From pgunther at pacbell.net Tue Dec 28 14:09:18 2004 From: pgunther at pacbell.net (Peter S. Gunther) Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 14:09:18 -0800 Subject: [OldNorth] 539 E Street Message-ID: City Planners are considering a proposal at 539 E Street to demolish the current accessory building and replace it with a 1560 square foot 2nd residence on the property, half of which will be located under ground. This includes an above ground accessory structure of 783 sq. feet. Staff comments say that they deem this to be within the local design guidelines and will be approved unless it is appealed by January 14th. Am I insane or have we just fallen down the rabbit hole once again with the city planning staff. From zesmith at hotmail.com Tue Dec 28 15:51:51 2004 From: zesmith at hotmail.com (Z Smith) Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 15:51:51 -0800 Subject: [OldNorth] 539 E Street cottage-- it's actually 480 SF above ground In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Peter was understandably confused by the way the City Planning Staff described this project. Since I'm the lead designer for the project in Scott Neeley's office, I'll take the liberty of responding. It is 480 SF above ground (as the Design Guidelines allow), 303 of heated basement area, for 783 SF total. They chose to describe it as a 783 SF project with a ground floor and a basement, which Peter assumed meant 783 SF x 2 = 1566 SF. The 8-1/2x11" prints the City mailed around are hard to read (the originals are 24"x36"); anyone who wants a clearer print to read, just e-mail me. The structure replaces a 734 SF one-story accessory structure, and as such, less area will be paved when the project is done than when it started. The lot coverage will *decrease* (from 36% of lot area down to 32%), and the usable open space will actually be *increased* by this project (from 27% of lot area to 35% of lot area). The 24'-wide driveway will be narrowed to a the zoning-minimum 12' wide. The project is 15' high at the ridge, and casts less shadows on its neighbor than the existing structure it replaces. When complete, there will be the existing home (2 BR, 1 BA, 1420 SF above ground, 200 SF basement) and this cottage (1 BR / 2BA, 480 SF above ground, 303 SF basement). So when it's done, the lot coverage will be just 32%, and there will be a total of 3BR and 3 BA on the site between the house and the cottage. The overall FAR is just 32%, well below the 40% limit. The owner of the site will be selling her 4-bedroom home north of Covell Boulevard now that her kids are grown and occupy the cottage as an owner-occupant. I'm extremely proud of the how the project replaces a largely unused, dead space (a garage and workshop) with living space while increasing the amount of green for everyone. Z -----Original Message----- From: oldnorth-bounces at velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us [mailto:oldnorth-bounces at velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us] On Behalf Of Peter S. Gunther Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 2:09 PM To: Old North membership Subject: [OldNorth] 539 E Street City Planners are considering a proposal at 539 E Street to demolish the current accessory building and replace it with a 1560 square foot 2nd residence on the property, half of which will be located under ground. This includes an above ground accessory structure of 783 sq. feet. Staff comments say that they deem this to be within the local design guidelines and will be approved unless it is appealed by January 14th. Am I insane or have we just fallen down the rabbit hole once again with the city planning staff. _______________________________________________ oldnorth mailing list oldnorth at mailman.dcn.org http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/oldnorth From dequickert at omsoft.com Tue Dec 28 16:48:09 2004 From: dequickert at omsoft.com (Dan Quickert) Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 16:48:09 -0800 Subject: [OldNorth] 539 E Street cottage-- it's actually 480 SF above ground In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <41D1FEC9.5010002@omsoft.com> Yes, I received notice on this - and it looks like a very good project to me. My only question was, where's the parking for the main dwelling? (I answered that one myself though) Dan Q From valerie at vanngroup.com Tue Dec 28 17:24:42 2004 From: valerie at vanngroup.com (Valerie Vann) Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 