Art Jury Committee Meeting Minutes
RSF Association Office - 8:00 a.m.
March 11, 2008

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 Present: President Jack Queen, Vice President Paul Slater, Secretary Diane Larsen, Members Bruce Hall and Michael Hammes

Also Present: Building Commissioner Robert Green, Senior Planner Kirk Dakan, Associate Planner Arnold Keene, Consulting Architect Andrew Wright and Administrative Assistant Jasie Gan

The Minutes of the February 26, 2008 meeting were approved as written.

Staff Reports:

The annual Art Jury Retreat has been scheduled for June 10, 2008. It will be held at the RSF Golf Club immediately following the regular Art Jury meeting.

Robert Green updated the Art Jury on his discussion with the property owner regarding the post office.

Arnold Keene updated the Art Jury on the progress of the streetscape project.

The Village Community Presbyterian Church requested the deadline for the removal of the temporary classroom trailer to be moved to December 2009. The Art Jury decided to leave the deadline at August 2009; the church can file for a time extension prior to the deadline.

Consent Calendar: A motion was made, seconded and passed to approve the consent calendar with the following change: La Salle Bank moved to regular agenda.

CONFERENCE ITEMS:

Huntington Hotel Co. Property I.D. 2129.15
Final Application: Multi Tenant Commercial Sign

Steve Royce attended the meeting.

The Art Jury maintained its previous position of January 8, 2008 and February 12, 2008.

The Art Jury therefore cannot recommend approval to the Board.

As an alternative to the current proposal the Art Jury suggests considering some of the following alternatives:

1. Rather than trying to identify all of the office tenants, create a unified identity for the four office buildings by referring to the office complex by a single marketing name. Propose an identifying sign for the unified office complex along El Tordo that then directs clients to the La Sendita access. The suggested “unified identity” sign would not include the individual tenants.
2. Locate a unified identity sign near the entrance to La Sendita to provide direction to clients unfamiliar with the office complex location.   
3. Create a tenant sign in the parking area to direct clients to the proper buildings.

Consistency with the Rancho Santa Fe Protective Covenant

The Art Jury considers that the project as currently proposed is not consistent with the Rancho Santa Fe Protective Covenant. The Preamble of the Rancho Santa Fe Protective Covenant states that “…Rancho Santa Fe is unusually attractive and valuable as a high class place of residence because of the rare quality of its landscape…” The Covenant further goes on to state that “…property owners are most desirous of preserving, continuing and maintaining this character of community and rare landscape features and of upholding the quality of all future architecture and improvements;…”  In the opinion of the Art Jury the project would not maintain the character of the community because the proposed sign facing onto El Tordo would create a multiplicity of signs intended for pedestrian usage on a section of street that is not the source of pedestrian traffic for the office buildings. This increase in the amount of signs with little practical utility would detract from the character of the community.

Paragraph 46 of the Rancho Santa Fe Protective Covenant which requires projects “to insure a uniform and reasonably high standard of artistic result and attractiveness….” The Art Jury considers that a “reasonably high standard of artistic result and attractiveness” would be derived from the preservation of views which are predominated by “fine architecture and other improvements” without the intrusion of visually prominent commercial signs.

The application requests the approval of a Multiple Tenant Sign for buildings which face onto both El Tordo and La Sendita. The parking areas for all of the buildings are accessed from La Sendita. The section of El Tordo where the Multiple Tenant Sign is proposed has very little pedestrian traffic thus the main views of the sign would be from passing cars severely limiting the effectiveness (and thus the need) of small multiple tenant signs. The Art Jury considers that the erection of more signs with limited utility does not result in the required “reasonably high standard of artistic result” and does not result in the preservation of  the “rare quality “ of the community’s landscape and therefore cannot recommend approval of the request to the Board of Directors. 

Leonard Property I.D.9.1.4
Preliminary Application: Guesthouse (990 sq. ft.) with Attached Covered Areas (350 sq. ft.)

Mr. and Mrs. Leonard and Designer Steve Ragan attended the meeting.

The Art Jury DEFERRED the Preliminary Application with the following comments:

No significant changes were made to the project, so the Art Jury reiterates its comments from the meeting of January 8, 2008 along with new comments.

1. Please locate the guest house in a location that does not decrease the amount of open,  landscaped area – thus the guest house can be located on either the sand volleyball court or the paddleball court. Locating the new guest house in either of these locations would move the guest house away from the slope, place the structure in an area that is less visible from neighboring properties and maintain the existing amount of open, landscaped area on the property.

Prior to the existing main residence was approved in 1997, the Art Jury had required reductions in the amount of development on the property because of concerns over the amount of development on the site. The Art Jury does not want to see a reduction in the undeveloped portion of the property; therefore, it requests the new building be placed where it will not require grading, will not reduce open areas, or reduce landscaping. 

2. Please submit a new design that would be subject to review and approval of the Art Jury. The Art Jury is willing to consider alternative designs; however, the alternative design will be reviewed based on its aesthetic merits and its consistency with the Rancho Santa Fe Protective Covenant. A new location for the guest house would necessarily result in an automatic approval.   

Clark Property I.D.J.2.7
Workshop Application: Residence/Garage (5,493 sq. ft.), Attached Guesthouse on 2nd Floor (653 sq. ft.), Attached Covered Areas (394 sq. ft.), Grading, Retaining Walls, Fencing, Entry Gate/Pilasters, Pool/Spa

Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Architect John Jensen attended the meeting. The Art Jury expressed sympathy for the loss of the house in the recent fires. It is the duty of the Art Jury to review the proposal with respect to the Protective Covenant. Therefore, the Art Jury reviewed the application and made the following comments:

The prior Art Jury letter dated February 14, 2008 contained the following:

“In the opinion of the Art Jury the bulk of the proposed residence and guest house is far too large. The proposed house and guest house do not blend with the landscape features of the site and the result is not aesthetically appealing. Please eliminate the proposed detached guest house; reduce the bulk of the residence; reduce the building’s prominence and provide more room around the structure for landscaping.”

