HomeReal Estate News1470 Virginia Road Continued Again

1470 Virginia Road Continued Again

The San Marino City Council ordered that a new historic assessment report be prepared to determine, once and for all, the historic status of 1470 Virginia Road.

As a result, the council deferred decisions to determine the local historic status of the 1938 Tudor home designed by San Marino architect Theodore Pletsch and whether or not to approve the construction of a proposed 6,845 square foot, 6 bedroom Spanish Revival home in the existing home’s place.

“The city is reaching out to two additional historic consultants to request a service proposal before selecting a consultant,” Assistant Planner Eva Choi told The Tribune via email. At the council’s Oct. 12 meeting, she told the council that the historic report would cost the city approximately $5,000 and take about one month to prepare.

The Historic Resource Group in Pasadena prepared the first historic assessment report, which was paid for by William Chan, the owner of 1470 Virginia Road. That report found that the existing home did not meet the criteria required for historic designation at the national, state or local levels.

For the Tribune’s history of 1470 Virginia Road, visit A-21 in this week’s paper.

Council Members Steve Talt, Steven Huang and Richard Ward voted to commission the new historic assessment report.

“There’s an indication that perhaps further research can be done, given [the city staff’s] limited means of available resources,” Talt observed.

“Perhaps, in order for the city to be very comfortable in its decision, an independent third party should be hired by the city as opposed to a paid expert on either parties’ side,” Talt suggested.

Mayor Allan Yung and Vice Mayor Richard Sun disagreed.

“Personally I think it’s a beautiful house, but to be official for the city I do not see the substantial evidence that this has historical significance,” said Mayor Yung, noting that he was satisfied with the extent of city staff’s research.

“We may open up a precedence that we have to spend $5,000 every time a house comes up,” Yung noted.

He continued, “Because once you term a house ‘historical’ it goes very deep. First of all, you cannot tear it down, you cannot even hardly refurbish it and that is a deep invasion of property rights.”

“I’d like to see this cost borne by the applicant instead of all the taxpayers,” said Vice Mayor Sun.

“If we don’t have a policy in place for our local historical ordinance, we should have one,” Sun noted after he heard that the city’s historic designation ordinance does not have specific criteria to determine the historic status of a building.

Talt added that, moving forward, the city should clarify its historic designation ordinance to assign the party that would pay for the historic assessment report in this type of proceeding.

Resident and preservation advocate Shirley Jagels filed the local historic designation petition and appealed the San Marino Planning Commission’s unanimous approval of the proposed home.

“Historic preservation is a big concern because of all the demolitions and the cultural and architectural landmarks that have been lost to development,” Jagels said.

She presented the petition during the council’s September meeting, encouraging the council to deny construction of the proposed home.

“I’ve been forced to nominate this house because the city has failed to protect our historic resources and to clearly identify them,” Jagels stated, sharing her research about the home, including a history of the Stathatos family, which owned the home from 1966 to 2014.

“An environmental impact report or CEQA will not protect this house. The only thing that will protect this house is [the council’s] denial of this demolition permit,” she noted.

Jagels also questioned the identity of the new homeowner.

“I believe the owner’s identity has been shielded from the city,” she said, referring to the home’s owner as the “invisible man.” “You’re here to protect the rights of the residents, not developers.”

At last month’s council meeting, City Attorney Steve Dorsey clarified, “The ownership of the property is irrelevant to [the council’s] proceedings.”

Chan’s attorney, Richard McDonald, informed the council that Chan, the CEO of a Hong Kong-based investment holding company, was present at two of three planning commission meetings at which the proposed home was considered. He will also be present for the council’s December meeting, McDonald noted.

“Our client is planning to be out here and we can make sure he is here so you can see he is a live human being with a wife and three children,” said McDonald. He noted at the council’s September meeting that Chan intends to move his family to San Marino.

When the council moved on to consider the proposed home, Talt found another inconsistency in architect Rob Tyler’s plan. In this case, Talt identified a staircase at the rear of the proposed home that appeared on some pages but not others.

“Just get the whole thing right,” Talt exclaimed. “What happens is people give us plans and then they don’t build to the plans and I’m very conscious of that happening and I want to avoid that.”

Tyler, who designed the home, responded, “The sheet rendering that you’re referring to doesn’t reflect the approved plan as I understand it.”

“I can’t give you the exact history as to why that sheet is there but I can tell you there is no stair there. The floor plans and the elevations, those are correct,” Tyler said.

