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HomeMy WebLinkAboutASAC Minutes - 11-18-1976CITY OF CUPERTINO, STATE OF CALIFORNIA 10300 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, CA 95014 Telephone: 252-4505 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE ARCHITECTURAL AND SITE APPROVAL COMMITTEE HELD ON NOVEMBER 18, 1976 IN THE LIBRARY CONFERENCE ROOM CITY HALL, CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA SALUTE TO THE FLAG Chairperson Sallan called the meeting to order at 7:08 PM with t Salute to the Flag. ROLL CALL HC -180 Page 1 Comm. present: Bond, Claudy, Irvine, Ripplinger, Chairperson Sallan Comm. absent: None Staff present: Senior Planning Technician Mark Caughey INFORMAL REVIEW OF PLANNED DEVELOPMENT USE PERMIT APPLICATIONS There were none. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes of Adjourned Regular Page 5, paragraph 3, add the Moved by Member Irvine, seco, Minutes of October 28, 1976, Meeting of October 28, 1976: word "some" before "tenants". :aded by Member Bond to approve the as amended. Motion carried, 5-0 Minutes of Regular Meeting of November 4, 1976: Page 1, paragraph next to the bottom, last line: Delete "in the front" and replace with "on the west side of the building". Next paragraph, first line: Delete "back", and add "back to" right after "building". HC -180 MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 18, 1976, H -CONTROL MEETING Page 2 ;Page 5, paragraph next to the last paragraph, last line: Delete "not" Page 6, second paragraph, first line: Delete "improve" and replace with "install street improvements". Second line, delete "Sobrato-Berg" and fireplace with "Keith Garner". Paragraph 4, first line: Delete "exhibit" land replace with "architect". !Moved by Member Claudy, seconded by Member Irvine, to approve the 'Minutes of November 4, 1976, as amended. Motion carried, 5-0 Per the recommendation of the staff, Chairperson Sallan determined that agenda items 1 and 4 would be discussed concurrently. POSTPONEMENTS: None. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS: None. 1ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Chairperson Sallan stated Mary Gonzales had telephoned her and asked if this Committee was discussing landscape approaches that emphasize conservation. She suggested the Committee might want to put this issue on the agenda. Chairperson Sallan announced thatno hearing would be initiated after 11:00 PM on this date, and that the meeting would adjourn at 12 midnight. PUBLIC HEARINGS 1. Application HC -51,392.1 - Sobrato-Berg requesting approval of landscaping for an industrial/office complex located easterly of and adjacent to North De Anza Blvd. and extending southerly from the intersection of North De Anza Blvd. and Route 280 for a distance of approximately 2,500 feet. Continued from H -Control meeting of October 21, 1976. -- and -- 4. Application HC -51,391.1 - B.A.S. Homes, Inc., requesting approval of landscaping for parkway frontage on east side of De Anza Blvd. MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 18, 1976, H -CONTROL MEETING The Senior Planning Technician reviewed the November 15, 1976, staff reports in regard to the above -named applications. He noted that McKay & Somps' check was returned since they had already paid their fee. Resolution No. 647, regarding the sound wall, was. discussed. There will be a minimum barrier of 7', but the maximum has not yet been established. Member Claudy said, with all due respect to the people who are going to live in these B.A.S. homes, he would not like to see a 10' high wall along De Anza Blvd. Member Ripplinger noted in regard to the curb side of the meander- ing walkway that it was originally indicated as grass; the most recent plan indicates ground cover. Mr. Ed Wood, 3563 Ryder Street, Santa Clara, representing B.A.S. Homes, said it definitely is grass. Mr. John Sobrato, 2775 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, of Sobrato Berg, said their plan shows about 80% grass and he feels the City Council will like this plan because it is more interesting than solid grass. Chairperson Sallan said in regard to the guidelines that there was no construing of a mixture of ground cover and grass. She added that the City Council has determined it shall be grass. Mr. Sobrato said they are not trying to save money on this issue, but rather to make it more attractive. Furthermore, the City's consultant agreed with him. Member Irvine said he never construed the guidelines to mean there would be only grass. He believes this interplay of grass and ground cover is more interesting. Member Bond agreed. Member Claudy noted the plans show clusters of trees with ground cover underneath them. He said he had no problem with this plan.j This is a continuation of the ground cover on the other side of the sidewalk. Member Ripplinger agreed. Mr. Sobrato said he agreed with Mr. Coleman's November 15 