HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-04-2017 - Lopes
San Luis Obispo, California 93401
April 4, 2017
Honorable Mayor and City Council
City of San Luis Obispo
RE: 71 Palomar Appeal
Please consider the following relevant Community Design Guidelines,
which were ignored or poorly considered by the Architectural Review
Commission.
From Chapter 5 - Residential Project Design (with emphasis added):
5.2.E: General Residential Project Principles, Site Planning, Open
space and natural features:
2a: Natural amenities (such as views, mature trees, .. ) should be
preserved and incorporated into proposed development to the greatest
extent feasible. Reduced density and the clustering of units in hillside
areas is encouraged as a means of achieving this goal.
2c: Development on hillsides should generally follow the natural terrain
contour. Stepped building pads, larger lot sizes and setbacks should be
used to preserve the general shape of natural land forms and to
minimize grade differentials with adjacent streets and with adjoining
properties."
5.3: Infill Development:
A.1: Infill residential development should be compatible in scale, siting,
detailing and overall character with adjacent buildings and those in the
immediate neighborhood."
A.2: Continue existing neighborhood patterns, such as front porches
and entries facing the street, finished floor height. .
B. Building design. An infill residential structure should incorporate the
traditional architectural characteristics of existing houses in the
neighborhood, such as window and door spacing, exterior materials,
roof style and pitch...
C. Visual impacts from building height. The height of infill projects
should be consistent with that of surrounding residential structures.
Where greater height is desired, an in fill structure should set back
upper floors from the edge of the first story to reduce impacts on
adjacent smaller homes, and to protect solar access.
5.4 - Multi -Family and Clustered Housing Design
A.1: Site planning. Site planning for a multi -family project should
create a pleasant, comfortable, safe and distinct place for residents,
without the project "turning its back" on the surrounding neighborhood.
A.2: Multi -family units should be clustered. A project of more than
10 units outside the Downtown should separate the units into structures
of six or fewer units.
A.4: ... Higher density projects should be designed either with ground
floor units having individual sidewalk entrances, or as courtyard projects
with at least one significant pedestrian entrance from the street
sidewalk.
CA: Facade and roof articulation. A structure with three or more
attached units should incorporate significant wall and roof articulation to
reduce apparent scale. ... avoid the barracks -like guality of long flat
walls and roofs.
C.2: Scale. Structures with greater height may require additional
setbacks at the ground floor level and -or upper levels (stepped -down)
along the street frontage so they do not shade adjacent properties or
visually dominate the nei hborhood.
Sincerely,
James Lopes
2