“I want an explanation the next time you come up,” Talt replied. “What, indeed, did the planning commission decide with respect to those stairs?”

Vice Mayor Sun asked city staff whether or not they verified that the proposed home’s plans before the council were the same as those approved by the planning commission.

Assistant Planner Eva Choi explained, “Upon delivery of the plans last Wednesday, staff did go through the plans page-by page and they are the same set of plans that the planning commission approved.”

Choi continued, “It is possible that the pictorial graphic representation of the proposed building, the page that Councilman Talt was referring to, was an oversight from the staff’s part during the planning commission approval review.”

“City staff is working with the architect to ensure that the next plan sets delivered to the City Council are exactly the same as those approved by the Planning Commission,” she told The Tribune via email on Tuesday.

The council will reconsider both the historic designation of the existing home and the whether or not to approve the proposed home at its December 14 meeting.

 

1900 Montrobles Place

The city council continued the proposed expansion of the garage at 1900 Montrobles Place, a 1,500 square foot, 1925 Spanish home that sits on a 5,852 square foot lot.

1900 Montrobles Place
The garage of 1900 Montrobles Place

The council requested that the home’s owner, Christopher Reed, reduce the proposed expansion of his existing non-conforming garage by three feet, which would require one more variance in addition to the three currently requested variances.

Reed, in addition to the three requested variances, requested two conditional use permits and a design review action for the 142 square foot addition to his already non-conforming 15-foot wide by 18-foot 10-inches deep garage.

The addition would bring the garage about five feet closer to the home’s east property line, which is considered the rear property line per city code. That would leave a two-foot setback, which would have been in compliance with city code had the garage not been attached to the main house.

“The project was originally before the planning commission and was denied at their August 24 meeting because [the commissioners] felt there were other design options available for the applicant,” explained City Associate Planner Amanda Merlo, noting that staff recommended approval of the project.

Staff supported all the variances because of the unique size and shape of the lot, which is one of the smallest in the home’s district.

One variance would be needed for the required 25-foot rear yard setback, of which the home falls short by 18 feet.

Another variance would be needed for the required 25-foot side yard setback for a street-facing garage, which it falls short of by 18-and-a-half feet.

The third variance would be for a required 20-foot garage depth, which it falls short of by one-and-a-half feet.

The two conditional use permits were required to allow Reed to encroach into the 30-degree line and exceed the maximum allowable lot coverage.

Staff was able to support those permits, Merlo said, because, “the proposal will result in a house that looks and functions very similarly to the one that’s there now.”

“The structure will be closer to the property line, but staff does not feel that there will likely be any additional noise or privacy concerns,” she added.

“The slight enlargement of the garage would improve the livability of the home without adversely impacting the neighborhood,” said Reed, reading a letter of support from his neighbor, whose house looks at Reed’s garage.

Tom Kaiser, the home’s architect, explained the reason for the eastward expansion.

“The garage is slab on grade while the house is a raised foundation. So structurally the extension makes sense to extend into the side yard. And garages in this neighborhood are sometimes built on the property line,” said Kaiser, noting that a westward expansion of the garage would result in the loss of a pantry, laundry room and half bathroom.

He also noted that 15 of the 16 neighbors in the legal neighborhood supported the project. Joseph and Cecilia Wong, the neighbors to the home’s immediate east, were the only neighbors to oppose the project.

“The main objection is that it’s too close to my property,” said Joseph Wong.

“I think they should just rethink about how they can redesign it,” noted Cecilia Wong. “They should redesign it to make it all conforming.”

Mayor Yung appeared to agree with Cecilia Wong’s suggestion.

“You could have a much better house here,” Yung said. “I think you have a lot of room to build.”

Yung recommended the expansion of the master bedroom, two other existing bedrooms and a couple of new bathrooms for Reed’s young family, noting, “Let the city deny. I will support it.”

“Putting the trash cans next to your dining room is not too cool,” he added, suggesting other changes.

“I’m not trying to tell you what to do. I’m just telling you what I would support,” Mayor Yung said, concluding his idea of the Reed’s three-bedroom, three-bathroom house.

Vice Mayor Sun and Council Member Talt recommended an 18-foot wide by 18-foot deep substandard garage, which would set the garage four feet away from the Wong’s property line.

“[Y]ou can back up two feet and have a four or five feet setback,” Sun suggested.

The council will hear the case of 1900 Montrobles Place again at its Nov. 9 meeting.

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