1 - City of Glendale

STAFF'S ANAL YS/S OF APPEAL:
The appellant's main argument focuses on the size of the project, the massing of the proposed
second story addition and the impact that the project would have on his home and the
surrounding neighborhood.
First, the appellant contends that the size of the project is not consistent with the neighborhood.
The existing 2, 011 sq.ft. house is being expanded to "about 4, 000" sq. ft., in an area where the
appellant argues the average house size is approximately 2,200 sq. ft. and primarily one story.
Staff's Response:
While the proposed addition will increase the floor area and number of stories, the project's
bulk and mass are not inconsistent with the neighborhood. Currently, there are ten (1 0) twostory
residences and seven (7) one-story houses located within the 300 foot survey area.
This project would result in the 11 1 h two-story house in the area. The existing one-story home
is tucked at the far north-east corner of flat pad of the hillside lot, screened behind mature
trees and landscaping, not directly facing Buckingham Place or readily visible from the public
right-of-way. The existing residence is 2,011 square feet, primarily rectangular in building
footprint and low-scale in massing.
The current proposal has been scaled down from the project reviewed by City Council in
2009; the proposed house is 3,383 sq.ft., 700 square feet less in size than the previous
proposal. With the 428 sq.ft. garage, the total is 3,811 sq.ft .. The size of the project and
footprint of the second story addition have been decreased from the previous proposal to
make the project more compatible with the surrounding developments. According to the
submitted neighborhood survey, houses in the area range from 1,624 to 2,358, with an
average size of 2,11 0. While this will be the largest house in the area, its location on a flag lot
(tucked around a corner bend and atop a steep slope on a recessed building pad), along with
its design, allow the house to fit within its site and context. Due to the angle of the flag lot
driveway from Buckingham Place and the substantial vegetation and mature trees along the
interior property line, the existing home and its proposed 2 nd story addition will not be as
readily visible from Buckingham Place as other homes with direct frontage along the street. T
The appellant contends that all of the said screening/landscaping is on his property and not on
the applicant's, yet the survey indicates the existing tall hedges are on the subject site. The
house is set on a building pad tucked around the corner of the property's flag lot driveway, not
facing Buckingham Road. This building pad sits atop a steeply sloped rear yard above a
hairpin curve of Chevy Chase Drive. Further, the project site cannot be easily seen while
driving this section of Chevy Chase Drive, because of the significantly curved street and
steeply sloped yard. Therefore, given the site conditions, the proposed massing and scale of
the proposal would not be pronounced, despite the dual street frontage condition of the lot.
The style change from the previous project to the current proposal has improved the
massing and scale. The previous proposal was a boxy, ultra-modern residence with a flat
roof and white geometric forms whose apparent mass and scale were determined to be out
of place. The current proposal alters the existing architectural style of the house from simple
Ranch to a more contemporary, modern house with a gable roof design. The proposed,
more contemporary architectural style of the project features a variety of rectangular shapes
and forms, and a gable roof system that matches many of the neighboring Ranch homes.
Furthermore, the two-story building envelope includes various recesses and pop-outs to
provide articulation across the facades and to break up the massing. ·
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