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Home My WebLink AboutItem 3 - DIR-0424-2020 (1051 Leff) CULTURAL HERITAGE COMMITTEE REPORT FROM: Brian Leveille, Senior Planner BY: Walter Oetzell, Assistant Planner PROJECT ADDRESS: 1051 Leff Street. FILE NUMBER: DIR-0424-2020 APPLICANT: Phillip Hasley For more information contact Walter Oetzell, Assistant Planner: 781-7593 (woetzell@slocity.org) 1.0 RECOMMENDATION Provide a recommendation to the Community Development Director regarding the consistency of a proposed new accessory structure (Accessory Dwelling Unit over a new garage) at the rear of a Contributing List property with the City’s historical preservation policies. 2.0 BACKGROUND The applicant proposes to demolish a single-car garage at 1051 Leff Street and construct in replacement a detached accessory structure with a ground-level two-car garage and shop, with an Accessory Dwelling Unit above. An exception from the applicable height limit is requested, because the new construction would reach a height of almost 26 feet, about ten feet taller than the normal 16-foot height limit for an ADU.1 3.0 SITE AND SETTING The site is located on the south side of Leff Street, about 120 feet west of Santa Rosa Street in a Medium-High Density Residential and Historic Overlay (R-3-H) Zone, in the Old Town Historic District, an area characterized by single-family dwellings, many of which are included in the City’s Inventory of Historical Resources. Most properties on this side of the block are also developed with additional dwellings in larger accessory buildings behind the primary dwelling (see Figure 1, above). Assessor records (online Property Information Search) indicate that the dwelling on the site was built in 1915. City records (Architectural Worksheet) describe the building as Neo- Colonial in in style, noting its gable roof with deep overhangs and gable dormer, corner recessed veranda with sqaure corner posts, and its clapboard siding. In 1987 the property was designated by the City Council as a Contributing Property in the Old Town Historic District with adoption of Resolution 6158. In 1999 a building permit was issued for a replacement detached garage. 1 See Zoning Regulations § 17.86.020 (B)(5)(v)) Meeting Date: October 26, 2020 Item Number: 3 Item No. 1 Figure 1: Subject Property Item 3 Packet Page 21 3.0 FOCUS OF REVIEW New construction on historically listed properties is subject to review by the Cultural Heritage Committee (Historic Preservation Ordinance § 14.01.030 (C)). The Committee will make a recommendation to the Community Development Director as to the consistency of the proposed work with applicable historical preservation policies and standards, and may recommend conditions of project approval as appropriate. An Accessory Dwelling Unit consistent with standards set out in § 17.86.020 of the City’s Zoning Regualtions is normally approved ministerially, without discretionary review. Evaluation of this project under this application is focused on the consistency of the proposed new construction with historical preservation standards, insofar as it includes new construction in excess of the 16-foot height limit applicable to an Accessory Dwelling Unit. 4.0 PROPOSED NEW CONSTRUCTION As depicted in project plans (see Attachment 2, and Figure 3, below), the proposed garage and Accessory Dwelling Unit buidling is situated at the rear of the site, is constructed of cement board lap siding, is topped by composition shingle roofing, and exhibits conventional fenestration with vertically-oriented rectangular window openings. 5.0 DISCUSSION ITEMS Guidance is provided mainly in the City’s Historic Preservation Program Guidelines and the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.2 Selected applicable guidelines, standards, and recommendations from these documents are outlined below. 2 Kay D. Weeks and Anne E. Grimmer. The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring & Reconstructing Historic Buildings. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service; Technical Preservation Services, 2017 Figure 2: 1051 Leff Item 3 Packet Page 22 5.1 Historic Preservation Program Guidelines Section Subject Note § 3.2.1 New structures in historic districts shall be designed to be architecturally compatible with the district’s prevailing historic character as measured by their consistency with the scale, massing, rhythm, signature architectural elements, exterior materials, siting and street yard setbacks of the district's historic structures. New structures are not required to copy or imitate historic structures, or seek to create the illusion that a new building is historic. Scale and massing consistent with adjacent structures, both primary dwellings and accessory structures, which are of similar scale and height. Hipped roof form with front gable, and horizontal lap siding are compatible with the appearance of structures in the district, for which wood materials and pitched and hipped roof forms predominate. § 3.2.2 New development should not sharply contrast with, significantly block public views of, or visually detract from, the historic architectural character of historically designated structures located adjacent to the property to be developed, or detract from the prevailing historic architectural character of the historic district. Form, massing, materials, and architectural elements are consistent with structures in the vicinity. New building is at the rear of the property and does not block views of primary dwellings. § 3.4.1 (c) Alterations to Historic Resources – Accessory Structures: … complement the primary structure’s historic character