1 Jon-Paul Harries
From: sharon maybaum <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, November 3, 2023 2:28 PM
To: Jon-Paul Harries
Subject: Fwd: Flahaven Estates
CAUTION:EXTERNAL SENDER
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Jo-Paul,
Thank you for your prompt response. I look forward to seeing the additional plans. I am not opposed to SFD+ ADU, I just would like to see SFD as an option as well. Having moved here in the last year from Lafayette, CA, I have been impressed with the number of smaller homes and variety of homes available.
Regards,
Sharon Maybaum
Begin forwarded message:
From: Jon-Paul Harries <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Flahaven Estates
Date: November 3, 2023 at 1:24:27 PM PDT
To: sharon maybaum <[email protected]>
Hi Sharon,
Thank you for the email. The homes are proposed to be offered as single-family dwellings (SFD) (like your neighborhood) with an option to have them constructed as a SFD with an attached accessory dwelling unit (ADU). They will not be duplexes where the two units can be individually sold. The floor plans you are seeing are the SFD+ADU plans. After reading your email, I noticed that I did not upload the single-family floor plans. My apologies. I'm out of the office today and don't have access to the project files, but I will upload them to the website as well as email you the SFD floor plans on Monday.
I suspect most potential buyers will not want the SFD+ADU option. But one thing to be aware of is that, according to state law, the City cannot deny ADU development on any residential property. Any SFD in Cotati can add an attached or detached ADU or even convert their garage into an ADU. Provided the ADU unit meets the CA building code we cannot deny them. There have been literally hundreds of new state laws since 2016 that really tie the hand of cities when it comes to discretionary approval of housing projects.
Happy to chat with you further about the proposed subdivision and state laws, but I will follow up with you again on Monday when I am back in the office.
Thank you,
JP Harries
2 Senior Planner, City of Cotati
Phone 707-665-3634
Web www.cotaticity.org
201 W. Sierra Ave, Cotati, CA 94931
-----Original Message-----
From: sharon maybaum <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, November 3, 2023 12:45 PM
To: Jon-Paul Harries <[email protected]>
Subject: Flahaven Estates
CAUTION:EXTERNAL SENDER
If suspicious, do not click on links, open attachments, or provide credentials and report it by using the "Phish Alert Report" button.
I have been reviewing the plans for the new subdivision next to mine off of Redwood Highway. All of the floor plans show duplex designs but no single family homes. The homes in our subdivision are all single family homes. The newer subdivision next to ours is primarily single family and some duplex or attached homes. I was expecting single family homes in the new subdivision to coordinate with the existing area.
What is the status? I cannot support only duplex homes. Please let me know! Regards,
Sharon Maybaum
Under the Public Records Act (California Government Code §7920.000-7931.000), e-mail messages of local agencies are public records which are subject to disclosure to the public or may be subpoenaed.
Under the Public Records Act (California Government Code §7920.000-7931.000), e-mail messages of local agencies are public records which are subject to disclosure to the public or may be subpoenaed.
Under the Public Records Act (California Government Code §7920.000-7931.000), e-mail messages of local agencies are public records which are subject to disclosure to the public or may be subpoenaed. 1 Jon-Paul Harries
From: Brian Flahavan <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, December 4, 2023 11:17 AM
To: Jon-Paul Harries; Katrina Brown
Cc: Planning Commission; Noah Housh; Charlie Traboulsi
Subject: RE: Flahaven Estates - Pink Viking, LLC - Comments and Questions CAUTION:EXTERNAL SENDER
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Thank you JP.
Mr. and Mrs. Brown,
Myself and our engineer, Charlie Traboulsi, are more than willing to make ourselves available to discuss your concerns and review the project. I know that Katrina and I spoke and emailed extensively a couple years ago, when she was concerned about the dangers presented by the Eucalyptus trees. It was quite expensive, but we were happy to work collaboratively with you guys back then to remove the trees and eliminate the hazard. We are happy to work with you moving forward to try and reduce the effects of future construction on your property. I believe that I previously gave you my cell phone number, but would be happy to provide it again.
