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The CETTMcMansion assault on what most Sierra Madre residents know as One Carter has been going on for close to two years now. The attempt to build just one oversized house amidst this absurdly configured batch of hillside lots has been to the Planning Commission more times than I can remember. It also went to the City Council once, and then reverted back again to where it all began for even more meetings. But tonight should be the final showdown. At least at the Planning Commission level. The big question being where this will all end up next, and if that place will be the Courts.
The plans for the proposed home at 610 Baldwin Court are now at their closest approximation to what the Planning Commission had been patiently requesting over the course of all these many meetings. But is CETT's hoped for happy home now where it needs to be to get the approval required for a Conditional Use Permit and a Hillside Development Permit? Both necessary for building such a thing? Or can it be that there are other, more legal forces at work?
Here is how the Agenda Report, as written by Sierra Madre Assistant Planner Dereck Puraficacion, describes the latest changes to what has become known as the house of many shapes and sizes.
And that is the catch. While CETT's highly admired architect Adele Chang has reduced the size of this still quite substantial home, has the applicant done enough to get the approval they have spent a lot of time trying to get from the Planning Commission this evening? Or is it just the same McMansion it was all those other iterations ago, with just a few nips and tucks applied to give it the appearance of compliance?
And then there is this question. Does CETT really want this to be approved? Or have they now thrown something together that they know will be rejected, preferring instead to try their luck in a Court of Law somewhere?
I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
The meeting is tonight at 7PM. You should be there. Remember, it might be about one McMansion style house tonight. But if approved, it will make all that follows so much easier to get approved as well.
The following letter from Teryl Willis went out from Preserve Sierra Madre yesterday. I thought I should add it here.
The people who wrote the guidelines Teryl cites here had the best of intentions for our town. Let's hope their hard work and vision plays a big role this evening.
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