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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-10-21 City Council (19)City of Palo Alto City Manager’s Report 9 TO:HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: Planning and Community Environment DATE:October 21, 1996 CMR:430:96 SUBJECT:Request of Property Owners of Tract 795 for Consideration of Single Story Overlay Zoning for the Charleston Meadows Neighborhood: 96-ZC-9,. 96-EIA-22 RECOMMENDATIONS This report transmits a June 18, 1996 request from the property owners of Tract 795 (Charleston Meadows) for City approval of a single story overlay zone. Staff recommends that the City Council initiate and refer to the Planning Commission consideration of a single story overlay zone for the R- 1 single family area shown on the attached map (Attachment 1). City initiation of the zone change would result in no City fees being charged. BACKGROUND On July 13, 1992, the City Council adopted a single story overlay zone (S) as part of the Zoning Ordinance and applied the zone to the Walnut Grove neighborhood. On April 26, 1993, the zone was applied to the Greenmeadow neighborhood. The attached letter from the property owners of Tract 795 (Attachment 2) requests application of the single story overlay zone to the 96 single family parcels contained in Tract 795. Survey results reported in the letter indicate strong neighborhood support for the application of the single family overlay zone. City initiation of the zone change process is recommended because the Tract 795 neighborhood cannot apply for the zone change without written authorization from each property owner. With some property owners expressing opposition to the zone change and others not responding to the neighborhood survey, it would not be realistic to expect the neighborhood to obtain the necessary authorizations and file the zone change request for all 96 parcels. City initiation of the zone change means that no fees would be charged. CMR:430:96 Page 1 of 5 POLICY IMPLICATIONS The project must be determined to be consistent with the Palo Alto Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance. Comprehensive Plan The area is designated for Single Family Residential use in the Comprehensive Plan. The proposed single-story limitation is allowed within this Comprehensive Plan designation. The uses and site development regulations are consistent with the following Comprehensive Plan objectives, policies, and programs: Urban Design Element, Objective, page 42, "Promote the orderly and harmonious development of the City and the attainment of the most desirable land use and improvements through the review of new development. " The area is designated Single Family Residential and is well suited for this use. The site is surrounded by similar and compatible residential uses and forms a coherent pocket of single story development in this area. Zonin~ Ordinance The Zoning Ordinance specifically provides for the application of this (S) Overlay zone as established in the Single Story Height Combining District (S) Overlay Zone Guidelines. Compliance of the application with these guidelines is discussed below. DISCUSSION The Single Story Height Combining District (S) Overlay Zone Guidelines, adopted by City Council on December 14, 1992 (Attachment 3), establish criteria to guide City staff and decision makers in the consideration of zone change requests for application of the Single- Story Height Combining District (S) overlay zone. The Guidelines specifically state that "for neighborhoods that contain and have been developed consistent with a single-story deed restriction, these guidelines are to be treated with a greater degree of flexibility (than neighborhoods without the restriction)." Tract 795 has been developed consistent with a single-story deed restriction. The subject application is evaluated against these criteria as follows: Level and Format of Owner Support An application for an (S) overlay zone map amendment "overwhelming" support by owners of the affected property. should meet with The application is accompanied by signed requests from 73 of the 96 property owners within Tract 795. Because the neighborhood has beendeveloped consistent with a single-story deed restriction, the (S) overlay guidelines stipulate that this criterion CMR:430:96 Page 2 of 5 o should be treated with a greater degree of flexibility. Therefore, the 76 percent rate of support can be considered overwhelming and meets this criterion. Appropriate Boundaries An application for an (S) overlay zone map amendment should be accompanied by a map indicating the address and location of those owners who are co-applicants for the zoning request. Boundaries should define an identifiable neighborhood. The application is accompanied by a map showing addresses and locations of the co- applicants. The map indicates an identifiable neighborhood of rectangular shape that is easily defined by