On August 5, 2003 a Miscellaneous Plan Permit was approved by the Director of Community Development to allow the construction of a six foot tall solid wood fence to be located in the required reducible front yard. (See Attachment 3, Site Plan and Fence Detail). A Miscellaneous Plan Permit is required for fences that are up to six feet in height and located in the required reducible front yard. No fence agreement with adjacent neighbors or posting of the property is required for this type of application. Posting the property and the 15 day appeal period is only required for fences in the front yard or the reducible front yard which are greater than 6 feet and less than 7 feet.

On August 19, 2003 the Miscellaneous Plan Permit was appealed by the adjacent property due to concerns about the location of the fence. (See Attachment 5, Letter of Appeal).

The proposed wood fence would be located in the required reducible front yard located on the Plymouth Avenue side of the applicant’s property. There is no fence currently existing in this yard at this time. (See Attachment 3, Site Plan).

The proposed fence would be 6 feet in height for a length of 24 feet in the reducible front yard area. It would be 6 feet high and 15 feet long along the rear property line. This smaller section of fence will tie into the existing 6 foot high fence along the rear property line. The proposed design is solid board-on-board construction. (See Attachment 3, Fence Detail).

The corner lot vision triangle is created by measuring 40 feet along each property line from the corner where the two street sides of the property line meet. Connecting these two lines with a diagonal line completes the vision triangle. The proposed fence is not located in this vision triangle. (See Attachment 3, Site Plans).

A Class 11 Categorical Exemption for accessory structures relieves this project from California Environmental Quality Act provisions and City Guidelines.

The appellant believes that the new fence would cause a safety hazard by blocking visibility of oncoming traffic. The appellant’s property fronts along Plymouth Drive and is two parcels East from the corner of Plymouth Drive and Lois Avenue. The appellant believes that the line of sight to this street corner, as viewed from their driveway, would be blocked by the new fence. This would make exiting the driveway in a vehicle difficult. The appellant states that cars regularly travel around this corner exceeding the allowed speed limit, which has created an unsafe situation. They are concerned that the proposed fence would further reduce the visibility of oncoming traffic and, therefore, compound the current unsafe situation. (Please refer to the appellant’s letters in Attachment 5 for additional details.)

Staff has determined that the safety of automobiles, pedestrians and bicyclists will be not by compromised by the addition of the fence. The fence is proposed to be build outside of the 40 foot vision triangle, which is what City code requires to ensure that there is adequate visibility at street corners. In addition, the fence will not be within the ten foot driveway vision triangle for the adjoining property.

The Traffic Department has not received complaints regarding speeding or traffic volume in this area and expects that there is a normal residential traffic volume. Although cars may occasionally exceed the allowed speed limit of 25 mph, there is not known to be a high incident of speeding in the area.

There are numerous examples of similar fences within the surrounding neighborhood that have also been approved by the City. Most of these are located on the reducible front yard property line, which is typically on the edge of the sidewalk. For the subject property, the property line is on the edge of the sidewalk, but the applicant is proposing to set the fence back one to two feet. This setback will provide an area for landscaping to help break up the appearance of the fence.

The applicant originally applied for a seven foot high fence. After discussions with Staff, the applicant modified their application to lower the high of the fence by one foot. Staff felt that a seven foot high fence was not characteristic of other fences in the neighborhood and was too tall to be located so close to the sidewalk. A condition of approval has been added in Attachment 2 that states the maximum height of the fence shall be six feet.

Findings, General Plan Goals and Conditions of Approval

Staff is recommending denial of this Appeal because the Findings (Attachment 1) for this Miscellaneous Plan Permit can be made. However, if the Planning Commission is not able to make the required Findings, Staff is recommending the Conditions of Approval in Attachment 2.

• Findings and General Plan Goals are located in Attachment 1.

• Conditions of Approval are located in Attachment 2.

Fiscal Impact

No fiscal impacts are expected.

Public Contact

Alternatives

1. Deny the appeal of the Miscellaneous Permit and uphold the decision of the Director of Community Development.
2. Grant the appeal of the Miscellaneous Permit with the recommended conditions of approval.
3. Grant the appeal of the Miscellaneous Permit with the modified conditions of approval.

Recommendation

Alternative 1.

Prepared by:

Steve Lynch
Project Planner

Reviewed by:

Fred Bell
Principal Planner

Reviewed by:

Trudi Ryan
Planning Officer

Attachments:

1. Findings
2. Conditions of Approval
3. Site Plans and Fence Detail
4. Photos of the Existing Site
5. Letter of Appeal

Findings – Miscellaneous Plan Permit

The Director or Planning Commission may approve any miscellaneous plan permit, as it finds desirable in the public interest, upon finding that the permit will either:

1. Attain the objectives and purposes of the general plan of the city of Sunnyvale

2. Ensure that the general appearance of proposed structures, or the uses to be made of the property to which the application refers, will not impair either the orderly development of, or the existing uses being made of, adjacent properties.

Conditions of Approval – Miscellaneous Plan Permit

In addition to complying with all applicable City, County, State and Federal Statutes, Codes, Ordinances and Resolutions, the Permittee expressly accepts and agrees to comply with the following Conditions of Approval for this Permit.

1. The maximum height of the fence shall not exceed six feet.
2. No hedges or other front yard enclosures are a part of this approval.
3. The Miscellaneous Plan Permit shall expire in one year as measured from the date of the approval by the final review authority at a public hearing.
4. This project must be in substantial conformance with the approved plans. Any major site and architectural plan modifications shall be treated as an amendment of the original approval and shall be subject to approval at a public hearing except that minor changes of the approved plans may be approved at the staff level by the Director of Community Development.

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