Special to the Town Crier
Housing design again dominated discussion at last week's Los Altos Hills City Council meeting as an appeal of a planning commission decision drew several speakers arguing over whethe the proposed roofline obstructed neighbors' views.
The council upheld the commission's decision that two feet of roofline must be trimmed from Varad Srinivasan's plans, even though it fell within allowable height limits and town staff had recommended approval.
As a result, the height of the proposed home on Lupine Road was limited from 27 to 25 feet. Srinivasan said the limitation would ruin the "architectural integrity" of his Mediterranean-style house.
He told the council March 4 that he had already made many compromises to keep the peace with his neighbors, as well as trying to meet the necessary standards to have his plans approved without a big hassle.
"In one of my compromises," Srinivasan said, "I had to change from a two-story house to a one-story. This makes me sad because I had always dreamed of a two-story house for my daughter."
Some surrounding neighbors said the two feet of roofline really did make a difference to their view. One brought in a view graph depicting how the house with the 27-foot roofline would look from his dining room window by filling in the story poles.
Councilwoman Toni Casey reminded the resident his house was 250 feet away separated by a creek and huge foliage.
Other neighbors, who have a southern exposure, talked about the size of the lot, and were concerned about the noise from construction because they have horses. Yet another neighbor, Jim Noughray, who has a northern exposure, said that the roofline should be lowered because he had been forced to do it when building his home.
But Jim Abraham said, "This applicant has bent over backward to stay within, and even under, the limits. The neighbors want to deny him his rights for their own benefit and that is wrong."
Another Srinivasan supporter, Emir Rosenberg, talked about the polarization this can cause in a community where no change is wanted.
Casey, who had appealed the Srinivasan application to council, said, "We need to have a better system (to get house plans approved), so it is not so subjective. This would allow everyone to know what is, and is not acceptable, so people could plan better and that would lead to less dissension among neighbors."
Council members planned to further discuss improvements to the housing site development process at their next meeting, March 18.