In reviewing the new application, the Art Jury noted the following:

1. Although the building has been revised, the redesign has not addressed the above comment about reduction in size (in fact the building has increased in size – prior submission 6,498 sq. ft.; this submission 6,540 sq. ft.). Please SIGNIFICANTLY reduce the bulk of the building. The proposed building is far too large for the limited building pad.
2. Please clarify existing and proposed grades on plans (plans show a 3:1 grading note).
3. Please reduce the number of garages.
4. Please eliminate the second story. This item would be unduly prominent on this “skyline” site.
5. Please eliminate the guest house.
6. Please reduce amount of paving.
7. Please relocate entry to the house to reduce intrusion of grading/ retaining walls onto slopes.
8. Please move the building back away from slopes all around to allow landscape screening.
9. Please provide Fire Department stamped plans for any new structure.
10. Submit another Workshop Application.                

Knickrehm Property I.D. 46.1.2
Workshop Application: Addition (3,044 sq. ft.), Basement/Tuck-under (1,316 sq. ft.), Grading           

Mrs. Knickrehm, Architect Max Wuthrich and Landscape Architect George Mercer attended the meeting.

The Art Jury made the following comments:

Please completely redesign the project based on an entirely different concept with the addition(s) in a completely different location.  Any attempts to merely revise the current concept with its large mass of structure near the edge of slope will not be productive. The currently proposed addition’s design and siting is not acceptable to the Art Jury.  

Siting Suggestions

Comments 1, 2 and 3 relate to the Art Jury’s recommendations for the location(s) of the new addition(s).  

1. Consider having a portion of the addition on the level area located to the south of the home, near the existing office. The existing office could be used for a different purpose, and the new room, with the view, could be used as the new office or other use where a view is desired.
2. It is strongly suggested that the pool be realigned to allow greater room and flexibility for the additions.
3. A second story addition that was integrated with the design of the existing house could be acceptable depending on the design. 

Proposal

1. The Art Jury is not opposed in principle to the enlargement of the existing home subject to the review and approval of a design that is consistent with the Protective Covenant. The addition(s) must be designed in such a way that it respects and preserves the natural features of the site including the topography and area for landscape screening. 
2. Please create an entirely new concept for the proposal. The current proposal would not be approved if it were submitted as a Preliminary application. Please relocate the proposed addition(s) based on the above comments and submit for another workshop.

Consistency with the Rancho Santa Fe Protective Covenant

The Art Jury considers that the project as currently proposed is not consistent with the Rancho Santa Fe Protective Covenant. The Preamble of the Rancho Santa Fe Protective Covenant states that “…Rancho Santa Fe is unusually attractive and valuable as a high class place of residence because of the rare quality of its landscape, trees and shrubs…”  The Covenant further goes on to state that “…property owners are most desirous of preserving, continuing and maintaining this character of community and rare landscape features and of upholding the quality of all future architecture and improvements; and of restricting the use, height and bulk of buildings;…”  In the opinion of the Art Jury the project does not maintain the “character of the community” or preserve the “rare quality of its landscape” because locating the addition at the edge of the slope does not allow sufficient area between the addition and the slope to accommodate sufficient landscape screening. Landscape screening is necessary to maintain community character and preserve the community’s rare landscape features. The walk-out, lower level requires substantial grading of the slope and creates a two-story façade directly on the slope which limits the opportunities for landscape screening. 

The application proposes a 105-foot long addition to a residence to be built at the top of a slope with a lower, walk-out floor cut into the slope. The location of the addition at the top of the slope would make the development visually dominate the slope rather than being subordinate to the natural terrain. Undisturbed natural terrain is part of the “community character” of Rancho Santa Fe and contributes to the “rare quality of its landscape”. By visually dominating the landform the proposed addition fails to preserve the community character and fails to preserve the rare quality of its landscape.

Paragraph 46 of the Rancho Santa Fe Protective Covenant requires projects “to insure a uniform and reasonably high standard of artistic result and attractiveness.” The Art Jury considers that a “reasonably high standard of artistic result and attractiveness” would be derived from the preservation of an undisturbed slope and by having the addition located substantially away from the edge of the slope to allow for sufficient area to plant landscape screening. Allowing room for landscape screening would create a project that could be successfully screened with landscaping. Limiting grading would preserve mature, existing screen landscaping already growing on the slope thus adding to the high “artistic result”.  

Regulatory Code Chapter 45 - Tennis Court Regulation
Update

The Art Jury reviewed and discussed the proposed changes to the tennis court regulation. Robert Green will continue reviewing the regulation with the attorney and will bring back additional changes to the Art Jury.

CONSTRUCTION SITE SIGNS: Board Meeting of March 20, 2008

Rickerson Property I.D.2129.121
Temporary Construction Sign
“Steigerwald-Dougherty”

The Art Jury is recommending APPROVAL of the Temporary Construction Site Sign to the Board of Directors at the March 20, 2008 meeting.

Tanz Property I.D.35.2.1
Temporary Construction Sign
“Smith Brothers Construction”                       

The Art Jury DEFERRED the sign with the following comment:

Please revise and resubmit the sign showing that a flat finish will be used.

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