2003-10-02 TSOTO - Laserfiche WebLink

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Alternatively, if Mr. Soto wants to keep the maximum 12 units, h building by just five feet. Four buildings times five feet each would be over a 20-foot reduction in the total length of the building. Our contention is that removing five feet from each unit, from the floor space of each unit, does not depr Ðreasonable use of the land.Ñ The buildable area of this parcel is between 40 and 52 percent, depending on side-yard widths that are used. Just this morning it was faxed to me the latest Planning Department calculations. I see the map of the Soto project is gone. But if you can look here, the ocean, makai side is at the bottom of the page. The Parcel No. 12 is a road easement, it is not Alii Drive. ItÓs a road easement only that fronts the mauka side of Mr. SotoÓs parcel. The calculations that were done were done, that were done originally here by the Planning Commission, and IÓm not sure if theyÓre final or just first a shot, but it includes a 20-foot setback from Parcel 12. That, I guess, would be normally considered a typical setback form the street. Well, in fact, Parcel 12 is a 25-foot wide roadway easement already. It is not allowed to be built on, itÓs a non-buildable parcel. On the opposite side of Parcel 12 is the Sun Terra Long House office, thatÓll be the closest property, the closest building to Mr. SotoÓs project on the mauka side of his land. So we already have a condition where Parcel 12 creates at least a 25-foot buffer between Mr. SotoÓs neighbor in the Sun Terra property. In order to get a less than 50 percent buildable area, one technique is to use the 20-foot street setback abutting Parcel 12. While, this seems redundant to us because it would, in fact, create a 45- to 50-foot buffer on the mauka side of Mr. SotoÓs property if you include the 25-foot non-buildable road easement of Parcel 12. We have a very unusual circumstance here of Mr. SotoÓs property having a 50-foot buffer from the nearest building on the mauka side but only a 20-foot shoreline setback. It seems to us that in order to keep with Rule 8, we ought to be interested in keeping a 40- foot shoreline setback and having a narrower setback on the mauka side. ThereÓs plenty of room there for variances on the mauka setbacks so that we donÓt need to encroach on the shoreline. I spoke with Corey Foulk, Mr. SotoÓs architect, he was very willing to show us the viewplanes for the project, and I thank him for his help. I believe we discussed this at the meeting or perhaps in a subsequent telephone conversation about how side-yard variances could give Mr. Soto a 50 percent buildable area. He said, I believe his idea is that thatÓs irrelevant because with a 3-1/2 story building, 14-foot side-yard should be used. What it entailed here is that the owner of a single-family home using 10-foot side- backs on Mr. SotoÓs property would have his 50 percent buildable area and would not be able to ask for a 20-foot shoreline setback. But because Mr. Soto has a 3-1/2 story building and is using wider side-yard setbacks, his buildable area comes out less than 50 percent. 20