Council approves site development permit and small variance at 17951 Saratoga-Los Gatos Road

Monte Sereno’s City Council voted Aug. 19 to approve a site development permit for additions at 17951 Saratoga-Los Gatos Road and to grant a minor variance allowing a 22-foot second-story side-yard setback where the zoning code requires 25 feet.

Staff told the council the project includes an approximately 829-square-foot single-story addition and an approximately 1,289-square-foot second-story addition, and that no trees would be removed. Staff also reported it could not make the standard variance findings based on unique property circumstances, and that the Site & Architecture Commission recommended approval of the site-development permit but had not recommended the variance. Council and staff discussed that the existing house is a legal nonconforming structure built before the city's incorporation and that, without the variance, there would be a nearly 3-foot gap preventing internal access between second-story areas.

After extended debate about the narrow scope of the variance and potential precedential effects, the council voted to adopt findings tailored to this property — including that the proposed encroachment would not be visible from the surrounding area and that conditions could prevent special privileges — and approved the permit and variance by roll-call vote.

City staff said the variance is intended to address a practical difficulty specific to this lot; any future reconstruction or new houses would still require separate permits and conformity with the city’s development standards.