Thank you,
Brian
From: Jon-Paul Harries <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, December 4, 2023 10:52 AM
To: Katrina Brown <[email protected]>
Cc: Planning Commission <[email protected]>; Noah Housh <[email protected]>; Brian Flahavan <[email protected]>; Charlie Traboulsi <[email protected]> Subject: RE: Flahaven Estates - Pink Viking, LLC - Comments and Questions Hi Katrina & Randall,
Thank you for your comments. I will forward your email along to the Planning Commission this morning, and I will try to address as much as possible in this email and also tonight.
Firstly, initial approval of this project is a first step toward construction and a lot of the specifics of your questions are determined as the construction level details are designed. Specifically at tonight’s meeting we will be asking for the PC to make a recommendation to the City Council. The City Council will have ultimate authority to approve or deny the project. We are tentatively scheduling that meeting for January 9. So there is time to review the project and discuss any concerns you have with myself or the applicant, Brian Flahavan. There will also be additional opportunities to engage with staff and the applicant if the project is approved and as the final plans are put together.
In response to the items in your letter,
1) Generally, all elements of the project design are required to be engineered to demonstrate that they can ‘stand alone” and take into consideration all onsite elements such as stormwater and slope. Additionally, the project development cannot rely on or negatively impact improvements on adjacent properties. In addition to the information 2 provided below, I have asked the project’s engineer, Charlie Traboulsi, to provide specific input addressing your first five comments/concerns, and the eleventh, as he is the most informed and knowledgeable about those matters. He will be at tonight’s meeting and he may reach out to you. Note that the engineering that has been completed is preliminary at this stage in the entitlement process. Most of the issues within your comments will be addressed as the actual grading/improvement/construction plans are put together. 2) With regards to the building height, the zoning code establishes allowable ranges for development, and the City has limited ability to arbitrarily dictate different rules such as requiring a single-story design on one individual lot. We may however be able to require the developer to pay for trees to be planted on your property to provide additional screening of your home. Story-poles (“vertical markers”) are not required of zoning compliant single-family development in the City of Cotati.
3 & 4) All development activity, including the “approximate limits of disturbance” note you referenced must be completed on the project site and having completed a recent survey is helpful information for you. No one will enter your property without prior permission.
5) Stormwater system will be designed to meet the requirements of the City of Cotati and the State Water Quality Control Board. The only way an adjacent element of stormwater (or any utility) infrastructure can be utilized is if there is an easement in place granting access rights to it and I am unaware of any easement granting Pink Viking LLC rights to the stormdrain on your property. Lot 14 drainage will be directed first to infiltration areas adjacent to the house and then towards the street “Viking Way” where it will be captured in the bioretention basins along Old Redwood Highway. 6) I apologize about the landscape plan. The legibility was lost when it was reduced to packet size. I’ll attach a clip of the planting list to the bottom of this email. Note that we likely tweak the planting list as the final landscape plan is put together by replacing some non-natives with natives.
7) The “future road” is only a concept of how the project would connect with other streets in the future (if that property to the south was ever annexed into the city and proposed for development). Any subdivision needs to plan for future growth and plan for extending the connecting street network. 8) If an ADU is constructed on Lot 14, it will be constructed within the walls of Plan 5. The primary unit would be upstairs, and the ADU would be downstairs. You can see the floor plan if it is only a single-family dwelling on page 53 of the packet (Plan Sheet A51.1). The SFD + ADU option is shown on page 54 of the packet (Plan Sheet A51.2). 9) I have attached two of the sheets showing the grade analysis. See also packet page 72, which shows a cross section of the proposed grade at lot 14.
10) Yes, all the appendices to the environmental analysis are available online at the City’s website under Projects in Progress https://www.cotaticity.org/228/Projects-in-Progress 3 Happy to chat with you about my responses further, and please feel free to reach to me if you have any additional questions or comments.
