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Arcadia Weekly Aug 05, 2015
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1217 Mayflower rendering. – Courtesy Photo
1217 Mayflower existing home. – Courtesy Photo
By Joe Taglieri
The Arcadia City Council on Tuesday directed a real estate developer to take another stab at revising his design for a new home on property in the city’s southeast sector.
Scott Yang of Figure 8 Group Inc. seeks to replace a one-story 988-square-foot ranch-style house built in 1923 with a two-story 5,046-square-foot home designed in the “modern” architectural style, planning department officials said.
In June the Planning Commission denied Yang’s project “based on a finding that the proposed ‘Modern’ architectural style is not compatible with the other houses in the neighborhood,” the report states.
The developer appealed to the city council, which ordered him to revamp his design with the input of Development Services Department staff members.
“The neighborhood is changing, the 1960s ranch-style houses are slowly changing to all sorts of different styles,” Yang told the council.
The proposed new home would occupy 32 percent of the 12,400-square-foot corner lot and stand 27 feet in height, according to a planning staff report. Arcadia’s residential zoning code allows for a maximum lot coverage of 35 percent and a 30-foot height limit.
Yang noted that most of the new homes going up in Arcadia in the last five years “are roughly 50 percent of the lot [floor-area ratio],” he said. “What we’re proposing is only 40 percent, so it’s a lot smaller than what could be possible compared to new developments.”
Arcadia has no policy restricting floor-area ratio, which reflects a building’s total space consumption compared with the size of the lot it occupies. Lot coverage refers to only the amount of space consumed by a building’s first-floor “footprint.”
Council Member Tom Beck noted his reservations about Yang’s proposed design, questioning the contractor’s lack of architectural credentials and the motivation for requesting a reduction of setback requirements.
“My problem with the design … is that it’s just building a house with plans pulled off the Internet and asking for modifications so that they can make it a little bit bigger and consequently maximize their investment,” Beck said. “I have a problem giving relief from code to a builder so that they can build a bigger house. … And I think the design could be a lot better, it could be more interesting.”
Yang, who acknowledged he is not a licensed architect, denied duplicating plans for the proposed house from online sources when Beck asked if he had done so.
The code relief Beck mentioned referred to Yang’s request that the city exempt his project from setback requirements. A “setback” is real estate parlance for the space between a building and property line.
The staff report explains that Yang is asking for a 35-foot first-floor setback and a more than 38-foot second-floor setback in lieu of the average setback requirement of nearly 44 feet for the front yard and the required 40-foot special setback from Mayflower Avenue.
The proposed design also calls for a 25-foot first-floor setback and a 29-foot second-floor setback instead of the required 35-foot special setback from El Sur Avenue.
Planning officials, who recommended the council vote in favor of Yang’s appeal and overturn the Planning Commission’s rejection of the project, explained the purpose of the “special setback” was to accommodate the possibility of future street widening and encourage compatible home design in the neighborhood.
“City Engineer [Philip Wray] has reviewed the proposal and has no objections to the requested Modifications to encroach into the special setbacks … as there are no plans to widen” Mayflower and El Sur avenues, states the report written by Associate Planner Thomas Li and approved by Development Services Director Jason Kruckeberg and Community Development Administrator Jim Kasama.
“Regarding neighborhood compatibility, the requested [35-foot] setback along Mayflower Avenue is compatible with the front yard setbacks of neighboring properties,” the report continues. “Along El Sur Avenue, the requested [25-foot] setback is less than the front yard setbacks of the neighboring homes on El Sur Avenue, but it will be a greater street side setback than at the other corner lot of the block that has a street side yard setback of 20 [feet]. The requested setbacks are appropriate and will promote uniformity of development.”
Mayflower Avenue homeowners Anna and Rodney Williamson and Arcadia-based architect Pison Netsawang voiced their support for the project, and residents on nearby 10th Avenue Carlton and Connie Tsai submitted a letter to the council in favor of the proposed new home.
Joe Garcia, Yang’s public relations director, presented a petition signed by 20 neighborhood residents who also supported the project.
Council Member John Wuo said he didn’t share the Planning Commission’s concern that the modern style design was not compatible with existing neighborhood architecture, but rather focused on the need for code compliance regarding the setbacks.
“I don’t have the qualification to say this is good or that’s good, but the only thing I can really look at is the how the codes are involved,” Wuo said.
Council members voted 4-0 to continue the public hearing of Yang’s appeal in September.
Mayor Gary Kovacic was on vacation in Europe and did not attend Tuesday’s meeting.
