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Peter MacDonald, representing the applicant, said staff did an excellent job of addressing compliance <br /> with the Specific Plan and emphasized that these are the types of refinements that occur in the course <br /> of developing a Specific Plan area and that have been repeatedly upheld by the courts. He said that <br /> this began as an excellent and neighbor sensitive design and is only further improved by the additional <br /> mitigations and costs agreed to by the applicant. He noted that as originally proposed, every heritage <br /> tree on the site is preserved. He reiterated that he and Mr. Berlogar support every recommendation, <br /> including Alternative 2, other than the reduction in square footage. <br /> Gevan Reeves said he represents several members of Silver Oaks Estates in stating that this is not the <br /> right project for this location. He said that the Specific Plan creates an expectation of visual mitigation <br /> and depicts homes nestled in the site's natural contours and behind existing trees, which is not <br /> accomplished by the proposal. The applicant has instead proposed placing two massive homes, each <br /> up to 8,500 square feet with an additional 1,500 square feet in accessory buildings, immediately on top <br /> of the hill. He said that approval of the project would constitute a significant overreach in terms of <br /> discretion by the Council for several reasons. The Specific Plan calls for the preservation and protection <br /> of hilltops, permanent preservation of open space, and the containment of all structures within the <br /> designated development area. This proposal places homes on the hilltop and in open space and <br /> relocates all structures outside of the designated development area. Cumulatively, approving these <br /> actions would seem to constitute a variance that is in direct opposition to the Specific Plan's direction <br /> that Land Use Standard's be employed without variance. He said he would like a more prescriptive and <br /> enforceable mitigation plan, which the conditions admittedly do make some effort to address. He said <br /> he appreciated the work that has gone into the retaining wall and landscaping, but that he would like <br /> more prescriptive direction regarding the number and size of certain mitigating features. He said the <br /> significant outstanding issue is the size of the homes, noting that the footprint of other hillside homes is <br /> much more modest than what is being proposed. He said that he and other residents have additional <br /> concerns over staffs perception that the development blobs can be relocated to suit an individual <br /> project. He disagreed with the environmental argument and said the reason for doing so here is purely <br /> financial. He said he would like to see additional protections precluding the third home as well as the <br /> other two potential homes on the applicant's property from being relocated to this end of the parcel. <br /> Councilmember Brown requested a rough but sound average of adjacent homes in the Silver Oaks <br /> Estates development. <br /> Mr. Reeves said his own home is 3,900 square feet and he knew of at least one other over 4,000 <br /> square feet. He noted that, including outbuildings, the proposed homes would be more than twice that. <br /> Councilmember Cook-Kallio inquired about Mr. Reeves' lot size.. <br /> Mr. Reeves said his home is half an acre. The 4,000 square foot home he mentioned sits on an <br /> approximately%acre lot. <br /> Mr. Dolan stated that the proposed lot sizes for this project are 1.2 and 1.9 acres. <br /> Councilmember Cook-Kallio asked if floor area ratio (FAR) is a consideration at all. <br /> Mr. Dolan explained that FAR is not a very meaningful tool here because it can be adjusted simply by <br /> expanding the lot size into open space. If one were to calculate FAR here, the proposed home sizes <br /> are very low. <br /> Mr. Reeves noted that the Winding Oaks development has one to three acre lots with much smaller <br /> footprints. <br /> Stuart Flashman, legal counsel for the Silver Oaks Estates Home Owners Association, referred to his <br /> letter discussing the project's compliance and consistency with the Specific Plan. He emphasized that <br /> City Minutes Page 9 of 15 April 15,2014 <br />