Neighbors, a Mount Tam view, and a 4,526 sq ft house: Riviera Circle project continued for redesign

The week's only public meeting produced its only real fight. At 334 Riviera Circle, owner Josh Rufener and architect Eric Leighton asked the Planning Commission to bless demolition of an existing 2,586-square-foot one-story house and construction of a 4,526-square-foot two-story replacement on a 12-foot raised foundation for flood compliance. Staff recommended approval with findings, conditions and a Class 3 CEQA exemption. Rufener, a contractor who intends to build and live in the house, promised to be a responsive neighbor: "This is going to be our dream home... I'll be able to monitor, listen to everybody's concerns." Leighton came in with mitigations already in hand — gable ends converted to hipped roofs, floor-to-floor heights dropped six inches, and upper stories "wedding-caked" back on all sides.

“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

It was not enough for the block. 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 nothing in the application materials told them what they stood to lose. Steve Horn of 321 Riviera Circle said the house "dwarfs the two-story homes on either side... Please consider reducing the overall height and bulk." Ken Marowitz of 340 Riviera Circle recounted losing his own Mount Tam view years ago to a neighbor's construction while he was away at trial, and warned that raising grades unevenly along the creek could push floodwater between houses.

Commissioners converged 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 figured "8ft plates upstairs with volume ceilings and 9 foot plates downstairs are pretty adequate for a new house." Vice Chair Campbell, invoking the Rolling Stones on the difference between what you want and what you need, pushed for lower second-floor plates. Chair Swisser recused himself — he lives in the neighborhood — and the remaining four voted 4-0 to continue the item, directing a reduction of roughly two feet in height plus a general trim in mass. The project comes back after redesign; no return date was set.

'Corte Madera has got far more reasonable FAR regulations than Larkspur' — commission points staff toward a rewrite

The same night the commission spent an hour on how big one house should be, it took up the rules that are supposed to answer that question in advance. Staff returned with a comparison of Larkspur's floor area ratio standards against Corte Madera's, plus a more radical alternative: drop FAR entirely and govern house size through building envelope and lot coverage. Open questions included whether to exempt garages and subgrade space, whether the slope formula survives, and whether to keep an exception process at all.

Commissioners were unsentimental about the status quo. One said flatly that "Corte Madera has got far more reasonable FAR regulations than Larkspur does," and that adopting something similar "would go a long way." Commissioner Brock questioned whether the slope ordinance accomplishes anything with modern construction, saying it doesn't work. Community Development Director Alex offered the constraint: state law requires objective design criteria for residential approvals, so whatever replaces FAR has to be measurable and tied to health and safety findings, not discretion.

There was no formal vote, but a clear consensus: draft an ordinance on the Corte Madera model, adjusted for Larkspur's slopes, small lots and easements, with narrow exception criteria plus perhaps a catch-all "reasonable" standard, and bring it back with test cases. The practical catch is staffing — "it's just Alex and I and Matthew and that's the entire department right now" — so the drafting may be contracted out. Don't expect it soon.