Foster City Planning Meeting 5/3/07 2 Story On Eichler Lot
Alert!
The Foster City Planning Commission will be reviewing plans for a two-story home at 1017 Gull Avenue.
On 5/3/2007 at 7 PM
Why should you care?
The planning commission has gone on the record stating they want to encourage 2nd story additions to Eichler homes. This project helps set the precedent and make it easier to get 2nd story addition permits approved.
Do you want your neighbors to have a 2nd story view through your big windows into your home?
Neighborhood 1 residents: This could be the future of the house that burned on Lurline Drive a few months back.
Find out more!
Make your opinion heard!
Meeting location Council Chambers 620 Foster City Boulevard, Foster City, CA
Project Planner Leslie Carmichael, (650) 286-3236
Tonight was the Foster City Planning Commission Special Study meeting.
I made flyers to inform Foster City Eichler owners about the meeting and the precident that the Planning Commission wants to set and the danger to the privacy of Eichler owners from 2 story homes/addition to homes pose to our neighborhoods.
I put these flyers (that said about same thing as my previous post on this forum) attached via rubber bands to the door handles of most Eichler homes in neiborhoods 2 (where the 2 story constuction will occur) and all of the Eichlers I know of in neighborhood 4. I ran out of time for neighborhood 1.
If you were interested in defending our neighborhooods and I did not get a flyler to you, I appologize. I have to work and take care of my family and my time to devote to this cause is limited. If I had e-mail addresses to send information to it would be much faster to get the word out about challenges.
The result of all this effort appears to have been that one homeowner next to the burned out site may have attended. She might have come even without the flyer. She liked the proposed design and did not oppose the two story next to her house. Neither did the homeowner to the other side of the burned out site.
I may be wrong but what I take away from this experience is that Foster City Eichler owners are complacent and unwilling to fight for the blessing bestowed upon us by Jacke Foster and Co. and Eichler and Co. against a pro development Planning Commission and selfish homeowners who don't value the concerns of their neighbors.
When your neighbor wants to put a second story home next to your Eichler and there is no policy or persons to opposite it, remember this lost opportunity to stand against such developments.
You may respond to this board or e-mail me at fcloonie AT comcast DOT net.
Thanks for reading my post.
good luck!
I got one of those flyers, but I had a prior commitment.
I have been very unhappy to see all the Eichlers altered in Foster City myself. After so many years, I have come to realize, the owners of these homes are not deliberatly being bad in the changes.
I see several issues. And I don't put blame on these owners.
One: They ignorant. They are second or third or forth owners, they mostly don't know what they have. They are not aware of Joe Eichler or what Mid Century Modern is. They just found a house and bought it.
Two: They are not design savvy, or not so concerned about such matters. They'd be just as happy in a traditional tract or ranch house. So changes to modernize it are done by just as ignorant contractors.
Three: They just want a nice house and they do own it, so it's theirs to do what they want.
I live in a court where some do care and the other half fall into catagory Two and Three. One family moved in last year and I saw sheet rockers go in and out the house. It was a real pity.
What I have done is lead by example. I must be the only one to have done so much restoration work in the past 5 years. It affected two houses to also use Eichler siding and also restore the garage door on one house. Those houses have the original colors and my house, while I painted it last November is still not the right color and I plan to paint it again this summer to get it closer to original. A third house is looking at doing similar siding repairs.
I am also looking at the idea of applying for the Foster City Planning Commission job. There is one opening there. But I want to learn more about the job. It may involve approving colors for awnings at the corner gas station or be very political. Both of which I have no interest in.
Maybe Marty has advise. I am looking into past issues of the Newsletter to see what was done at the Cupertino Eichler tract where they got Historic status.
Foster City is ownly about 45 years old, the first houses built in 1964. There is no sense of Historic Preservation here. Even the T. Jack Foster building was torn down after I raised a stink about it to the Foster Family member to stop it. He was more interested in a modern building. I think Eichler had a family member who lived here in an Eichler home.
I'll look at what I can do, raise awareness, and help fcloonie where I can!
