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The Danville Planning Commission is poised Tuesday to review an administrative decision by town staff to allow a new housing project to build a retaining wall exceeding the typical height requirement by six feet amid an appeal from neighboring residents.
Jamie and Nelson Cicchitto filed the appeal last month, expressing concerns that the more than nine-foot retaining wall set to be built as part of a new development at 562 El Pintado Road would result in a “loss of light and privacy” and pose a drainage risk to their property at 563 El Pintado Road.
Town staff are standing by the previous administrative decision, contending that the portion of the wall that would be more than six feet high is along a different property than the appellants’ and that multiple analyses had been conducted to ensure that allowing the variance to the town’s height limit of three feet, two inches for retaining walls would not negatively impact neighboring residents.
“The retaining wall permits have undergone multiple plan check reviews and extensive discussions regarding the ability to terrace, move, or reduce the retaining wall height,” project planner Riley Anderson-Barrett wrote in a staff report for the upcoming meeting. “The Variance was supported by the Town after extensive questioning regarding the ability to have code compliant retaining walls and the conclusion that alternate designs were not feasible without significantly reducing the usable rear yard area.”
Anderson-Barrett also noted that the town’s engineering division had “found no potential drainage impacts” associated with the project.
The Cicchittos said they were not opposed to the project itself, but asked that any retaining walls along their property line be held to a six-foot maximum, and for “protective conditions to be added before the variance is approved.”
They are also seeking a tree survey and protection plan for protected species in the neighborhood, a construction management plan to mitigate road impacts, and noted that the appealable notice sent to neighboring residents did not specify where the taller retaining wall would be.
“We think the standard variance findings — that this is the minimum necessary and won’t harm neighboring property — haven’t been shown for the walls facing us,” the appellants wrote in an email to Anderson-Barrett on Aug. 10.
Anderson-Barrett is recommending that commissioners uphold the town’s administrative approval for the variance and deny the appeal.
The Danville Planning Commission is set to meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday (Sept. 22). The agenda is available here.
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