letter in which he itemizes 6 points for review by the City. It was his opinion that there were too many alders, so he would like to change them to camphor trees. Further, he would like to change the prunus blireiana to copper beech trees. As to the size, he said 2/3 of the trees will be 15 gallon and 1/3 will be 5 gallon size. The shrubs will all be 5 gallon size. The varying sizes will make it more interesting. All landscaped areas will be irrigated and the sidewalk is to be 5' in width throughout. In response to Chairperson Sallan's question, Mr. Sobrato said they do not have any money for a fountain. They are paying $75,000 per acre for landscaping. HC -180 Page 3 HC -180 MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 18, 1976, H -CONTROL MEETING Page 4 Chairperson Sallan introduced discussion of Section 3.4.1, which calls for a 24' box specimen tree for each property. Mr. Sobrato said they cannot afford to do this. He referred to paragraph'2 of the November 15th letter from Mr. Coleman to Mr. Caughey. He also brought up the fact that there are also some magnificent mature trees already on the property. There was a considerable discussion about the quality of the plants and trees to be used for these two projects. It was decided the best quality control is on -site inspection when the plant material is delivered. The inspector of this material should be a landscape architect. Before the plants are put in the ground, the City should be there with their maintenance people to check if the quality of the specimens, the placement of the plants, etc., is right for proper maintenance as per the North De Anza Blvd. concep- tual plan guidelines. The De Anza Blvd. frontage along the B.A.S. Homes development was discussed next. It was decided they should switch the alder to camphor trees. Mr. Ed Wood, 3563 Ryder Street, Santa Clara, reviewed the sound wall height in relation to the home sites. From the street side, the wall will be 6' 9". From the residences' side, it will vary between 7' and 9'. The wall will be made of 6' wide panels. Mr. Wood said they never put trees closer than 20' apart. Redwood trees will be the dominant mass which will eventually screen out the wall. It was determined the curbside landscaping will be essentially the same as along the Sobrato-Berg development. Mr. Coleman has suggested using concrete header curbs instead of redwood. The Committee decided they preferred redwood. Mr- Coleman has recommended the sidewalk surfaces should be standard. This was agreed upon by Messrs. Wood and Hoffman. The bus stop area will be bomanite. Mr. Jim Hoffman (R.W. Adsero), 2680 Bayshore Front Road, Mountain View, said they proposed a broom finish with 6" troweled border for the sidewalk. Mr. Sobrato said he would like this Committee to address the Mariani Avenue 5' sidewalk and 8' asphalt bike path. He would prefer to get by with just one sidewalk rather than two. The many pros and cons were discussed. Mr. Sobrato agreed to approval of the submitted plan with the understanding a change order may be made to the Assessment District. Chairperson Sallan suggested a.conceptual approval be given and that the applicant could come back for specific approval at the December 9th meeting. Instead of that, Mr. Hoffman said he would mail a copy of the modified plan to the Committee Members and will ask permission to come back in for review. MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 18, 1976, H -CONTROL MEETING Moved by Member Bond, seconded by Member Claudy to close the Public Hearing. Motion carried, 5-0 HC -180 Page 5 Moved by Member Bond, seconded by Member Claudy, to approve the I HC -51,392.1 & De Anza Blvd. Landscape Plan as reflected in applications HC -51,391.1 HC -51,392.1 and HC -391.1 with the standard H -Control conditions. approved Further, approval is granted the substitution of trees per w/conditions Mr. Coleman's request and agreed upon by the respective applicants per the most current exhibits. The redwood and alders shall be 2/3 15 -gallon size and 1/3 5 -gallon size interspersed; the sidewalk minimum width will be 5' along the east side of De Anza Blvd., and will be as shown on Sheet 22 of Exhibit "Informational 3" of application HC -51,392.1. Further, all grass_areas on the easti side of De Anza Blvd. shall be the same seed mixture or sod to provide continuity. The irrigation components shall be standard- ized for low maintenance costs. Further, approval is granted Exhibit D of B.A.S. application. Exhibit C-7 Sheet 19 is now approved. Motion carried, 5-0 Chairperson Sallan called a recess at 9:20 PM. The meeting reconvened at 9:28 PM. For the sake of expediency, Chairperson Sallan asked the Committee to confine the following discussion to areas not already resolved on the interior of the Sobrato-Berg property. Member Claudy was concerned about the future Building #4 and future Restaurant. Mr. Sobrato said they intend to break