Art Jury Committee Meeting Minutes
February 21, 2006

Return to Art Jury

Previous Art Jury Minutes

PDF Format - 10 pages

Present: President Mark McClure, Vice President Diane Larsen, Secretary Gail Frazar and Members Ken Markstein and Jack Queen

Also Present: Building Commissioner Robert Green, Senior Planner Kirk Dakan, Associate Planner Arnold Keene, Consulting Architect Jim Kelley-Markham, Administrative Assistant Nadine Garcia and Assistant Planner Liz Avalon for the RSF Trust/Weinger Boundary Adjustment           

Staff Reports: Building Commissioner Green informed the Art Jury that the Lily award committee will soon be formed and asked them to think about what projects they think should be considered as well as ideas for a member at large for the committee.

New Business: Secretary Frazar informed the committee that due to personal reasons, she will not be available to sign the Art Jury decision letters on the required days for the remainder of the year. President McClure suggested that Jack Queen be considered to take over as the new Secretary of the Art Jury. All were in favor.

The Minutes of the February 7, 2006 meeting were approved as written.

Consent Calendar: A motion was made, seconded and passed to approve the consent calendar.

CONFERENCE ITEMS:

S & G Construction Property ID 10.4.13
Workshop Application: Residence/Garage (9,923 sq. ft.), Attached Covered Areas (2,340 sq. ft.), Basement (1,266 sq. ft.), Guesthouse (969 sq. ft.), Detached Garage (257 sq. ft.), Grading

Chris Cowen-Richards attended the meeting. 
The Art Jury made the following comments:

Overall Comment

The Art Jury is not opposed to the size of the floor area, but believes that to achieve the proposed Tuscan style, substantial revisions to the current design will be required. 

1. Main Residence
   The following comments are intended to guide you towards a more consistent Tuscan style.
   1. The current submittal has too many different stylistic directions to create a cohesive design. Please revise the exterior appearance to be more consistent with the pictures in the images booklet submitted with your application. Using your images booklet as an inspiration will create a project that makes a more definitive design statement.
   2. Please eliminate the angled walls as a design theme. Those walls, as currently handled, are giving the design a distinctly Arts and Crafts feel that is inconsistent with the otherwise Tuscan design.
   3. Introduce taller elements into the overall form of the house. Tuscan architecture is typified by vertical elements. Additional height for some areas of the house can be acceptable to the Art Jury if it is used in a manner that fits with the overall massing of the design, is true to the Tuscan form and has the taller elements on the uphill side of the home so that the silhouette of the house reflects the fall of the topography.
   4. Please make changes to the floor plan if those changes contribute to a more consistent Tuscan design. Alterations to the footprint of the house may be necessary to achieve a cohesive design. Wide blocks of building mass make it difficult to create a Tuscan building form and roof assembly. 
   5. Coincident with changes to the floor plan, changes to the roof forms will also be necessary. Tuscan roof forms tend toward simple lines; the current roof assembly has a multiplicity of gables and valleys.
   6. Please make all of the roofs (other than those over covered patios) a minimum of 4 in 12.
   7. Please eliminate the hexagonal and bowed pop-outs from the facades found in the breakfast nook, covered porch on the southwest corner of the kitchen, living room, master bath and master sitting room. These shapes are inconsistent with the proposed appearance of the rest of the structure.
   8. Please revise the roof which spans the master sitting room and closet. The transition between that roof and the porch roof is awkward.
2. Guest House
   1. Please use the prior guest house design which created a more vertical, Tuscan appearance than the current proposal.
   2. Have the ground floor of the guest house cut into the topography with a retaining wall as a base for the structure rather than cutting a slope around the perimeter of the foundation.
3. When creating the exterior elevations please ensure that the drawings are consistent with one another and that they include all roof forms. The current east and west elevations do not show the roof over the living room. The east elevation does not show the roof over the front door.
4. Please submit for another workshop.

Lewin Property ID 6.3.1
Workshop Application: Addition (631 sq. ft.), Attached Covered Areas (1,038 sq. ft.), Attached Garage (925 sq. ft.), Detached Guesthouse (1,491 sq. ft.), Grading, Fencing & Walls, Landscape

           Alex Friehauf, Robert Hill and Jackie Lewin attended the meeting.