Thank you,
JP Harries
Senior Planner, City of CotaƟ
Phone 707-665-3634
Web www.cotaƟcity.org
201 W. Sierra Ave, CotaƟ, CA 94931
From: Katrina Brown <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, December 3, 2023 8:52 PM
To: Jon-Paul Harries <[email protected]>; [email protected] Subject: Flahaven Estates - Pink Viking, LLC - Comments and Questions CAUTION:EXTERNAL SENDER
If suspicious, do not click on links, open attachments, or provide credentials and report it by using the "Phish Alert Report" button.
Good evening JP,
Our names are Katrina and Randall Brown, and we reside at 8924 Clothier Lane, Cotati, (Lasker Knolls Lot 11, APN 144- 470-018) which is situated directly adjacent to proposed lot 14 of Flahaven Estates. This correspondence is in response to the Notice of Public Hearing we received and the corresponding 278 page meeting packet that was posted online regarding the Flahaven Estates development proposed by Pink Viking, LLC.
We have reviewed as much of the meeting packet and Flahaven Estates plan as we were able to in the short time frame between when we received the packet and the hearing scheduled for December 4, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. We are confident that we would have additional questions and concerns if additional time was available as there is a large amount of 4 information to go through. In any event, below are the questions we have thus far and would appreciate if these were addressed at the hearing tomorrow.
First and foremost, we are concerned about the extent of excavation that is described in the plan. The rear portion of our lot, which abuts Flahaven Estates proposed lot 14 has previously been excavated and has a very steep slope, which is retained by a three foot retaining wall. We are concerned about further excavation in Flahaven Estates destabilizing the slope on our lot, or otherwise causing pressure which disturbs our existing retaining wall, pool or concrete slabs. At the prior meeting on October 7, 2021, we invited Brian Flahavan to come to our property, or have someone come in order to inspect the slope in our yard to ensure that there would be no detrimental impact as a result of proposed development of Flahaven Estates. To date, nobody has contacted us to conduct such an inspection. We would like to extend that offer again to Pink Viking, LLC. We also have similar concerns about vibrations caused by compaction of the soil, or other construction activities and the impact that such vibration will have on the stability of our slope, and/or the integrity of our retaining wall or any currently existing concrete. We would like to know to what extent the Pink Viking’s engineers have considered the contour of our lot and the impact that construction of Flahaven Estates will have in the integrity of our existing retaining wall and other existing landscape features. We would also like to know what measures will be taken to mitigate damage resulting from soil compaction and other construction-related activities.
Second, Due to the elevation of the Flahavan Estates site, (which sits significantly higher than our home in Lasker Knolls), we have concerns about privacy and potential loss in property value, should a two story home be built on lot
14. Depending on how the home on lot 14 is situated, and the extent of excavation, there is potential for the second story windows of the house on lot 14 to look directly into our master bedroom, and master bathroom windows. This causes significant privacy concerns and potential property value concerns for both us and likely, for the future owners of lot 14. We would like to request that the house on lot 14 be a single story model. We would also like to ask if it is possible to erect vertical markers on proposed lot 14 so that we can accurately gauge where the proposed roofline will be in relation to the sightlines into our home.
Third, in November of 2021, we hired Adobe Associates, Inc. to perform a survey of our property. During such survey, the surveyor, Paul Brown (PLS# 50874) noted that the eucalyptus tree work that had been previously performed at the direction of Pink Viking, LLC may have caused the iron pipe, which marks the corner of our property to lean. He also noted two other ½” rebar markers with plastic caps stamped “LS 5493” located at the fence corners. Due to the tree activity, the surveyor recommended precise measurements be performed and a corner record be prepared documenting resetting of the monument that is leaning. We would like to request that no persons or machinery enter our property without first contacting us for permission.
