To:      Ciddy Wordell; Piu Ghosh

From:     Daniel R. Price

Date: September 13, 2007

Re: Fatekh Vergasov Driveway Gate - 21921 Mc Clellan Road, Cupertino, CA 95014-4035

Accompanying please find a chronology of events I have prepared from information provided to me by Mr. Vergasov.  I believe it to be accurate but it has not been reviewed by Mr. Vergasov.  I have included a number of events which in and of themselves may only be indirectly relevant to the gate issue at hand but do provide some context and also provide information which you will be able to independently verify.

Mr. Vergasov was very interested in security and privacy at his personal residence.  As some evidence of this, he spent considerable sums of money to have the gas and electric meters moved to the front of the property and outside the gate so as to minimize intrusion even by utility employees.  The gate was an important part to this overall concern with privacy and security especially with the large population of students moving about in the relatively early morning and late afternoon directly across the street from his driveway and the relatively secluded location of his residence on this flag lot. Mr. Vergasov removed the existing gate because he understood that the gate would need to be relocated because of a new front property line. 

Mr. Vergasov understood that the code required that any such gate be 30 feet from the front lot line and his existing gate was 30 feet from the front lot line.  Upon learning that there would be a new front lot line which would move that front property line 10 feet down the driveway, he realized that his existing gate would then be only 20 feet from the new property line.  And upon being advised by a person at the planning department that the existing gate may will be a problem with the new property line, he concluded that he needed to relocate the gate.  As a result of damage to the gate related to the actual process of removing the gate and the prior deterioration of the gate, he decided to buy a new gate to install 30’ from the new front lot line which like the old gate would be metal.[1]

If Mr. Vergasov had not understood that he needed to move the existing gate, that existing gate would remain precisely where it was.  But once he understood that he must move the gate he began consideration of how he might improve the appearance of the gate and determined to install a more structurally sound and less unattractive gate for his benefit, the benefit of his neighbors (the gate would be similar to the gate several doors down) and the City.  He did not hide the fact that he contemplated a new location for a new gate as it was openly discussed and as he thought he was being mindful of the statement that the planner had made regarding a potential problem with the gate location because of the new property line. 

He has otherwise been scrupulous in obtaining the necessary permits for doing work on the property for which he understood there to be a permit requirement.   He did become frustrated with the subsequent request for justification of what he was doing with the gate and due primarily to this frustration and language barrier did not well articulate the legitimate concerns he then had.[2]  He did believe that when Noren Caliva’s concerns (related to a site visit) seemed to shift to height and dimension and fire truck passing issues and no longer whether the gate was improperly located or constructed.

Because his conclusion that he needed to relocate the existing gate was reasonable in that it was based on the explicit comments and acknowledgements of various representatives of the City of Cupertino and others prior to the time he removed the existing gate (see chronology), and for reasons of fundamental fairness, it is hoped that the staff will revisit its previous conclusions regarding the appropriate consequences related to that removal and subsequent installation of a new metal gate.  After you have had an opportunity to review the attached, I would like to meet with you once again to discuss alternatives.  Thank you for your anticipated consideration.