AgdaPkt 2002-01-28 - Laserfiche WebLink

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John and Deanne Comito 907 Pleasant Hill Road Redwood City, CA 94061-1130 January 9, 2002 Redwood City, City Coundl 1017 Mlddlefield Road Radwood City, CA 94064 Dear City Council Members: This letter is regarding the proposed house addition at 907 Pleasant Hill Road. The approved Architectural Permit for this addition has been appealed by the residents at 908 Glennan Drive. The property of 908 Glennan Drive lies directly behind 907 Pleasant Hill Road to the northeast. We would like to start by explaining why we are doing this addition. Hopefully, this will help you understand some of the choices that we have made in the design of this addition. The main driving factor in doing this addition is the expectance of our third child in April of this year. We currently have a three bedroom, two bath house with only one family/living room. We are proposing an addition which would give us four bedrooms, three baths and a new living room, This would give each of the children a bedroom of their own, and all of us some additional living space. We had considered moving into a different house, but decided against it for the following reasons: · We like our neighbors. · We are within easy walking distance to an excellent school (Roy Cloud) and Stulsaff park. · Our addition would not be out of line with existing houses in the neighborhood (there are many two story homes in our neighborhood). The reason for choosing a two story addition is mainly due to lot size. We have a 6,500 square foot lot and we didn't went to reduce the small amount of outside play space the kids currently have. On December 14, 2001, Mr. and Mrs. Wesolowski appealed the Architectural Permit for our addition. From what we understand, the Wesolowski's arguments against this addition are as follows: · The loss of privacy to both their backyard and home. · An almost complete loss of aftenoon sunlight in both their backyard and home. By looking at the included northwest elevation drawing (Figure 1) you will see that there is a 10' lot grade difference. Because of this change in grade the effects of the addition on the Wesoiowski's property is actually reduced. Taking a straight edge between a second story addition window (at the height of a person standing at the window) and the fence between the two properties, you can see that the view of the yard is completely blockad by the fence. The view into the house is also partially blocked by the fence. Using this same drawing you can see that there will be very little impact from our house on the sunlight over what the fence currently imposes. AJso, this impact on sunlight would be seen only in the late affemoon during winter months, when the sun has a lower trajectory in the sky. A drawing (Figure 2) has also been included to illustrate the relative locations of the houses on their respective properties. Note that the distance between the two houses is just over 60 feet. Also note that the setback of our proposed addition is 31 feet which is 50% larger than required by the City Zoning Ordinances. In conclusion, it must be noted that the City Zoning Ordinances are made in consideration of both privacy and sunlight. The basic property setbacks take privacy into consideration. The loss of excessive sunlight is dealt with by requiring larger setbacks for a second story addition. These larger setbacks are