Fourth, on Site Plan, Site Section A-A, SP1.3 (page 31 of the meeting packet) as well as numerous other proposed drawings of the site, there is an “approximate limits of disturbance” boundary which appears to be approximately five feet in width between our lot and proposed lot 14. How was this width determined and what factors were considered in making such determination? Will a five foot limit be sufficient to avoid disturbance of our property? Fifth, does the plan for Flahaven Estates tie into or rely in any way on the existing storm drain that exists on our lot, and terminates on lot 13 in Lasker Knolls? If not, how will storm water be directed off of proposed lot 14 and away from our property?
Sixth, what are the tree varieties that are being contemplated for the development? The plant legend on the Preliminary Landscape Plan is illegible.
Seventh, on page 65 of the meeting packet “Flahaven Estates, Tentative Map, Sheet 3” there is noted a “future road” which would connect to Longship Lane. Has the land to build this future road been purchased by Pink Viking, LLC? If not, has a proposal been made to the current owners of the property? Is this road necessary or essential as a future plan in order to implement Flahaven Estates?
Eighth, if an optional ADU is selected for lot 14, where on the lot would it be placed? 5 Ninth, on meeting packet page 115, it is noted that the City of Cotati has a policy of protecting ridgelines from erosion, slope failure, and development when a slope is 15% or greater. (Policy CON 1.15). Which company measured the grade of the slope of Flahaven Estates and are those reports available? If they are in the meeting packet, which page are they located on?
Tenth, the meeting packet references several appendices, but none appear to have been attached. Are those documents available for inspection?
Eleventh, were any studies performed about the bearing capacity of the soil of the proposed development? What were the results and what measures have been taken to address any soil bearing capacity issues? Thank you for your time and consideration in reviewing and addressing our concerns and questions about the proposed development.
Katrina M. Brown & Randall O. Brown
240-344-6726 / 707-782-3099
[email protected] / [email protected]
Under the Public Records Act (California Government Code §7920.000-7931.000), e-mail messages of local agencies are public records which are subject to disclosure to the public or may be subpoenaed.
Under the Public Records Act (California Government Code §7920.000-7931.000), e-mail messages of local agencies are public records which are subject to disclosure to the public or may be subpoenaed.
Under the Public Records Act (California Government Code §7920.000-7931.000), e-mail messages of local agencies are public records which are subject to disclosure to the public or may be subpoenaed. 1 Jon-Paul Harries
From: Jon-Paul Harries
Sent: Monday, December 4, 2023 5:16 PM
To: Joyce Delario
Cc: Carla Duncan
Subject: RE: Tonight's City Council meeting regarding the Flahavan Estates Hi Joyce,
Yes, I will. The traffic report is online at our Projects in Progress web page. hƩps://www.cotaƟcity.org/228/Projects-inProgress It concludes that the traffic impact is negligible. The worst impact is during the morning AM peak hour and would result in a 0.2 second delay at the intersecƟon of Valparaiso/Myrtle and Old Redwood Highway. The applicants are also proposing to widen Old Redwood Highway in front of their property and install either a center turn lane or a dedicated leŌ turn lane, which should prevent any back up resulƟng from cars turning into out of the proposed subdivision.
Please feel free to reach out to me if you any further quesƟons or comments.
Thank you,
JP Harries
Senior Planner, City of CotaƟ
Phone 707-665-3634
Web www.cotaƟcity.org
201 W. Sierra Ave, CotaƟ, CA 94931
-----Original Message-----
From: Joyce Delario <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, December 4, 2023 5:07 PM
To: Jon-Paul Harries <jpharries@cotaƟcity.org>
Subject: Tonight's City Council meeƟng regarding the Flahavan Estates CAUTION:EXTERNAL SENDER
If suspicious, do not click on links, open aƩachments, or provide credenƟals and report it by using the "Phish Alert Report" buƩon.
Hi JP,
Thank you for the noƟficaƟon about tonight’s City Council MeeƟng.
Can you please address the impact this new subdivison will have on traffic and how the city and/or the county plans to deal with the increased number of cars on our local roads.
Thanks again,
Joyce Delario
2 Under the Public Records Act (California Government Code §7920.000-7931.000), e-mail messages of local agencies are public records which are subject to disclosure to the public or may be subpoenaed.