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lack o g A. - Page 246 � �e added pavers in the roadway and converted the road to a one-way design. In OctobGr, ��y, u�e �,�ty�otincil convinced him to raise the pavers up 3"to make it look mare like a srdewa�k. That's the extent of changes ta the roadway design. Related to this issue is the creek. Those of you who were on the Cammission in 2009 will reznember, a,nd the rest of you may be awa.re, that the developer and�he City waged war#'or nearly 4 years over where tk�e top of the creek bank {TOB) was Iocatec�. In his original proposal, the Vesting Tentative Map showed�he TOB coincident with the Zocation af the top of a 1-2' high retaining wall tl�at occurs �ocally along the edge of the stream chaz�nel bottom—a fu118' or more below#he surrounding land. With t�e bank top at this location, Mr. McGawan was able to argue that he was in compliance with the Creek Setback Ordinance. It alsa gave hirn mare net lot area(re. building site area). It took two yeaxs befare Mr. McGowan agreed to move the top of bank up the channel wall. This occurred when the City agreed he cauld qualify for a Use Permit to exempt him from the setbacic. There sta�l was a problern, however. At the northern end of the site, the stxeam cnannel margin changes frorn a very steeply sloped wall to one that is a bit gentler. We've argued that tl�is change is the result of a soi� slump that occurred on the bank some time ago. Others have argued a di#'ferent origin, but no matter. The slope characteristic notaceably changes in this area. Thez� City Engineer Jon Lynch, w}xo was the ultimate arbiter at the tirne o�this matter, determined that the top of bank adjacent ta �ots 3 and 4 should be placed at similar elevation to the more clearly defined top of bank farther south, and keep the line at 1' above the 100-year flood surface, which is shawn on the FEMA maps to be contained within the channel itself. One cou�d argue other ways to define the Iine, but Mr. Lynch's determination was objective and justifiable. He had a cansultant confirm his defermination as a reasonable one. Mr. McGowan azxd his engineer, Dan McClead, however,proposed the top af bank should occr�r farther down the slope adjacent to lots 3 and 4—on the order of 10' or more, in map view, closer to the center of the creek. There were no specific c�iteria identified for why the lrne should be where it was placed, but Mr. McGowan hrred his own consultant to affirm that HIS line was a reasonable place to locate the top of bank. This battIe 2asted for nearly another 2 years until Jon Lyncl�retired in the Fa11 of 2008. In December,2008, then Community Development Directar Chu Chang issued a letter accepting the applicant's top-of-bank locataon "for use in determining the 25-foot setback requirement under Redwood City Zoning Ordinance Section 32.12." Mr. McGowan vc+ins this battle. Hawever, Mr. Chang said something else: "For other purposes, such as desigr�of a flood control chan�el, or evaluatirrg the stability of the bank relative to siting a building, a more conservative interpretatiora is appropr�iate. For such putpose�, I accept the City Engr'neer's TOB locatxon. " In other words,the applicant's TOB applies ONLY to determining the required setback line for the stormwater ordinance. Our question is, is this an appropriate line for establishing the boundary of the creek channel for determination of building site area? Attached are two �igures derived from the 3D �noael we had constructed of the site. T}iese show perspective views of the bat�c. Solid lines are the 1-fl contour lines from the current Vesting Tentative Map. Moaels af the creekside homes, and people are aadea for scale. The red line cIosely approximates the applicant's TOB location. The blue Iine fs Jon Lynch's TOB (as best as can be transcribed from notes in the record). You can see pretty clearIy that at the departure point, the applicant's TOB drops in elevatian nearly 3 ft to skirt aroeand the "slump" and �en rises again and agrees more closely with Mr. Lynch's line at the praperty boundary. As we've shown befare, this line lies within the chantiel below the 100-year flood surface, Mr. z