Planning Commission gives feedback
on proposed hillside home
June 03, 2015
By Noe Garcia
Santa Paula News
By Noe Garcia
Santa Paula Times
The Planning Commission dealt with a request for a Conditional Use Permit for an industrial warehouse and a concept review of a hillside home this past month in an unusually short meeting that lasted just over 50 minutes.
Deputy Planning Director, Stratis Perros, said the 66,400-square-foot industrial warehouse would be located at 250 Dove Court, just east of the Santa Paula Creek, and be used entirely for business with a front office space. The application was submitted by Bendpak Inc., a car repair and maintenance business, wanted the Commission to know that they were trying to develop the last piece of land around them.
The industrial warehouse would help with efficiency of the company and balancing in overseas inventory. It would also be a 34.5 foot, one-story building on a vacant 3.5 acre parcel with loading docks in the back for trucks.
Chairman Ike Ikerd asked if neighbors were OK with the warehouse being built in the vicinity. Perros said no one had an issue with it and Commissioner Michael Sommer motioned for approval. The Conditional Use Permit for the industrial warehouse was unanimously approved 4-0, as Commissioner John Wisda was absent from the meeting.
On the “New Business” agenda was a concept review of a proposed single family residential hillside home. Perros said the family was looking for “feedback” more than anything before they began spending a lot of money on a costly project. Chairman Ikerd had to recuse himself because of his close proximity to the house in review.
The proposed home would be a 3,000-square-foot two-story single family home at 516 Montclair Place on a vacant 2.42 parcel. Feedback on the home included items such as looking at the ridgeline and preserving the view of the hillside. Current digital renderings show the ridgeline would be covered by the home. Commissioner John Demers made it a point to say he would like the ridgeline not to be covered by the home
“Maybe plant some trees behind the home,” Demers said. “It would raise the ridgeline without it necessarily being covered.”
Perros said that modifying the track conditions is an option in order to lower the home so it’ll comply with regulations. The Planning Commission could only help so much last night, though.
“Most of what [the owners are] asking is not in our jurisdiction,” Sommer said. “If I owned that lot I’d be [building a home].”
The current owner of the lot was present at the meeting and made the point that the lot as well as the other eight were approved to be built on in 1995, but only four of the nine lots have been built out. Vice Chairman Fred Robinson noted that many of the issues would have to be taken to City Council.
“We don’t want to be part of the issue of making things slow,” Robinson said. “We want things to move along.”
Perros said they would “meet with the applicants after the meeting and we’ll bring back the application if and when it’s ready.” Vice Chairman Robinson encouraged them to move forward with the application because he would like to see some more homes built on the hills instead of vacant lots.
The next Planning Commission Meeting is scheduled for June 23 at 6:30 p.m.
