Neighbors object to property plans

Design board reviews proposal for landscape expansion on Bluebird Canyon Lane parcel.Concerns over safety took priority in the consideration of plans for an addition to a Bluebird Canyon home at the Oct. 6 design review board meeting.

Owners of a property at 824 Bluebird Canyon Lane want to expand their home with adjustments in landscaping.

The proposed plan was brought to the board for concept review, not as a formal application.

The proposal requires a variance.

With recent mudslides destroying properties in the area, neighbors took interest.

“We’re four-tenths of a mile from a recent landslide,” said Fred Pardes, an attorney representing a family whose property rests below.

The type of landscaping that would be necessary for the proposed plan could have a direct effect on the lower property in terms of safety and privacy, Pardes said.

Board member Ilse Lenschow said the property was a “difficult site” and would need to be irrigated properly and have a fence added to muffle noise.

Lenschow also recommended the plans be scaled down.

Design review board member Steve Kawaratani said he wanted assurance that plans for irrigation, drainage and grading would ensure neighboring properties are safe.

In other business, in an effort to set reduced heights in the Treasure Island area, the board denied a proposal for a 7,579 square-foot oceanfront home.

The proposed height of the new residence was about 16 feet -- less than the 18-foot height allowed for the Montage Resort neighborhood.

“If we allowed everyone to build to allowed heights, we would lose hundreds of views,” design review board chairwoman Suzanne Morrison said.

A neighbor of the proposed new home, Michael Penn, said he would not accept any height over 15 feet.

With many plans in the neighborhood scheduled for the design review board this fall, Kawaratani said he wanted to establish a benchmark lower than the 18-foot maximum, and would vote to approve structures no higher than 16.625 feet.

Lenschow took a different perspective. “If the house can go to 18 feet and it doesn’t block views, by all means it should go to 18 feet,” she said.

Morrison and Lenschow also asked for more communication between parties involved.

The property will be reviewed again at the Nov. 10 meeting.