Commission continues 4,526 sq ft Riviera Circle home, tells architect to cut two feet and trim the mass

At 334 Riviera Circle, the owners asked the Planning Commission to approve demolition of an existing 2,586-square-foot one-story house and construction of a new 4,526-square-foot, two-story residence set on a 12-foot raised foundation for flood compliance. Staff recommended the Commission take testimony and approve the design with findings, conditions, and a Class 3 CEQA exemption.

“What's right now open, bright, private, opens onto a view of Mount Tam would just become a wall of buildings that look right into our bedroom.”— Jasmine Darnik, neighbor at 328 Riviera Circle, speaking for her mother

Owner and applicant Josh Rufener, a contractor who plans to build and live in the house, told the Commission, "This is going to be our dream home... I'll have a lot of control over the project. I'll be able to monitor, listen to everybody's concerns if there are any during the process and make sure to keep everybody happy because we are going to be living there." Architect Eric Leighton offered mitigations already: converting gable ends to hipped roofs, dropping floor-to-floor height by six inches, and stepping the upper story back — "wedding-caking" — on all sides.

Neighbors said that wasn't enough. Jasmine Darnik, speaking for her mother at 328 Riviera Circle, said the family learned of the project only 10 days before the meeting and that the application materials never mentioned what they would lose. Steve Horn of 321 Riviera Circle told the Commission, "The proposed project dwarfs the two-story homes on either side of 334 Riviera Circle, not to mention the majority of homes on Riviera Circle. Please consider reducing the overall height and bulk." Ken Marowitz of 340 Riviera Circle described losing his own Mount Tam view to a neighbor's construction years ago, and warned that uneven raising of grades along the creek could worsen flooding between houses.

Commissioners largely agreed on height. "I did think it's too high... I was surprised at how high they were compared to the properties on either side," said Commissioner Hall. Commissioner Wagstaff added, "I think uh 8ft plates upstairs with volume ceilings and 9 foot plates downstairs are pretty adequate for a new house... I think it could be reduced in size a bit." Vice Chair Campbell pressed for lower second-floor plate heights. Chair Swisser recused himself because he lives in the neighborhood, and the remaining commissioners voted 4-0 to continue the item, directing the applicant to lower the house by roughly two feet and reduce overall mass, including hipped roofs and lower plate heights. The project returns to the Commission after redesign.

Commission leans toward scrapping Larkspur's FAR rules in favor of Corte Madera's

Staff returned with a follow-up analysis comparing Larkspur's floor area ratio standards to Corte Madera's, plus an alternative that would drop FAR altogether and regulate house size through building envelope and lot coverage instead. The questions on the table: whether to exempt garages and subgrade space from FAR math, whether to keep the slope formula, and whether to preserve an exception process at all.

Commissioners were blunt about the current rules. "You know what I found really interesting... looking at the comparison, Corte Madera has got far more reasonable FAR regulations than Larkspur does... I think possibly just adopting similar to what Corte Madera has would go a long way," one commissioner said. Commissioner Brock questioned whether the slope ordinance serves any purpose with modern construction, saying it doesn't work.

Community Development Director Alex cautioned that state law requires objective design criteria for residential approvals, limiting how much discretion the city can build into any new standard, and that FAR rules must be objective and tied to health and safety findings. Commissioners floated pairing narrow exception criteria — small lots, steep slopes, easement constraints — with a catch-all "reasonable" standard, noting that tight rules can't anticipate every lot.

There was no formal vote, but consensus to have staff draft an ordinance modeled on Corte Madera's system with Larkspur-specific adjustments, and return with a draft plus test cases. One wrinkle: the department is down to three people — "it's just Alex and I and Matthew and that's the entire department right now" — so the drafting may be contracted out.