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Home My WebLink AboutDRB 2011-10-04 Minutes IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, October 4, 2011 Regular Meeting San Rafael Design Review Board Minutes For a complete video of this meeting, go to http://www.cityofsanrafael.org/meetings. CALL TO ORDER Present: Mohit Garg,Chair Bob Huntsberry Jeff Kent Cheryl Lentini Stewart Summers Absent: None Also Present: Larry Paul, PC Liaison Kraig Tambornini, Senior Planenr Caron Parker, Associate Planner Steve Stafford, Associate Planner STAFF COMMUNICATION Staff provided communications to the Board. BOARD COMMUNICATION None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. September 20, 2011 Jeff Kent moved and Stewart Summers seconded to Approve minutes with corrections as follows: AYES: Mohit Garg,Chair, Bob Huntsberry, Jeff Kent, Cheryl Lentini, Stewart Summers NOES: None ABSENT: None NEW BUSINESS 2. 21 G Street - Request for Conceptual Environmental and Design Review for demolition of existing residential structures and construction of a nine-unit, three-story residential townhome development on a through-lot with frontage on G Street and Ida Street. APN: 0011-232-10, High Density Residential (HR1) District; David Rasonsky, owner; Stan Camiccia, applicant; File No: CDR11-004. Project Planner: Caron Parker The Board reviewed and commented on the design of the project - no motion was required as the project was presented as a Conceptual Review. 3. 1380 Mission Avenue (aka, 1312 Mission Avenue - San Rafael Elks Lodge No. 1108) - Requests for a Planned Development Zoning District amendment, Tentative Subdivision Map, Master Use Permit, Environmental and Design Review Permit, Variance to exceed 36' height limit), Exceptions to parking standards and subdivision ordinance private street standards, Density Bonus with concessions to use the state parking standard for the provision of 6 affordable units, and Environmental Review for construction of a multi - story, 57-foot tall, 67 residential unit multi-family building on an existing parking area located behind the Elks Lodge and near the Falkirk Mansion historic property. The project includes construction of 65 spaces in front of the existing Elks Lodge build ing and significant grading with 11,970 cubic yards of off-haul; APN: 011-131-04; Planned Development (PD) District; Keith Bloom for Thompson Dorfman Partners, LLC, applicant; San Rafael Elks Lodge No. 1108, owner; Downtown Activity Center Neighborhood. Project Planner: Steve Stafford The following consensus items were raised by Board Members: • The ADA access requirements for the proposed building and site development need to be looked at much more closely. Look at opportunities to provide adequate accessibility from Mission Avenue to the proposed residential building and certainly to the Elks Lodge. • The sidewalk along the new main roadway entrance from Mission Avenue to the residential building needs to provide a landscape separation between the driveway and sidewalk for safety, and create a better ‘promenade’ experience. • Significant need to enhance the building design to provide a more residential character and less of a commercial office appearance, create a better sense of entry through the use of more cohesive color scheme that would reflect the surrounding buildings and eliminating the yellow color, provide greater window and parapet detailing, larger and more usable balcony sizes, and in general greater articulation in order to break up the vertical and horizontal building wall lines and blocky massing and make the building more residentially appealing. • The secondary driveway access at the eastern end of the driveway should be preserved for secondary emergency egress purposes and to eliminate the dead-end parking spaces in the Elks Lodge parking lot. • Provide more meaningful and usable outdoor area in both size and amenities; meeting the min. sq. footage requirements and providing suitable children’s play area. • Look at providing a direct pedestrian link from the residential building to Boyd Park. • Provide more consistent, evenly spaced, landscaping in all parking areas to shade parking and provide a uniform tree canopy as viewed from Mission Ave., including providing landscaped ‘finger’ islands with canopy trees every 5 parking spaces. • Provide a ‘succession’ planting plan for the proposed open space hillside easement area to mitigate for future tree loss. Additionally, treat oak trees for in the open space area for SOD and consider planting to maintain native tree screening in this area. • Provide differentiated driveway treatment with integral-color (to provide richer detail) at the approach to Mission Avenue, to the entrances to all parking areas and garages, and to define the pedestrian path-of-travel from the staircase, through the Elks Lodge parking lot and to the nearest walkway. Also, consider use of raised crossings. • Historic review of the carriage building needs to be completed to allow conclusions to be considered and addressed. • Provide adequate dedicated, secure, and easy-to-access, bicycle storage for the complex. • Relocate the proposed secondary staircase from easterly edge of the site (i.e., at the bottom of the road grade) to the top of the road crown along Mission Avenue for improved safety and to create a grander, more direct pedestrian connection from Mission Avenue to the Elks Lodge building entrance. Additionally, the crosswalk leading to the site should be further studied for safety and considered for relocation to the high point of the road, leading to the relocated stairway. • Widen the driveway to provide a minimum 20’ drive aisle width or backup distance for the four (4) angled, surface parking spaces (#54c-57c) located along the service driveway adjacent to the Elks Lodge porte-cochere. • Re-design the guest parking spaces for the residential building to meet minimum standard dimensions and provide landscape ‘finger’ islands with canopy trees. • Provide a minimum 6’-width, exclusive of curbing, for all landscape ‘finger’ islands. Bob Huntsberry moved and Stewart Summers seconded to continue the item to address the consensus items raised by Board Members, with members Huntsberry and Kent designated to serve as the Board subcommittee to work with staff on review of project changes to confirm that consensus items have been addressed. Motion passed by the following vote: AYES: Mohit Garg, Chair Bob Huntsberry, Jeff Kent, Stewart Summers, Cheryl Lentini NOES: None ADJOURNMENT: ___________________________________ ANNE DERRICK, Administrative Assistant III APPROVED THIS_____DAY____OF_______, 2011 _____________________________________ MOHIT GARG, Chair