City Council denies permit for home, citing an incompatible design with surrounding homes
The City Council turned down a permit for a home Tuesday that is much larger than surrounding houses, but most council members said their concerns were not so much about the size of the home but about its design, which they said was incompatible with most nearby houses.
Araik Tonoyan proposed building a roughly 4,000-square-foot home on a 22,310-square-foot hillside lot at 3147 Mesa Verde Drive. A previous house on the site was destroyed in a fire in June 2014, so the proposed project is considered a new single-family home.
Tonoyan was seeking a Hillside Development Permit, which has eight criteria that must be met.
The original plans submitted in August 2015 were for an approximately 6,000-square-foot home.
While it was reduced to 4,000 feet in 2016, the design was still not compatible enough with surrounding homes for Patrick Prescott, the city’s community development director, to approve the project. On appeal, the Planning Board agreed with city staff.
This past January, with revised design plans, the Planning Board approved the project.
Four appeals were filed against the board’s decision, so the project went before the City Council for final consideration.
At the council meeting, appellants and their representatives expressed several concerns about the proposed home, including its two-story entrance, the square footage of the second floor, which would be about the same as the first, and the project’s obstruction of views from some nearby homes.
Jim Casey, a member of the local organization Preserve Burbank, showed slides of several nearby homes, most of which have recessed entrances, second floors set back from the first floor with smaller square footages than below, and roofs with large overhangs.
Also, the average size of a home in the neighborhood is about 2,500 square feet, according to a staff report.
While some residents said the proposed home is closer to 5,000 square feet, Daniel Villa, an associate planner with the city who worked on the project, said the 610-square-foot, three-car garage and a covered porch in the front of the home were not included in the home’s square footage in a staff report.
Adam Warshaw, an attorney representing four of the appellants, said the second-story setbacks on most of the other homes in the area help preserve views for neighbors.
“The typical property ... contains approximately one third to one half of the square footage in the top floor as compared to the bottom floor, meaning it’s a very tapered design. It’s respectful of neighbors’ privacy. It’s respectful of the neighbors’ views,” Warshaw said.
“This property is more of a monolith. It has approximately 95% of the footprint of the lower floor repeated in the upper floor,” he added.
Tonoyan said he was surprised there was such a groundswell from neighbors and residents against plans for his proposed home.
“[It] looks like they have problem with me. They don’t have a problem with the building,” he said.
Tonoyan said he worked with city staff and thought he had followed what they wanted included in the plans.
A city staff report states city officials worked with Tonoyan on the design. Also, an architectural consultant was brought in to help with the project.
“Although the square footage of the new structure is larger than the average-size home, the architectural style of the home was designed to incorporate characteristics found in the neighboring properties,” according to the staff report.
“Features such as Spanish-style arches, a mixed gable and hip roof form, stucco finishing on the exterior walls and arched windows were purposely incorporated into the design because they can be found through[out] the neighborhood,” the report states.
In the end, however, council members said they could not confirm all of the findings for each of the eight criteria for the permit.
Councilwoman Sharon Springer said she didn’t think the revised design changed much from the original plans.
“It’s still a rectangle. It’s just a big rectangle is what I see, and I feel like the changes that were made are kind of cosmetic or accessory changes,” she said.
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