existing street patterns. Therefore, the second criterion can be met. o Prevailing Single-Story Character An area proposed for an (S) overlay zone map amendment should be of a prevailing single-story character, where the vast majority of existing single homes are single- story. It is desirable that homes be similar in age, design, and character. Of the 96 properties included in this application, 95 are currently single-story. Homes in this neighborhood were all built by Eichler in the early 1950s. Therefore, the third criterion can be met. °Moderate Lot Sizes An area proposed for an (S) overlay zone map amendment should be characterized by moderate lot sizes (7,000 to 8,000 square feet), with a generally consistent lotting pattern. The attached chart (Attachment 4) indicates the distribution of lot sizes in the neighborhood. Of the 96 lots, 22 are 7,000 to 8,000 square feet and 50 are 6,000 to 7,000 square feet. Applying the flexible interpretation described above for defining moderate lot size, 72 of 96, or 75 percent of the lots, can be considered moderate in size. Of the remaining lots, 11 are smaller than 6,000 square feet and 13 are larger than 8,000 square feet. Therefore, the fourth criterion can be met. The subject application meets all four of the criteria established by The Single Story Height Combining District (S) Overlay Zone Guidelines. ALTERNATIVES The alternatives available to the City Council include: 1)Expand or contract the boundaries of the proposed overlay district, or CMR:430:96 Page 3 of 5 2)Deny the request to initiate consideration of a single story overlay zone for the Tract 795 neighborhood. FISCAL IMPACT The impact to the City resulting from this application is to the contingency hours currently available in the Planning Division’s 1996-97 Work Program. This assignment is likely to require 80 hours of staff time, leaving only 183 hours of contingency in this year’s budget, prior to the Moratorium for Demolition of Pre-1094 Residential Structures. ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT Should the City Council initiate review of this application, an environmental assessment will be conducted and will accompany the staff report to the Planning Commission. STEPS FOLLOWING APPROVAL If the Council elects to initiate this zoning application, staff recommends that the application be reviewed by the Planning Commission at a public hearing on December 12, 1996. Following Planning Commission review, the application will return to the City Council for public hearing in January 1997. Owners of all properties potentially affected by the proposed rezoning will receive mailed notice of the hearings. ATTACHMENTS 1.Location Map 2.June 18, 1996 request from the property owners of Tract 795 for City approval of a single story overlay zone 3.Single Story Height Combining District (S) Overlay Zone Guidelines 4.Chart: Distribution of Sizes for 96 Lots CC:Milly Davis, 344 Tennessee Lane, Palo Alto CA 94306 Florence LaRiviere, 353 Tennessee Lane, Palo Alto CA 94306 Jean Olmsted, 240 W. Charleston Road, Palo Alto CA 94306 Marilyn Edwardson, 4126 Park Boulevard, Palo Alto CA 94306 PREPARED BY: Chandler Lee, Contract Planner DEPARTMENT HEAD REVIEW: KENNETH R. SCHREIBER Director of Planning and Community Environment CMR:430:96 Page 4 of 5 CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: C .ger CMR:430:96 Page 5 of 5 Attachment 1 - Location Map v.3700 330’ WAY l ¯ CS TO: FROM: SUBJECT: Attachment 2 June 18, 1996 City of Palo Alto Zoning Administrator for Submission to Ci .~.~,o,~nci171~:~i~. Commission/City Council Property Owners of Tract 795 Request from Coapplicants of Tract 795 for Application of the Single-Story Height Combining District (S) Overlay Zone to the Present R-1 Zoning of the Tract We request that the zone for Tract 795 be changed from R-1 to R-1 (S). We are attaching the following documents in support of this application: 1.A copy of the official deed restriction which limits residences in tract 795 to one story. Also attached is a more readable typed copy of the same document. Section one of the document limits residences to one story in height. A copy of the Single-Story Height Combining District (S) Overlay Zone Guidelines prepared by the City of Palo Alto. The introduction to these guidelines says that neighborhoods that have a single-story restriction and that have been developed consistent with that restriction are to be treated with a greater degree of flexibility when they apply for the overlay zone than those that do not have the deed restriction. There is only one two-story house in this zone (4124 Willde). Therefore this application should be considered generously. A copy of the information packet which was distributed to all property owners in the tract. These packets were hand delivered to all property owners living in the tract. Absentee owners were sent the same information by mail. At least one of the several signature