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Design Review Board approves Mar West Street addition and ADU; requires landscape screening
Summary
The board approved a plan that merges 1911 and 1915 Mar West, adds a garage and an ADU and terraces the new volume into the hillside; neighbors raised view and privacy concerns, and the approval includes a condition requiring a landscape screening plan.
The Tiburon Town Design Review Board approved on April 3 a project that merges two neighboring lots at 1911 and 1915 Mar West Street and adds a terrace-style house with an attached garage and a lower-level accessory dwelling unit (ADU). The board adopted the draft resolution with a new condition requiring the applicants to submit a landscape plan that provides screening to ground-to-eave height along the side yard to soften the façade and preserve neighbor privacy.
Architect Sean Bailey described a plan that keeps the top-level character of an existing midcentury house while adding living area, a garage and a lower-level ADU tucked into the hillside. Bailey said the design minimizes new visible mass by terracing down the hill and by using materials that reference the existing concrete masonry unit (CMU) core and board-formed concrete. The team listed a new garage of about 670 square feet, an ADU of just under 500 square feet and an upper level of roughly 1,600 square feet; applicants said only about 10–15% of the lower lot will be developed.
Neighbors raised concerns about view loss and daylighting. Elizabeth Zetterstan of 110 Las Lomas Lane said the project would affect primary rooms in her home — kitchen, dining room and living room — and that her historic unobstructed views across the vacant lot would be altered. The applicants described several design changes made after neighbor outreach: story poles to show the ADU corner, pushing the ADU back two additional feet after a neighbor’s comment, reducing the ADU footprint and removing an ADU balcony. The applicants also said they will provide an arborist report when required and are planning additional screening plantings.
Board action and conditions: After extended discussion about view impact, landscaping and the stair/driveway alignment, the board approved the draft resolution and added a condition requiring the applicant to submit a landscape plan that provides screening and softening down the side yard. The board also recorded a recusal: one member left the dais for this item to avoid an appearance of bias because of a personal relationship with the applicant; that member did not participate in deliberation or vote.
Why it matters: The project substantially reconfigures two merged lots in a sensitive hillsides neighborhood with close property spacing; the board’s added landscaping condition aims to mitigate privacy and visual impacts for a neighbor who identified her water and skyline views as primary for her living and dining areas.
Next steps: The applicants will provide the required landscape plan and any required arborist documentation; planning staff will review submittals for compliance with the board’s condition and standard building and grading requirements.