17:24:42 -0800 Subject: [OldNorth] 539 E Street cottage-- it's actually 480 SF aboveground References: Message-ID: <41D2075A.7801ED4F@vanngroup.com> Z Smith wrote: > When complete, there will be the existing home (2 BR, 1 BA, 1420 SF above > ground, 200 SF basement) and this cottage (1 BR / 2BA, 480 SF above ground, > 303 SF basement). So when it's done, the lot coverage will be just 32%, and > there will be a total of 3BR and 3 BA on the site between the house and the > cottage. The overall FAR is just 32%, well below the 40% limit. Out of curiosity, why does a 1 BR cottage need 2 bathrooms? What are the basements in both houses used for? additional bedrooms? Valerie Vann From zesmith at hotmail.com Tue Dec 28 20:54:26 2004 From: zesmith at hotmail.com (Z Smith) Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 20:54:26 -0800 Subject: FW: [OldNorth] 539 E Street cottage--why 2 bathrooms, how many onsite parking spaces Message-ID: Old Northers, I've mailed this reply to Valerie, Dan, Peter, and Xzandria with PDF attachments (plans and sections), but rather than clog everyone's inbox with attachments-- anyone who'd like to see them, please e-mail me and I'll send them to you directly. -----Original Message----- From: Z Smith [mailto:zesmith at hotmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 8:21 PM To: 'Valerie Vann'; Cc: 'Peter S. Gunther'; Xzandrea Fowler Subject: RE: [OldNorth] 539 E Street cottage--why 2 bathrooms, how many onsite parking spaces To answer Valerie's questions: The 200 SF basement in the main house is a storage area. It would not be legal as a bedroom because it does not have an egress window. It shows up in the documentation because its floor area gets counted in the overall floor area but not in FAR, because basements area, by City code, is not to be included in FAR calculations. The cottage is designed with the 1 bedroom downstairs, with an en-suite bathroom, and a 6'-4" x 7'-2" nook with a sofabed at the main level to allow a grandchild or other guest to visit & stay over. It did not seem appropriate to require dinner guests to walk through the owner's bedroom to use the bathroom, so there is a bathroom at the main level as well. FYI: A legal bedroom by code is at least 70 SF, at least 7' in both directions, enclosed by a door, provides a closet, has a ceiling height of at least 7'-6", and provides a legal egress window (5.2 SF clear area when opened). When I stated that the main house is 2 bedrooms and the cottage is 1 bedroom, I meant it. To answer Dan's question about onsite parking: The required onsite parking for a single family home of up to 4 bedrooms is 2 parking spaces, one covered and one uncovered. In this case, these 2 spaces are arranged "tandem" (one in front of the other), one "covered" space(pergolas, carports, and garages all satisfy the "covered" requirement), and one uncovered. I've located them at the lot edge between the cottage and the adjacent Church (which has frosted glass windows) so they are out of sight. R-2CD zoning states that the parking requirement for an accessory dwelling unit is 1 space per bedroom, with the number of required spaces reduced by one space if all spaces required for the primary dwelling unit are provided. So in this case, the cottage requires 1-1=0 additional onsite spaces. With the new parking district, this lot will have either 1 or 2 street parking permits available (depending on whether the cottage gets its own address). So this means that for a total of 3 bedrooms on the lot (2 in the main house plus 1 in the cottage) there will be 2 spaces onsite plus 1 or 2 street permit spaces. This would seem to even the most car-happy people enough spaces. Z -----Original Message----- From: Valerie Vann [mailto:valerie at vanngroup.com] Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 5:25 PM To: Z Smith; Old North Neighborhood Assoc. Cc: 'Peter S. Gunther' Subject: Re: [OldNorth] 539 E Street cottage-- it's actually 480 SF aboveground Z Smith wrote: > When complete, there will be the existing home (2 BR, 1 BA, 1420 SF > above ground, 200 SF basement) and this cottage (1 BR / 2BA, 480 SF > above ground, > 303 SF basement). So when it's done, the lot coverage will be just > 32%, and there will be a total of 3BR and 3 BA on the site between the > house and the cottage. The overall FAR is just 32%, well below the 40% limit. Out of curiosity, why does a 1 BR cottage need 2 bathrooms? What are the basements in both houses used for? additional bedrooms? Valerie Vann