collectors spoke to almost all of the property owners in the tract. Follow up flyers were distributed to everyone who did not respond to the first packet. Thus a serious effort was made to contact every owner. -2- Tomeet the first overlay guideline request for "Level and Format of Owner Support"-- Signed requests for the single-story overlay zone from the owners of 73 &the 96 properties in the tract are attached. A written list of signers is included. We are also attaching a list of the property owners whose signatures we were unable to obtain. We feel that the 73 signers easily represent "overwhelming" support for the overlay zone. To meet the second overlay guideline request for "Appropriate Boundaries" and the third guideline request for "Prevailing Single- Story Character"-- A map showing the boundaries of tract 795 is attached. The tract boundaries were established by the Eichier development which took place in 1950. The streets involved are Carolina, Tennessee, and parts of Charleston, Wilkie and Park as shown. Again, at the present time there is only one two-story house in the tract. Many of the houses have been remodeled in various ways, but the neighborhood is still a one-story, compatible neighborhood composed of Eichler homes. 6.To meet the overlay guideline request for "Moderate Lot Sizes"-- A chart showing the number of lots of various sizes in the tract is included. Seventy-two of the 96 lots are between 6,000 and 8,000 square feet showing that most of the lots are of generally compatible size. There are 11 lots smaller than 6,000 feet and 13 that are larger than 8,000 square feet. (These calculations are based on the tax assessor/TRW figures and may or may not be accurate for irregularly shaped lots.) Please contact any of the following if you need further information. Also we would appreciate your letting us know the next step in this process. We hope that the overlay will free neighbors from any need to take legal action against their neighbors who may start to build 2-story houses. Sincerely, Milly Davis, 344 Tennessee, 493-2428 Florence LaRiviere, 453 Tennessee, 493- 5540 Jean Olmsted, 240 W. Charleston, 493-3468 Marilyn Edwardson, 4126 Park, 493-8864 Attachment 3 Sinqle-Story Heiaht Combininq District (S) Overlay Zone Guidelines The following guidelines are intended to guide City staff and decisionmakers in the consideration of zone change requests for application of the Single-Story Height Combining District (S) overlay zone. For neighborhoods in which there are no single-story deed restrictions, or where such restrictions exist yet have not been strictly adhered to, applications are tobe evaluated through more rigorous use of these guidelines. However, for those neighborhoods that contain and have been developed consistent with a single-story deed restriction, these guidelines are to be treated with a greater degree of flexibility. I.Level and Format of Owner Support An application for an (S) overlay zone map amendment should meet with "overwhelming" support by owners of affected properties. These owners must demonstrate, by providing documentation that includes a written list of signatures, an understanding that they are co- applicants in a zone map amendment request. 2.Appromriate Boundaries An application for an (S) overlay zone map amendment should be accompanied by a map indicating the address location of those owners who are co-applicants for the rezoning request. Boundaries which may correspond with certain natural or man-made features (i.e. roadways, waterways, tract boundaries, etc.) should define an identifiable neighborhood or development. These boundaries will be recommended to the Planning Commission and City Council by the City’s Zoning Administrator. 3.Prevailing Sinqle-Story Character An area proposed for an (S) overlay zone map amendment should be of a prevailing single-story character where the vast majority of existing homes are single-story, thus limiting the number of structures rendered noncomplying by the (S) overlay. Neighborhoods currently subject to single-story deed restrictions should be currently developed in a manner consistent with those deed restrictions. Furthermore, it is desirable that homes be similar in age, design and a : sguide, doc character, ensuring that residents of an area proposed for rezoning possess like desires for neighborhood preservation and face common home remodeling constraints. Moderate Lot Sizes In order to maintain equitable property development rights within an (S) overlay area compared to other sites within the R-! zone district, an area proposed for an (S) overlay zone map amendment should be characterized by moderate lot sizes with a generally consistent !otting pattern. A moderate lot size is to be defined as 7,000-8,000 square feet. a : sguide ~ doc Page 2 Sheet2 Chart 4 Attachment 4 Distribution of Sizes for 96 Lots 8000-OVER 7000-7999 6000-6999 5000-5999 20 30 40 Number of Lots 60 Page 1