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house removed, and other trees added and retaining walls installed to provide screening for the <br />neighbors. He stated that 37 of the trees were to be removed because of poor condition; and the <br />turnaround was moved to save a large tree and the pool moved six feet to save two large trees. <br />The visuals were revised to provide a better view of the screening from below and from the Ruby <br />Hill subdivision. <br /> <br />Mr. McGinnis then displayed the site plans and landscaping plans and described them in detail; <br />he pointed out the large trees that would be saved. He noted that the poolhouse had been <br />removed, to be replaced by a cabana that would be tucked into the hill with an underground pool <br />bath area. The pad had been raised by five feet, and the two-story design of the house had <br />reduced the footprint of the house by several thousand square feet from 10,400 square feet to <br />8,890 square feet. The house would be stepped going in different directions. The driveway was <br />realigned to save some trees, and the proposed winery/barn had been removed. The project <br />currently has 160 Green points, and high-efficiency energy star appliances with high-efficiency <br />fixtures as well as on-demand hot water tankless systems would reduce water usage by this <br />house. <br /> <br />With respect to the comment that a 2,700-square-foot home was not an estate home, Chairperson <br />Fox inquired what the specifications of an estate home might be and how the Specific Plan <br />defined and specified an estate home. Mr. Otto replied that there is no definition in the Specific <br />Plan of an estate home or of house size in terms of square footage. He stated that he did not <br />recall any language that specifically called out an estate home. In response to Chairperson’s <br />inquiry of what a standard building definition of an estate home would be, Mr. Otto replied that <br />he was not aware of any. <br /> <br />Ms. Decker confirmed that neither the Specific Plan nor the City had a codified definition of an <br />estate home. She added that from a marketing standpoint, many 3,000-square-foot homes were <br />called estate homes or estate developments. She pointed out that the general understanding of an <br />estate home as it is used here is a premier, large home. <br /> <br />In response to Chairperson Fox’s inquiry if the 13,000-square-foot home on the Hayward Ridge <br />is an estate home, Ms. Decker replied that staff did not research that home as part of this project <br />and that she was not familiar with the history of that home. <br /> <br />Commissioner Pearce requested clarification regarding the removal of 67 trees, which seemed to <br />be more than previous plans. She noted that the staff report in 2005 stated that 56 trees would be <br />removed, and the 2006 staff report had 38 trees. She inquired how many trees would be saved. <br />Mr. McGinnis replied that many of the trees slated for removal were in poor condition. He noted <br />that John Leffingwell, the arborist, was in attendance, as was Jeff Holmwood, the civil engineer <br />from Ruggeri-Jensen-Azar. <br /> <br />Mr. Otto noted that the number of trees being removed increased from the prior application due <br />to the number of changes in the counting of the trees; there were additional trees that had not <br />been counted previously to install the lower portion of the road. The arborist also recommended <br />the removal of several more trees that were in poor condition. He noted that staff had <br />recommended a condition to have an arborist re-examine several trees determined to be of poor <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, November 14, 2007 Page 19 of 34 <br /> <br /> <br />