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ATTACHMENT 7 P11-07091P11-0707; Dave Cunningham Applications for Design Review approval to replace the approximately 482-square-foot single-story house located at 205 Neal Street with an approximately 1,844-square-foot two-story residence; and for Variances from the Pleasanton Municipal Code to: (1) reduce the front yard setback from the required 23 feet to 20 feet to accommodate the new house; (2) allow one required off-street parking space to be located in the required front yard setback; and (3) allow tandem parking. Zoning for the property is R-1-6,500 (One-Family Residential) District. This item was continued from the November 9, 2011 meeting. Commissioner O'Connor recused himself due to a conflict of interest. Natalie Amos presented the staff report and described the scope, layout, and key elements of the proposal. Commissioner Blank inquired if staff had a recommendation. Mr. Dolan replied that the subsequent memorandum did not make any change to staff's recommendation because staff received the revised plans two days before the packet was to be distributed, and staff wanted to spend a few days prior to tonight's meeting to digest and analyze the changes to determine whether or not the changes merited a change in staff's recommendation. He indicated that staff would not typically change its recommendation unless there was some change in circumstance. He noted that at the November 9th meeting, there was a discussion about the floor area ratio (FAR) on the lower lot as it were a separate lot, although everyone knows it is not, and the crude measuring stick was whether or not the applicant was trying to put too much house on this area. Mr. Dolan stated that the numbers have changed due to some disagreements between the architect and staff regarding what is measured when FARs are calculated, staff is very confident in the numbers being presented this evening. He added that ultimately, the quarrels over the square footage do not change the percentage of the true FAR or the representative FAR on the lower pad very much. He noted that originally, the FAR for the lower pad if it were its own lot would have been about 68 percent, and now it is down closer to 60 percent, which is still substantially above the 40 percent it would have to be as a separate lot. Mr. Dolan stated that FAR is a very crude way of measurement as one can design a house with a 40 percent FAR that looks overly massive, and another can design a house with a 60 percent FAR that does not look as massive as the first. He indicated that the design changes the architect made are quite effective in reducing how the proposed house would look from the street. EXCERPT: PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, November 30, 2011 Page 1 of 6