ground within ten days. They have been concentrating on this area. They will construct the bank and restaurant by the end of the summer. Buildings 1, 2 and 3 will be completed sometime around next spring. They cannot afford to have any of this development remain vacant and growing weeds. Mr. Coleman suggested in his report that some landscaping take place on the undeveloped portion of this property. Mr. Sobrato asked for one,y.ear, and in case nothing happens by then, he would be willing to landscape this property. He said all the trees will be removed from the southeast corner bordering Mariani property because they need that soil for other areas. He will install the! landscaping along the east side and the south side to the bulb of the cul-de-sac. HC -180 ;MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 18, 1976 H -CONTROL MEETING Page 6 ;Mr. Sobrato said that if he does not have a development plan for the northeast corner before July 1st he will be back in with a landscape ;plan for that area. Mr. Hoffman said evergreen ash will be going along the west, south and ;east sides of his property. This is the same variety as in Vallco Park. Chairperson Sallan said that if we should get a cold snap, the ;ash will.lose their leaves. Mr. Hoffman agreed to put in evergreen. :The mai entrance is lined with camphor with crabapple trees in the ;center. There will be redwoods along the parking lot. ;Mr. Sobrato said the building pad is about 4' higher than the parking ;lot surface. Chairperson Sallan was concerned that in some areas the cars in the parking lot will be partially seen from the street. After further discussion, this concern was abandoned. IIt was determined there would be 3 x 3 redwood header stops and a ,,sprinkler head for each tree in the parking lot. There will be evergreen jtrees along the easterly property line. Chairperson Sallan asked for comments from the audience. There were inone. ;Moved by Member Bond, seconded by Member Claudy to close the public hearing. Motion carried, 5-0 HC -51,392.1 Movedd-by Member Claudy, seconded by Member Bond, to approve application approved ;HC -51,392.1 as portrayed in the November 18, 1976 revision of the plan, jsubject to the standard H -Control conditions, with the further condition jthat if on July 1, 1977, the developer does not have on file with the City an application for development of the site at the southwest corner of this property, the developer will return to H -Control with a plan for landscaping that corner. Motion carried, 5-0 2. Application HC -51,339.3 - University Center) requesting approval of a sig: development located on the east side 130 feet south of Silverado Avenue. of October 28, 1976. Property Management (Dc Anza a design for a commercial of De Anza Blvd., approximately Continued from H -Control meeting To introduce discussion of this application, Chairperson Sallan said at the last meeting the applicant was asked to go back and-- redesign the sign. The staff report of November 12, 1976 was reviewed. MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 18, 1976, H -CONTROL MEETING HC -180 Page 7 Mr. G. Wayne Eggleston, 235 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, representing the applicant, gave a colored slide presentation of signs throughout the City of Cupertino. He said Bubb Road is not a thoroughfare and cars, therefore, go slower there. De Anza Blvd. is a thoroughfare and cars drive much faster. Bubb Road is narrower than De Anza Blvd. De Anza Blvd. has a wide variety of signs, and is a retail area, whereas Bubb Road is light industrial in nature. It was his contention that the sign criteria for Bubb Road is much different from that for De Anza Blvd. Mr. Eggleston said they propose a 5' x 6' sign, set 1' above ground level. The Coco's sign is 9.5' x 5.5'. Mr. Eggleston said shopping centers need identity whether or not they are regional centers. These buildings are set back from the street and potential customers are driving right by them because they can't locate them. Mr. Eggleston submitted a list of over 500 names of customers who all have had trouble finding this shopping center. Almost all of them said they could identify a shopping center by a name rather than by a number. He then read 3 letters from merchants in this center in support of the proposed sign. Member Bond said on -street parking is allowed on De Anza Blvd. but not on Bubb Road. He contended that if cars are parked along the curb in front of the proposed sign it wouldn't be seen. Member Ripplinger agreed. Member Irvine said he hopes this is the last request from this shopping center. He recalled the lengthy discussions previously held on this area. Member Ripplinger said the shops are very visible from De Anza Blvd. Mr. Eggleston said a customer used the telephone at the service station next door to ask directions on how to get to this shopping center because she could not find it. Member Claudy suggested moving the "Satisfied Ear" sign on the west end of the building and putting an illuminated shopping center sign at that location. It was determined that none of the merchants wanted to identify with Coco's Restaurant. Chairperson Sallan said she was only in favor of a minimum variance here. She sees no coordination between this sign and the Coco's sign, nor with the colorful building signs presently in this shopping center. She would be willing to approve a 4' sign that says 10562 South De Anza Blvd. that is designed similar to Coco's. HC -180 !MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 18, 1976, H -CONTROL MEETING Page 8 ;Member Ripplinger said he does not mind the proposed sign at all. 