, the Zoning Code and the Housing section of the General Plan. Recommendation: The Board of Zoning Adjustments and staff recommend that the City Council make a motion to uphold the approval of the conditional use permit, site plan review, and parking exception and deny the appeal. BACKGROUND • The subject property encompasses 5,200 square feet (40 feet x 130 feet) in area. There are many parcels in the area that are between 30 to 40 feet wide and approximately 130 feet deep. Most of these lots are developed with single-family homes and a few are developed with duplexes. Some however, are developed with apartment buildings due to the former RM Residential Multi-Family Zoning designation. • The subject property and surrounding area (formerly RM-1800 Residential Multi-Family District) is now zoned DA-3 Downtown Area District. The purpose of the DA-3 is to implement provisions of the Downtown San Leandro Transit-Oriented Development Strategy in areas immediately adjacent to the Downtown retail core. Infill development shall respect the scale and fabric of the neighborhood while increased building height and higher residential densities are allowed. Thus, as the report will state, the Zoning Code requirements for projects in the DA-3 will appear more relaxed and lenient than the previous RM Residential Multi- Family requirements. For example, the RM District's side yard setback requires a minimum of five feet, the minimum off-street parking required four spaces, and the maximum lot coverage ranged between 50-70 percent, versus the DA-3 District which permits zero side yard setbacks, three off-street parking spaces and 100 percent lot coverage. • The one-story alternative appears to address the concerns of the neighbors. The livable floor area to the proposed unit has been reduced to 1,257.5 square feet from 1,525 square feet from the original proposal and 1,342 square feet from the second proposal. The exterior of the addition and the roof should have a seamless finished appearance. It is typical that stucco walls and the hipped-roof design can be executed without any notice of the new addition versus the