Decision on ridge home plan delayed
A proposed two-story home on a ridge overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge did not get the city approval the applicant was seeking this week.
After a nearly six-hour-long discussion Wednesday, Sausalito’s Planning Commission unanimously voted to resume its hearing until April 21.
The delay gives the project architect, Scott Couture, a chance to return with solutions to mitigate the commissioners’ concerns about the project. These include reducing window reflection; adding safety guardrails in the driveway; conducting a shading study to show the impact to neighboring homes; and providing a detailed landscape plan.
The co-owners of the property — Tserenpuntsag Tsedendamba and Bazarsad Oigonjargal — are proposing a 5,165-square-foot residence with four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a gym, a home theater, a prayer room, an internal patio, a spa, an outdoor water feature and a 1,490-square-foot underground three-car garage.
Couture told the commission his clients hoped the plan would be approved. He said the process has been a four-year journey involving three planners, two community development directors and one patient family.
“The Tsedendambas are longterm residents of Sausalito,” he said. “They’ve wanted to make this property their home for over a decade. It took them many years to convince Alan Patterson to sell it to them, and for the past four years we have done everything within reason to try to appease the neighbors.”
The project revisions have included reducing the height by excavating an underground garage; replacing a pool with a water feature; adding a concrete wall on the east side of the property to protect the privacy of Bruce McMillan, who lives next door; promising to preserve root systems of cypress trees; and adding additional oak trees to reduce visibility from the trails in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
However, some commenters during the meeting were not satisfied with the changes.
Sausalito resident Linda Fairchild said she uses a nearby trail frequently and does not think the ridge is a suitable place to build.
“I’m appalled,” Fairchild said. “This is like a developer planning to build along on the edge of Yosemite.”
McMillan said the design is beautiful, but he is concerned the
home would negatively impact the neighborhood and the 80,000 acres of federally protected open space. He said the project would impact his privacy due to a shared driveway, the home looming above his and the installation of a water feature near his living room.
McMillan’s attorney, Len Rifkind, said the project is not within the 2,000to 4,000-square foot limitation set by a 1989 environmental impact report, which was part of a 1993 legal settlement that created the 10-lot Wolfback Estates subdivision.
Couture argued that none of the homes on Wolfback Ridge is smaller than 4,000 square feet.
“The mass of our project is smaller than any home around,” he said. “It’s less than 3,400 square feet above grade. … This 2,000to 4,000-square-foot limitation is not a limit.”
Alan Patterson III, a member of the Patterson Trust, which owns two lots on the ridge, said denying the project would be unfair.
“It would be by far the most environmentally conscientious house built as it is currently designed,” Patterson said. “I would welcome the impact, minimal as it is, to the two properties that the trust owns, both the adjacent property and the other property that would be affected by this development.”
The Patterson Trust sold project lot to the Tsedendamba family for about $8 million. It also sold three more parcels to the Tsedendambas on the west side of Wolfback Ridge Road.
“The recorded sale price was $15,000 for all three parcels,” said Shelly Scott, the county assessor, recorder and clerk. “The buyer is 789 Wolfback Ridge LLC.”
The corporation is owned by the Tsedendamba family, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office.
Riley Hurd, an attorney representing the Tsedendamba family, said rumors that his client plans to develop the lots are false.
“First and foremost, my client has zero interest or tolerance for doing another project on Wolfback Ridge,” Hurd wrote. “No one would want to go through this twice.”