through compatibility with its form, massing, color, and materials Taller, but with similar footprint, smaller residential floor area, and situated at rear of site with adjacent accessory structures of similar scale and height. Compatible hipped roof form with front gable and horizontal lap siding. Figure 3: Proposed garage with ADU above, front elevation Item 3 Packet Page 23 Discussion: The new building is square in plan with a somewhat smaller footprint than the primary dwelling and is two stories in height, with a 983 square-foot two-bedroom Accessory Dwelling Unit above the ground-floor shop and garage. Although it is taller than the primary dwelling, which, given the height of the attic space under the roof ridge, can be characterized as “one-and- a-half” stories tall, the new building is situated at the rear of the property, among other two-story accessory buildings, consistent with the development pattern in this higher-density area. Photographs provided by the applicant in his Project Description (see Attachment 1, pp. 3 & 4) depict the area of the site at which the new building will be placed, and the adjacent structures that will surround it. Its horizontal lap siding and composition shingle roof material is compatible with the wood siding and shingle roof of the primary dwelling.. 5.2 Secretary of the Interior’s Standards (Rehabilitation) Standard 9: New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction will not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work will be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment. Recommended Not Recommended Additions for a New Use Designing adjacent new construction that is compatibile with the historic character of the site and setting and preserves the historic relationship between buildings and the landscape. Introducing new construction on the building site which is visually incompatible in terms of size, scale, design, material, or color, which destroys historic relationships on the site, or which damages or destroyes important landscape features. Discussion: The proposed new building is located behind the primary dwelling that lends the property its historic character and its visibility from the right-of-way will be limited. Compatible in scale, design, and material as described above, it preserves the relationship between buildings and the landscape that characterize this higher density area, consistent with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards. 6.0 CONCLUSION The limited visibility of this building, situated at the rear of the property behind the existing dwelling, the compatibility of its forms and materials and consistency of its scale and mass with that of adjacent structures provide a basis for finding that it is compatible with the architectural character of the primary dwelling and of the Old Town Historic District in terms of scale, form, massing, rhythm, and architectural elements, as encouraged by Historic Preservation Program Guidelines and Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. Based on this evaluation, staff recommends that the Committee forward a positive recommendation to the Community Development Director regarding the consistency of the proposed new construction with the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance, along with any appropriate conditions of approval that the Committee may consider relevant to implementation of historical preservation policies and standards. Item 3 Packet Page 24 7.0 ACTION ALTERNATIVES 1. Recommend that the Community Development Director find the project consistent with the City's historical preservation policies 2. Continue review to another date with direction to staff and applicant. 3. Recommend that the Community Development Director find the project inconsistent with historical preservation policies, citing specific areas of inconsistency. 8.0 ATTACHMENTS 1. Project Description (Applicant) 2. Project Plans (Oct 7 2020) 3. Architectural Worksheet for 1051 Leff Street Item 3 Packet Page 25 Project Description for 1051 Leff Street Proposed Accessory Dwelling Unit and Garage The property is located at 1051 Leff Street in San Luis Obispo in the Historic Railroad District. The lot is an R-3 single family lot. The area is characterized by single family homes at the front of the lot with an apartment building or accessory dwelling unit in the rear. The subject property is the only single family property on its side of the block without apartments or accessory dwelling units in the rear of the lot. The property on one side has a single family home and a two story apartment building in the rear with two, two bedroom apartments, and the other side has a single family home with a two story apartment building in the rear with a two bedroom apartment and a studio. The property to the rear of the site has a two story multi-family apartment building directly behind the site. A new accessory dwelling unit at the rear of the subject property will fit in with the rest of the neighborhood and provide additional residential rental space in the downtown area. Photos of the property and neighboring properties are at the end of this document. The proposed project will remove an existing single car garage built in 1999 and construct a two story accessory dwelling unit and garage at the rear of the property. The proposed accessory dwelling unit would include two bedrooms and one bathroom on the second floor of the structure with a total habitable area of 983 sq.ft. The ground floor will include a two car garage and an unconditioned shop/utility room. The property will increase covered off street parking to two spaces from