Truckee Planning Commission continues review of Van Gorder residence, directs design changes

The Truckee Town Planning Commission on a 4-0 vote continued the application for the Van Gorder residence — a proposed 4,795-square-foot single-family home on Southeast River Street in the Downtown Truckee river character area — and asked the applicant to return with revised materials, reduced glazing, and new renderings that more closely follow the town's historic design guidelines.

Staff presentation and request for guidance

Chelsea, a planning staff member, told commissioners the project requests a historic design review, zoning clearance and a certificate of appropriateness for a new three-story (including a daylighting walkout basement) single-family residence. "The project before you this evening is the Van Gorder residence," Chelsea said, and noted the property lies in the historic overlay’s river character area. She said the applicant’s current design includes a graphite standing-seam metal roof, gray fiber-cement vertical siding, full-story-height stone veneer and red-cedar accents, and that staff could not make the findings to approve the project because of its size, modern roof forms and prominent glazing. Chelsea summarized prior review: an initial HPAC (Historic Preservation Advisory Commission) review in December 2024 resulted in a continuance and feedback to reduce scale and make materials more traditional; a March 2025 HPAC review resulted in a 3-0 recommendation for approval to the community development director; and the community development director then elevated the project to the Planning Commission for policy guidance.

Why the commission’s review matters

The commission's discussion centered on whether the proposed home is consistent with the Downtown Truckee plan’s historic design guidelines (chapters 13 and 17) and the river character area. Chelsea told the commission staff measured historic building sizes in the river character area and found an average historic structure size of 2,193 square feet (average historic residence: 1,888 sq ft). By contrast, the proposed Van Gorder house is 4,795 sq ft; staff noted an adjacent historic residence is 4,440 sq ft but is an outlier and its large addition predated the current advisory commission. Chelsea said staff recommended denial and offered specific edits the applicant could pursue to allow the community development director to make the approval findings (for example, lowering stone veneer height, switching to painted horizontal wood-style siding, reducing window area and eliminating the basement to reduce apparent stories). Staff also noted a CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) determination referenced in the staff report (CEQA Guidelines section 15270) and provided timing information for an appeal if the commission had denied the project.

Applicant presentation and neighbors’ remarks

Jennifer Van Gorder, the property owner, told the commission she and her family want to build a home in Truckee and that the lot has been in her family; she said the team has revised plans in response to earlier feedback and cited chapter 13 of the…