HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-07-28 City Council (13)City of Palo Alto
Manager’s Report
TO:
FROM:
HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL
CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: Planning and
Community Environment
DATE:JULY 28, 1997 CMR:346:97
SUBJECT:CITY COUNCIL CONSIDERATION OF A NEGATIVE
DECLARATION AND REVIEW OF A NEW 5,220-SQUARE-
FOOT, TWO-STORY, SINGLE FAMILY DWELLING WITH
ASSOCIATED IMPROVEMENTS AT 920 LAUREL GLEN
DRIVE (97-D-2, 97-EIA-4), CONTINUED FROM THE COUNCIL
MEETING OF JULY 21, 1997.
RECOMMENDATION
Staffrecommends that the City.Council continue the public hearing for this application from
July 28, 1997 to September 15, 1997, to allow the applicant to finalize a design modification
for an impervious surface driveway. Concems that were raised regarding additional trees for
the site also will be dealt with on September 15 as part of the review of the landscape plan.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A public hearing was held by the City Council on July 21, 1997, regarding a Negative
Declaration and Site and Design application for a 5,220-square-foot, single family dwelling
with attached 3-car garage, swimming pool and related improvements in the Open Space
Zone at 920 Laurel Glen Drive. This item was continued to the City Council meeting of July
28, 1997 to allow the staff and applicant time to research apparent inconsistencies in the
amount of impervious surface proposed for the site.
It has since been deternfined that the amount of impervious surface was incorrectly
calculated, since that portion of the driveway within the "pole" portion of the lot was not
included in the total amount of impervious surface on the site. As noted in the Planning
Commission staffreport, a maximum of 3.5 percent of the site may be devoted to impervious
surface. Since the lot in question is located within an Open Space Cluster subdivision, the
maximum amount of impervious surface for this lot would be equivalent to 3.5 percent of the
CMR:346:97 Page 1 of 2
normally required 10-acre lot size, or 15,246 square feet. A total of approximately 18,000
square feet of impervious surface is proposed, which includes the total surface of the
driveway, the house footprint, pool and deck. This would exceed the 3.5 percent maximum
limit established in the Municipal Code.
To reduce the amount of impervious surface, the. applicant has proposed using a hollow
gravel-filled block system for the "pole" portion of driveway, which, if approved, would not
count as part of the 3.5 percent impervious surface coverage. This would reduce the
impervious surface to 14,442 square feet and would comply with ordinance provisions.
The Palo Alto Fire Department has indicated such systems have not been approved in the
past due to potential problems of differential settling of the driving surface, which could limit
access to the structure in the event of an emergency. However, the Fire Department has also
indicated that an approval could be granted if the applicant were to provide an engineering
report indicating that the proposed block system could accommodate the heavy loads
imposed by the fire and emergency equipment, as well as minimize differential surface
settlement.
The applicant is presently working to prepare such an engineering report for the approval by
the Fire, Public Works and Planning and Community Environment Departments. However,
due to the time necessary to complete and review the report, additional time will be needed
by the applicant and affected City Departments
Therefore it is recommended that this public hearing be continued until the meeting of
September 15, 1997.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1: Site Location Exhibit
PREPARED BY: Jerry Haag, Contract Planner
DEPARTMENT HEAD REVIEW:
KENNETH R. SCHREIBER
Director of Planning and
Community Environment
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:
CMR:346:97 Page 2 of 2
Arastradero
Preserve
920 Laurel Glen Drive
OS
Palo Alto Golf &
Country Club Alto
Hills
Foothills Park
Graphic Attachment
to Staff Report
Date: July 28, 1997 Nos: 97-D-2 97-EIA-4 Scale: 1" = 800’
North