At 73 Via La Brisa, a 457-square-foot second story wins approval — with the front pulled back inch by inch
At 73 Via La Brisa, applicant Mark Wittenkeller, working for owners Patrick and Lindsey Stewart, asked for design review and a floor area ratio exception to add a 457-square-foot second story over the garage of an existing 3,844-square-foot two-story home. The addition — two bedrooms and a laundry area — would bring the house to 4,301 square feet, an FAR of 0.445 where 0.40 (3,864 square feet) is the maximum in the R-1 district. Staff recommended the commission hold the hearing and approve the project with findings, conditions and a Class 1 CEQA exemption.
“I think it's a lovely design.”— Commissioner Tamara, on the 73 Via La Brisa addition
The applicant told commissioners he had worked for months with the three-person architecture committee of the Larkspur Marina Property Owners Association and came in with seven neighborhood signatures and a support letter from the neighbor across the street. Patrick Stewart made the family's case directly: four kids, a son who will match his father's height in a few years, and in-laws over 80 who will likely be staying with them — standard ratios, he said, are hard for a family that size to work with.
The friction was about bulk, not neighbors. Commissioner Brock Hall said he didn't think any nearby home had a two-story element sitting right at the front like that, and urged pulling it back to break up what he called a big block. Commissioner Wagstaff noted the addition atop the garage could look formidable from the street, and that the result would be the second-largest house by floor area and fourth-largest by FAR in the neighborhood. Hall pressed the broader point: the commission is supposed to decide what's good for the town in general, and if this one goes through, the next one does the same thing. Chair Swisser said he understood the massing concern but was not inclined to delay the applicant a month given the marina's wide variety of houses and the neighbor support. The Community Development Director asked the commission to decide that night and give clear direction rather than hand the details to staff.
The applicant negotiated on the spot, offering to pull the bedroom wall back eight inches and the bay window six, so the window aligns with the garage face. The commission approved the project 4-0 (Hall, Wagstaff, Campbell, Swisser), with conditions requiring the bay window to align with the garage face, the side bedroom walls pulled back further to preserve articulation, board-and-batten Hardie panel siding with pinstriping in place of shingle, and a standing seam metal roof replacing the eave design. Commissioner Chalmers recused because of the property's proximity to his own.