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    Proposed Estate Will Be An Asset to Los Gatos

    DeSantis project meets the intent of town standards

    By Peggy Dallas 06/16/08 7:43 pm [2,553]
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    I believe the proposed DeSantis project on Kennedy Rd. meets the intent of the Hillside Development Standards and Guidelines (HDSG) that I helped write. I am an architect and a resident of Los Gatos. I served on the General Plan Task Forces I and II that created our current General Plan. I am certainly interested in maintaining the quality of life we have in Los Gatos and therefore I want to protect and preserve the hillside standards we have developed.

    Since I don’t live near the proposed DeSantis project, or know the DeSantis family, I might not have formed an opinion about this home, except that people I know and respect told me, in effect, “The sky is falling!” Some have suggested that this project will undermine the hillside standards or that approval will open the door to other developers to get around the rules we drafted.

    I respectfully disagree. I think this project is an example of the success of the hillside standards. This is how the process is supposed to work. For example, they are taking a lot of dirt from the site, but according to both the HDSG and the General Plan, cut-and-fill is secondary to the issue of preserving the view of our hillsides from visible development. The few cases where the cut exceeds the recommendations of the HDSG, it has been in an effort to reduce visibility of the house in the hillside setting.

    The other exceptions are minor. The roof height is slightly over at the ridges and the peak where there is very little mass, and 2% of the project is outside of the Least Restrictive Development Area. As for exceeding the allowable floor area, this project meets and exceeds most of the criteria necessary for increasing the floor area.

    I believe that this project meets the criteria of the hillside standards (except for a few justified exceptions) and that it absolutely meets the intent of the standards. The DeSantis project is well designed and will be an asset to our community. However, the community at large and those driving by will hardly know it is there once it is finished.

    Peggy Dallas
    Architect

    [The town council recently approved the DeSantis project on a 3-2 vote, and opponents of the project have held at least one meeting to discuss continued opposition. Peggy Dallas is chair of the Town of Los Gatos Architectural Standards Committee.--Ed.]

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    gfdecker 06/17/08 12:55 pm
    Peggy Dallas is totally biased toward rampant development and a willingness to waiver almost any and all guidelines in the Hillside Development Plan. In the DeSantis case, consider the following:
    a. Almost 24 feet of hillside elevation will be removed;
    b. The total square footage of the "estate" building structures is well over twice the limit established by the Hillside Development guidelines;
    c. The town council waived the environmental quality study, saying that it wasn't required; many of us believe that this is abject defiance of the law.

    There are other examples of ignoring the guidelines.

    The exceptions granted by the town council on its 3-2 vote are so far out of line with the guidleines that it is absurd to say they met the intent.(To their credit, Vice-mayor Mike Wasserman and Mayor Barbara Spector voted against the project)

    We need more Mike Wassermans and Barbara Spectors on our town council so that the town development guidelines will be followed.

    G. Decker

    Peggy Dallas 06/18/08 1:09 am
    People opposed to the DeSantis project would prefer to limit hillside homes to 6,000 square feet regardless of the size or location of the property. I believe that the Hillside Standards and Guidelines have done a good job moderating the size and scale of this estate to make it appropriate for its particular hillside setting and to improve the overall quality of this project.

    The larger argument seems to be: Should an estate with a large house, a pool and cabana, a tennis court and barn or art studio be allowed in our hillside area? I think it is a matter of location, scale, and context. The DeSantis project as proposed is set on nearly 14 acres tucked in a valley. Once the home is finished, the community will hardly know it is there. Most of the neighbors are in favor of this well-designed project.

    As an architect, my Los Gatos projects have been carefully designed and site-appropriate. Some people, perhaps those who don’t understand design, want to mandate fear-based laws that will force the Community Development Dept. and the Planning Commission to enforce arbitrary rules. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop over-development. There is no substitute for having design professionals examining each proposal on its merits.

    Peggy Dallas
    Architect member and current Chair of the Architectural and Hillsides Standards Committee

    maria ristow 06/22/08 1:15 am
    Cutting off 23 feet from the top of a hill to fit a house doesn't sound like a minor adjustment to preserving a view of the hillside. It sounds ridiculous. Clearly the hillside can't really accommodate this large estate, so the hillside needs to be fundamentally changed. I don't understand how that's compatible with any idea of preserving our hillsides.

    As a resident of Los Gatos, I view the Hillside Development Standards and Guidelines as a map of what we can expect on our hillsides, and like a contract between the town and present and future residents.

    When large exceptions to these guidelines can be granted, they become the starting point for future developments, instead of the end point.

    This project was touted at the Town Council meeting as containing numerous "green" features in its construction. A truly green construction would take into account the whole picture of the hillside and setting, not just a punchlist of the latest "green" technologies. Razing a hillside to build a giant estate doesn't sound like hillside design to me. And it doesn't sound green.
    (Edited 06/21/08 11:16 pm)

    James Crow 08/24/08 4:12 pm
    An outrageous overblown mansion will begat future outrageous overblown mansions being allowed no matter what "guidelines" are in place.
    The "developers" and real estate interests run this town, and I'm sure most sycophantic architects are only too willing to "put in a word of support" for their Gravy Train.