PC 022515 - Laserfiche WebLink

5. Man -made slopes. There are some areas on this particular site that were obviously previously graded: one is very obvious, and the other appears to have been graded. Staffs conclusion is that they were graded. The cuts that were made for this grading are steeper than 25 percent, and these have been excluded from the areas that are too steep to build on. In their past discussions, both the Planning Commission and the City Council have generally supported that. Mr. Dolan then displayed a graphic prepared a while back and included in the EIR showing where the ridges were mapped so that the applicant could respond to something and design a project. He pointed out the elevations of the ridges on the north side of the property which were a lot higher, and the end of the ridge identified by staff. He noted that there are land forms that are primarily above 600 feet and also some points that go up to a 718 -foot elevation. He continued that down in the valley bowl, the proposed graded elevations are not that much different than what is there now, and the elevation right at the end of Lund Ranch Road is 415 feet, going up to 450 feet at the heart of the project. He pointed to the two big estate lots farther to the right, where the proposed elevations of the building pads are a bit above the rest of them and would definitely be more prominent than the homes in the heart of the project. He added that they probably would also be larger, based on the fact that they are on estate lots. He indicated that there are no houses proposed on these lots at this time, but the pad elevation on the lower lot is at 500 feet, and the pad elevation on the lot farthest to the right is at 530 feet. He pointed to the ridge on the southern end of the property across the creek and stated that the elevation goes higher at 618 feet to about 580 feet at its end. With respect to the ridgeline setback, Mr. Dolan stated that the measurement would be either to the pad or to the top of the house. He explained that if the measurement is to the pad, the house would extend somewhat into that 100 -foot vertical setback since an average house would probably be about 30 to 35 feet; and if the measurement is to the top of the house, some lots would be affected, and those are identified in the staff report. Mr. Dolan stated that when staff was giving guidance to the applicant in the beginning, staff assumed the Council would be using the pad, and so the project was designed that way. Staff's preliminary evaluation is that if you use the top, when we were giving guidance to the applicant in the beginning we assumed the Council would be using the pad and so they designed that way. He continued that if that is changed to the top of the house, which is just as reasonable an interpretation, there would be 19 lots that would either have to be eliminated or put farther down by digging a hole or reducing the pad elevation, or use a single -story home. Regarding whether a road is a structure, Mr. Dolan quoted from Measure PP: "Ridgelines and hillsides shall be protected. Housing units and structures shall not be placed on slopes of 25 percent or greater, or within 100 vertical feet of a ridgeline. No grading to construct residential or commercial structures shall occur on hillside slopes 25 percent or greater, or within 100 vertical feet of a ridgeline." He indicated that this issue has been debated more than any other issues in the Planning Division since he came to work in Pleasanton seven PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, February 25, 2015 Page 16 of 46