HomeMy WebLinkAboutHDP 97-05; Gold Coast Properties; Hillside Development Permit (HDP) (7)April 28, 1997
Mr. Michael Holzmiller, Planning Director
City of Carlsbad Planning Department
2075 Las Palmas Drive
Carlsbad CA 92009
Re: Hillside Development Permit # HDP 97-05 / 4529 Adams
Dear Mr. Holzmiller:
I request to have a meeting with vou this week to discuss the following issues relating to the
remodel of my existing home at 4529 Adams Street in Carlsbad. In your letter dated April 18
(I received this letter on April 24'h) some items were noted or requested that are completely
unreasonable. My home was built in 1946 and it has been lived in for over 50 years.
1. Now suddenly your department is requiring me to do an archaeoloaical dia on my
property that has a cost of over $5000.00. I know this is true because your department
recently forced my neighbor to do the same study and he informs me that it cost him $5,850
to do the work in order to obtain the requested survey. For your information, when the
archaeologist did the study on my neighbor's property he also dug two holes on my
property as well and nothina sianificant was found. I have already submitted a letter to
your department from this archaeologist confirming this point. However, your
department is now asking for a survey and to obtain such a survey, I am being forced to have
the archaeologist repeat the same type of work that was done next door and that job will cost
over $5000.00. I am =doing this remodel on undeveloped or undisturbed land. This
proposed construction is in the same location as my existing house. For a "pre-existing and
established" home it is extremely unfair to require such a'burden on me. Please delete the
requirement #3 as stated in your April 18'h letter (Issue of Concern #4 repeats this
same request).
2. Landscapina. irriqation and bioloqical impacts: All of these requests seem to
ignore the fact I already have a home on my property. I already have landscaping and there
will be no changes to the biological impacts on my property that are different than has
occurred over the past 50 years. This has been an occupied property for many years. I am
only remodeling the existing home. I am using the same driveway. I will continue to use the
same irrigation that is pre-existing and most of the existing landscaping will stay "as is". As a
homeowner, I may over time make a few landscaping changes but these will be minor
changes. It is very unreasonable for you to burden an existing homeowner with special
burdens of "landscaping plans, irrigation plans and biological plans" when none of these
factors are changing. It appears you are looking at this property as some undeveloped piece
of land and this is not the case. My house is lived in right now and it has been lived in for 50
years. I am only doing a house remodel. No other factors are changing. Please delete the
special requirements to provide a Landscaping Plan, an Irrigation Plan and to provide
mitigation for Biololsical Impacts. None of these items will be changing from the presently
existing conditions.
3. Road Frontaqe on Adams: The Engineering Department is requiring me to do
almost $40,000 in road upgrades. This is an incredible burden to dump on one homeowner.
They also are discussing improvements to Cove Drive at a later date, which has a price tag of
over $30,000. Add these costs to your $5,000 request for Archeology, a $5,000 - $8,000
expense for Biological mitigation & your costly requests for Irrigation and Landscaping. How
is it remotely reasonable to stick one homeowner with all of these costs and expenses?? The
bottom line is that I am raising the “White Flag”. I can not afford to do all of this work. I
will repair Adams Street but you need to do something to make these other requests go
away. It is simply too much to put on the back of one homeowner.
As far as my Frontage Design (your point #5), I plan to continue usina mv existing
driveway. This driveway has worked for over 50 years and I have no plans to change it. As
for the Landscaping, there presently are some beautiful full size eucalyptus trees and I do not
want to alter that landscaping. If the City proposes to cut these beautiful full size trees down
that are presently in a 40% slope area I will resist that request because I believe that would
be a mistake. Mv frontalqe desiqn will be to repair the road as requested by your
Enqineerinq Department and evervthinq else will stav the same as it is todav.
4. Your letter requested me to submit elevations and floor plans. I submitted these
items almost six weeks ago. My understand is that the house plans will be approved very
shortly by the building department.
5. Before I drew any final plans or paid to have grading plans completed I went through your pre-planning approval process. I asked “what can I do and not do” I received
very specific instructions and approvals. I then paid for architects and engineers to design
according to the guidelines that were given to me. This is all very costly to hire these
professionals to do this type of work. I followed all of the guidelines that were given to me.
Now, when I receive feedback as stated in Issue of Concern #I such as “reduce the size of
the house”, I find this to be not only “offensive” but very unreasonable. It is wrong to look at
my tentative house plan and site plan and tell me to set it up “this way and that way” and then
have me pay extensive costs to get that job done as instructed and then after completion, to
tell me to “reduce the size of my house”. A lot of care and time went into this planning. This
all costs a lot of money. When I first came to the City for your Preliminary review I was very
flexible on what I could do and I asked for specific guidance. Evervthina I have done was
based upon that feedback. There needs to be more accountability from the City of Carlsbad
to not change your positions “mid stream”. I am asking y,our department to act consistently
with the feedback I received at the preliminary approval process stage.
I thank you for your personal review of these five points. I request you meet with me this
week so that we can resolve all of these issues. Please do not allow this remodel project to
get blown out of proportion. It is a simple straightforward house remodel and I need your
help to get it approved without further delays.
P.O. Box 2740
Carlsbad CA 92008
Tel: 720-1 858