Laserfiche WebLink
Chair Ritter: Great —I'll just keep going. I agree with Commissioner Brown here. I think if <br />you made the houses smaller there'd be more green space and you know, when you buy a <br />house in California, you want to live outside and I think that if you don't give any outside <br />space on your property, I think it's a disservice to the buyer because we're outside. We get <br />300+ days of sunshine a year so that's just my idea on the density proposal, but I know this <br />isn't the most dense proposal and it's not the least dense, it's kind of in the middle for that <br />area based on the Google images of that area. <br />Commissioner O'Connor: I agree with what you said and I know we should've talked about <br />design earlier, but this is a different community because the front yards don't even face the <br />other front yards so it doesn't look like neighbors are going to meet neighbors very easily <br />here. But, yes, I do think if we make the homes a little bit smaller and the larger ones a little <br />bit smaller, we will get green space and possibly space between homes, and I think that's a <br />good point. <br />Commissioner Allen: And I agree with the comments made as well. <br />Chair Ritter: All right, number 6: Does the Planning Commission support the applicant's <br />proposal to demolish all of the homes or should one or more of the homes be retained? If <br />one or more of the homes should be retained does the Commission have a preference <br />where on -site they should be retained and how they should be used? <br />Commissioner O'Connor: I support retaining at least the Irby home which is historic. I think <br />it would be great to see it from Stanley, but the downside is, is that's where we create more <br />green space? And I'm not sure that's the best place to hang out because it's going to be <br />noisy and more pollution and all the rest of it. I was looking at where they had the historic <br />park community garden and how that occurred and maybe it is less usable for home sites. <br />I'm okay with using that area but again, I'll leave that up to the designers. <br />Chair Ritter: I agree with Commissioner O'Connor. I know this is kind of the entrance into <br />Pleasanton which is bringing up First Street. I wish we could see the historic -ness from First <br />Street or Stanley but I know it's hard to find that location there. And I do think that trying to <br />preserve the Irby home is important and I know relocating that is not easy and it's important <br />for the community. <br />Commissioner Brown: So I walk past the three properties today and I personally don't have <br />an issue with the other two properties. I did have a question on the Irby home specifically. I <br />don't know if it shows well in the picture, but I presume every home can be saved. I guess I <br />had a question of is it structurally sound today and is it a worthwhile investment. If re- <br />conditioning it to standards results in basically redoing the whole home, is it worth it. <br />Hagen: It is questionable whether it is structurally sound at this time. We haven't had our <br />Building Official go out there but you know we have been out there. We know that they have <br />sloping floors, rotting issues, electrical issues and things like that. So any relocation of this <br />is really almost going to be a recreation of this. We can keep the architectural integrity and <br />the historic presence of the home, but I'm not sure until we get a professional inspector out <br />there and the Building Official to take a look and see actually how structurally sound this <br />structure currently is in its existing state. <br />Commissioner Brown: Yeah, that was my hesitation and the way I described it, it looked <br />fragile. <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, April 27, 2016 Page 33 of 43 <br />