the current single space. Additional tandem parking spaces will be available for multiple vehicles. Since the proposed ADU will be constructed over a new two-car garage, it will be two stories and exceed the City’s design standard of 16 feet for the maximum height. The following exception is therefore requested to allow the construction of the proposed accessory dwelling unit: 1. Request for Director’s Action to approve an exception from the design standard limiting the height of an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) to 16 feet to allow a proposed ADU at 25’-10” in maximum height when above a garage. The reason for this request is to allow for additional garage parking on the property without taking up additional space on the lot if the garage were constructed separately from the ADU. It is impractical to construct the proposed ADU over a garage and limit the height of the structure to 16 feet. The proposed design is intended to provide as much open space on the lot as possible without reducing the amount of parking on the property. The proposed two story ADU structure fits in with the surrounding properties that all have two story structures boarding the property. The new accessory dwelling unit is designed to have a traditional cottage style to match the existing house on the property. The accessory dwelling unit will use cement board lap siding with a six inch exposure to preserve the cottage style. Double hung windows will be used throughout to maintain the style of the existing house. The apartment siding will be painted Benjamin Moore color 839 Old Blue Jeans and the trim will be painted ivory white to match the colors of the existing house. Likewise, the new ADU’s shingles will be Owens Corning Estate Gray in color to match those of the house. ATTACHMENT 1Item 3 Packet Page 26 The new accessory dwelling unit has been located at the rear of the property to maximize yard space between the accessory dwelling unit and the existing house at the front of the property. An artificial stone (concrete) paver driveway with curbs will be provided to the accessory dwelling unit. The concrete pavers will not be sealed water tight at the seams so that rainwater can percolate through the pavers to the ground below. Concrete paver walkways will be provided. The property has an existing Jacaranda street tree planted as part of the single car garage construction project in 1999 which will be maintained. This street tree has an approximate twelve inch diameter trunk and an 18 foot diameter canopy. Two existing Chinese Elm trees planted in 2009 at the rear of the property will be removed. One existing Maple tree planted in 2009 at the rear of the property will be maintained. The existing ¾” water meter will be replaced with a 1” water meter to accommodate the increased water demand of the new accessory dwelling unit’s fixtures. A new 1” water line will connect the water meter to two ¾” water lines serving the existing house and new accessory dwelling unit. The existing 4” diameter sanitary sewer line was replaced in 2019 with a 4” diameter HDPE pipe. The existing sanitary sewer line will remain in place and a new 4” diameter sanitary sewer line will be connected from the new accessory dwelling unit to the existing sanitary sewer line. Natural gas will be fed to the new accessory dwelling unit from the existing connection to the SoCal Gas line in the street serving the house, while a new gas meter will be located adjacent to the existing house’s gas meter. Electrical service will be provided directly to the ADU from the PG&E electrical distribution lines, and new electrical meters will be provided at the ADU. Fire sprinklers are not required in the accessory dwelling unit. Figure 1: Front of the property at 1051 Leff Street ATTACHMENT 1Item 3 Packet Page 27 Figure 2: The rear yard showing the existing single car garage Figure 3: Neighboring two story apartments at the rear of 1059 Leff Street ATTACHMENT 1Item 3 Packet Page 28 Figure 4: Neighboring two story apartments at the rear of 1045 Leff Street Figure 5: Rear yard from the roof of the single family home at 1051 Leff Street showing the two story apartment building behind the property ATTACHMENT 1Item 3 Packet Page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tem 3Packet Page 30 ! 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Packet Page 36 DIR-0424-2020 (1051 Leff) Exception from ADU height limit to allow a new two-story accessory structure with ADU over a garage (Contributing List Historic Property) 2 3 4 5 Historic Preservation Program Guidelines 6 Secretary of the Interior’s Standards (Rehabilitation) Standard 9:New additions,exterior alterations,or related new construction will not destroy historic materials,features,and spatial relationships that characterize the property.The new work will be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials,features,size, scale and proportion,and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment. Recommended Not Recommended Building Site Designing adjacent new construction that is compatible with the historic character of the site and setting and preserves the historic relationship between buildings and the landscape Introducing new construction on the building site which is visually incompatible in terms of size, scale,design,material,or color,which destroys historic relationships on the site,or which damages or destroys important landscape features. DIR-0424-2020 (1051 Leff) Action Forward a recommendation to the Community Development Director regarding consistency of a height exception for an ADU with historical preservation policies and standards