1. Overall Comment
   The Art Jury is not opposed to the additions of floor area but believes that the proposed remodel from a ranch-style house to a Tuscan style will require very substantial revisions to the current form of the house. The existing home’s shape (footprint and roof forms) has a very definite ranch-style character that does not lend itself easily to a Tuscan remodel.
2. Main Residence
   The following comments are intended to guide you towards a more consistent Tuscan style.
   1. Introduce taller elements into the overall form of the house. Tuscan architecture is typified by vertical elements. Additional height for some areas of the house can be acceptable to the Art Jury if it is used in a manner that fits with the overall massing of the design and is true to the Tuscan form.
   2. Alter the existing roof forms. The existing arrangement of the roofs lends a strong ranch-style character to the house, the overall forms and arrangement of the roofs must be significantly changed.
   3. Use mainly gable roofs. Hipped roofs are not usually typical of Tuscan design.
   4. Consider changes to the floor plan. Alterations to the footprint of the house may be necessary to achieve a consistent Tuscan appearance. The locations of the currently proposed additions would have the effect of creating wider blocks of building mass which will make it more difficult to create a Tuscan building form and roof assembly. 
   5. Please thicken the walls at the windows so that the windows are recessed within the equivalent of an eight-inch thick stud wall. Large and/or prominent windows should have an even greater recess.
   6. Please use real stone rather than imitation stone.
3. Guest House
   1. Please eliminate the garage from the proposed guest house. The addition of the garage creates an accessory structure that is too large for the limited buildable area of the property. 
4. Grading
   1. Please reduce the amount of proposed grading. The Art Jury is sympathetic to the desire to eliminate views of traffic from the home and will allow grading to help you accomplish this goal; however, please investigate ways to lessen the use of fill.
   2. Please eliminate the circular driveway. The creation of a circular driveway requires more fill than the Art Jury is willing to allow. Please use a different driveway alignment to create the desired entry to the front of the home.
   3. Reduce the use of retaining walls. 
   4. Show the any mounding (currently illustrated on the landscape plan only) on the conceptual grading plan as well.
5. Increase the spacing of features such as retaining walls further from the property line at the Westside of the property.
6. Please resubmit for another workshop.

Hamilton Property ID 18.5.10
Workshop Application: Addition (335 sq. ft.), Detached 3 Car Garage/Workshop (1,478 sq. ft.), Garage Basement Storage (1,478 sq. ft.), Grading, Entry Gate/Pilasters, Landscape

Jill Hamilton and Max Wuthrich attended the meeting.

The Art jury had the following comments:

1. Proceed to Preliminary Application.
2. Fire department requirements will result in the elimination of existing screen landscaping at the bathroom addition. The “bathroom” addition shall be screened with landscaping. Show the new screening in the Preliminary Application.
3. The proposed secondary driveway shall be 12 ft wide maximum with a gravel surface (except adjacent to the garage).

Landscaping comments:

1. Submit a revised plan that indicates the screening trees at the Westside of the service road including the following:
   1. Tree spacing shall be reduced to twenty feet with Fire Department required spacing between the groupings.
   2. Under-story planting of tall shrubs shall be incorporated along this area for additional screening.
   3. Incorporate a tall screening tree or grouping of trees at the Westside of the proposed closet addition.
   4. This plan shall show landscaping for the entire area west of the additions.
2. The Art Jury noted the existing tropical theme of the landscape and does not encourage this theme for the perimeter areas of the property. Landscaping shall be compatible with the surrounding traditional landscape.
3. Landscaping is required to screen the project from off-site. If for any reason the final, approved landscape installation does not meet this objective, the Association may require additional plantings, pursuant to Regulatory Code Section 42.0302. Any existing vegetation not shown and approved on the plans as “to be removed” shall be considered “Critical View” landscaping as defined in that regulation. Any trees or landscaping damaged or destroyed during construction or transplanting shall be replaced in-kind with new materials prior to Final Inspection of the landscaping.

