Letter- Proposed Conversion Condo to TH - 2012CITY of CAMPBELL
Community Development Department
January 26, 2012
Pat Hinoki
134 W. Rincon Ave., #Q
Campbell, CA 95008
Re: Address: 134 W. Rincon Ave.
Subject: Condominium to Townhome Conversion
Dear Ms. Hinoki,
This letter is in response to your inquiry regarding the possibly of converting your condominium
community (Winchester II Condos) to townhomes, as described in the January 9, 2012 letter
prepared by Jeff Cochran, president of the Board of Directors of the Home Owners Association
(HOA). Mr. Cochran indicates that the HOA Board will be pursuing a rewrite of the
community's CC&Rs, that among other changes, would "reflect our status as an association of
Townhomes instead of Condominiums". The intent of such a change is to transfer responsibility
of maintenance and repair of certain building components from the HOA to individual
homeowners.
The Tentative Subdivision Map (TS 78-11) for this development allowed for the creation of
condominium "air space" units, as indicated on the recorded tract map. A change in wording in
the CC&R's cannot alter this existing form of land division. To create townhome (fee simple)
parcels would require approval of a new Tentative Subdivision Map and related City land use
entitlements. However, it would appear that compliance with applicable California Building
Code (CBC) standards would likely preclude the creation of townhomes. In switching from
condominium units to townhomes, each dwelling would have a true property line between each
adjacent unit. As a result, the walls separating the units would be considered fire walls and need
to comply with CBC Section 706. The issue of concern is the need for atwo-hour fire wall rating
per CBC Section 706.4, where it is likely that the walls separating the units are one-hour rated.
The other major issue would be compliance with the structural stability requirements of CBC
Section 706.2. Essentially, the townhomes need to be structurally supported in such a way that
one of the sides can collapse without affecting the integrity of the fire wall for the duration of the
134 W. Rincon Ave. Page 2 of 2
2-hour rating. Other issues of concern would be whether or not utility services are passing
through the existing walls that will now become the fire walls. CBC Section 706.1.1 requires no
openings in the party walls. Lastly, the fire wall horizontal and vertical extensions of CBC
Section 706.5 and 706.6 may cause difficulties if units have existing projections (i.e decks
or porch roofs) extending beyond the exterior walls and how to comply with the vertical
extension (parapet - or equivalent) requirements could also be troublesome.
The above issues notwithstanding, pursuant to the Condition of Approval No. 7 of the Tentative
Subdivision Map TS 78-11 (reference enclosure), the CC&Rs for this community were subject to
approval by the City. As such, the City maintains the perpetual right to review and approve any
and all changes to the community's CC&Rs to ensure conformance with the City's approval of
the subdivision. The City would not be supportive of any change to the CC&Rs that would
inaccurately refer to these condominium units as townhomes. This would likely cause confusion
among prospective buyers and real estate agents that would put the City in the position of having
to explain the discrepancy.
If you should have any questions regarding this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me at
(408) 866-2193 or by email at danielf(a,cityofcampbell.com.
Sincerely,
Daniel Fama
Assistant Planner
Encl: Conditions of Approval - TS 78-11
cc: Paul Kermoyan, Planning Manager
Ed Arango, Associate Engineer
Bill Bruckart, Building Official
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