'Member Claudy agreed with Chairperson Sallan. He said this proposal does not coordinate with the buildings nor with the Coco's sign. MemberBond said he agreed with Chairperson Sallan in that none of the signs along South De Anza Blvd. are coordinated and that is what this Committee is all about. This proposed sign in another location would be beautiful -- but not here. !Member Irvine supported Chairperson Sallan on this issue. He would like ;the sign to coordinate with Coco's sign and he said he would not object Ito having it say De Anza Square as well as the numbers. (Chairperson Sallan asked for comments from the audience. EMr. Eric Bender, Manager of Wallpapers to Go, said the average square (footage along Bubb Road is 24'. Moved by Member Irvine, seconded by Member Claudy to close the public hearing. This motion and second were withdrawn and the following motion was made. HC -51,339.3 continued Moved by Member Claudy, seconded by Member Irvine to continue application HC -51,339.3 to December 9, 1976. Motion carried, 5-0 3. Application HC -51,058.10 - James C. Finch (Pants -Off) requesting approval of a sign program and a wall sign for individual tenants for a commercial center located at 10161 South De Anza Blvd. The Senior Planning Technician referred to details in the November 10, 1976, staff report and offered to answer any further questions. Chairperson Sallan said the real issue before this Committee was the sign program, and she felt this should be dealt with before this application is acted upon. Member Claudy would like all signs within this shopping center to have the same color background and same size. Mr. Jim Finch, 1261 Russell Avenue, Los Altos, said he was representing the tenants - Craig Womack and Gap Stores. He said they can live with everything proposed in the sign program with the exception of the square footage of two stores. This building is 108' deep where most stores are 70' to 80' deep. The sign size should have some relationship to the lineatt___front feet of the store. MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 18, 1976 H -CONTROL MEETING HC -180 1 Page 9 Mr. Craig Womack, 875 Mahler Road, Burlingame, CA 94010, repre- senting Pants -Off, agreed that 93 sq. ft. is too big, but he also feels that 30 sq. ft. is too small. Member Claudy said the 2' x 15' size sign would give the tenant more usable space. Mr. Womack said they were hoping for 3' x 15'. Moved by Member Bond, seconded by Member Ripplinger to continue application HC -51,058.10. This motion and second were rescinded. Mr. Womack answered Chairperson Sallan that if the proposal was approved they would be willing to consider a new sign, but would probably not go along with a change. However, he was willing to cut the size of the sign in half in order to meet -his deadline. Chairperson Sallan asked for comments from the audience. There were none. Moved by Member Irvine, seconded by Member Claudy to close the public hearing. Motion carried, 5-0 Moved by Member Claudy, seconded by Member Irvine, to approve application HC -51,058.10, subject to the standard H -Control conditions and the following additional conditions: 1) The proposed panel for the ground sign shall be approved per this application. 2) The general layout and copy for the wall sign is approved such' to the condition that the length of the sign be reduced from 20' to 15' and the height reduced from 4' to 3'. The colors shall be as follows: #2283 -red, #2025 -black and W -7420 -white, Rohm -Haas Plexiglas or equivalent. Light intensity shall be subject to staff review and approval. Final design of the sigh shall be subject to staff approval. Motion carried, 4-1 Member Ripplinger voted No. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Chairperson Sallan asked that the sign program discussion be placed on the December 9th agenda. HC -51,058.10 approved HC -180 MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 18, 1976 H -CONTROL MEETING Page 10 NEW BUSINESS: None. INTER COMMISSION NOTES: None. ADJOURNMENT Chairperson Sallan adjourned this meeting at 12:15 AM, November 19, 1976 to 7:00 PM, December 9, 1976. APPROVED: Is/ C. Nancy Sallan Chairwoman ATTEST: Is/ Wm. E. Ryder City Clerk