Garrick Property ID 33.9.11
Workshop Application: Residence/Garage (6,657 sq. ft.), Attached Covered Areas (307 sq. ft.), Detached Guesthouse (935 sq. ft.), Detached Garage (588 sq. ft.), Wine Grotto (152 sq. ft.), Retaining Walls, Fencing & Walls, Entry Gate/Pilasters, Pool/Spa

Martin & Jane Garrick, George Mercer and Max Wuthrich attended the meeting.

The Art Jury made the following comments:

1. The proposed plan shows an axial, prominent, formal layout of the drive, stairways, stacked retaining walls and house. Please use a more informal arrangement of elements. Additionally, please revise the exterior of the building to reduce the formal appearance of some of the elements (e.g. the entry).
2. Please revise the proposed retaining walls/ safety rails to minimize their prominence.
3. Please eliminate the rear crib retaining wall. Higher retaining walls up to 10 feet could be used to provide additional useable space and room for building recessed into the hill behind the residence. The Art Jury encourages you to explore placing building elements in the rear yard possibly in lieu of second story building elements.
4. The proposed second story is prominent as currently designed. Revisions should either significantly reduce the prominence of this element or remove it. The Art Jury will further assess this element in the light of any revisions made.
5. Please provide a conceptual grading plan. Show “top of wall/bottom of wall” information throughout; 2 ft existing and proposed contours; drive gradient; edge of pad; and existing and proposed pad heights.
6. Please review the grading and site plan with the RSF Fire Department and provide a stamped hose pull and access plan (on grading plan). Incorporate any Fire Department required modifications into the plan prior to submission.
7. Several large mature trees have been removed. Please do not remove any more landscaping (site has been photo surveyed).
• Please provide a landscaping survey showing vegetation to be retained. Plot existing large trees.
• 25 +/- very large mature trees (one multi-trunk) have been removed. Replacement planting in-kind shall be provided.
8. Move the trash enclosure out of the setback and screen.
9. Separate the motor court further from the east property line to provide sufficient area for a landscape buffer.
10. Incorporate the use of taller mature trees and palms to provide screening of the residence from off-site views. Some trees or palms should be placed higher on the slope in front of the house to achieve better screening.
11. Resubmit for another Workshop Application.

RSF Trust & Weinger Property ID 5.6.1 & 9
Boundary Adjustment

Assistant Planner Avalon made the presentation to the Art Jury.

Dwayne Weinger and Doug and Sandra Reed on behalf of the RSF Trust attended the meeting.

Covenant resident Peter Fletcher attended the hearing to speak in opposition to the boundary adjustment.

At their February 21, 2006 meeting, the Art Jury considered the required findings related to the submitted RSF Trust/Weinger boundary adjustment map, RSFA/BA-06-01 (date-stamped February 1, 2006), and voted to forward to the Board of Directors a recommendation of conditional approval with applicable standard conditions, as contained in Chapter 60 of the Regulatory Code, and the following special conditions.

1. Prior to the finalization of the boundary adjustment, the applicants shall record, in a form acceptable to the Manager, a restrictive covenant with the County Recorder of the County of San Diego to prohibit further subdivision of Block 5, Lot 6, Parcel 9.
2. Prior to the finalization of the boundary adjustment, the existing fencing must be removed or relocated so that it does not cross the boundaries of the new property lines.
3. As a result of the proposed changes to the horse keeping facilities, the existing horse keeping permits on Parcel 1 shall become void upon finalization of the boundary adjustment. Pursuant to Chapter 40 (Animal Keeping Regulation) of the Association’s Regulatory Code, new permits will be required for all animals kept on the property.

Additionally, an Association member has brought it to the Art Jury's attention that a private covenant encumbers the property. Please be advised that the Art Jury acts independently of private restrictive covenants and its decision at this meeting should not be construed as an approval, interpretation, or waiver of such covenant or any private restrictions between the parties.

The Board of Directors will conduct a public hearing and consider the application and the Art Jury’s recommendations at their meeting on Thursday, March 2, 2006, beginning at 9:00 a.m. at the Association office.  You and/or your client are invited to attend this meeting and speak on behalf of the application should you desire to do so.  A copy of the staff report will be available for pick-up at the Association office on Friday, February 24, 2006 after 3 p.m. 

cont. on Page 2