1 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
2 COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA
3 --oOo--
4
5 RALPH SIMPSON, )
)
6 Plaintiff, )
)
6 vs. )
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8 LOU RAE KAGEL; LYNN O'BRIEN; JAMES )
O'BRIEN; STONEHENGE PROPERTIES, INC.; )
7 VALLEY OF CALIFORNIA, INC. dba ) No. 105CV053398
COLDWELL BANKER; DOUGLAS REA; and )
10 DOES ONE through TWENTY, inclusive, )
)
11 Defendants. )
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12 AND RELATED ACTIONS. )
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14
15 DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE
16 Monday, November 13, 2006
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21 Taken before JANELL SOKOL, CSR, CM
License No. C-3443, State of California
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23
DIABLO VALLEY REPORTING SERVICES
24 Certified Shorthand Reporters
2121 N. California Blvd., Suite 310
25 Walnut Creek, California 94596
925-930-7388 1
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 I N D E X
2 PAGE
3 EXAMINATION BY:
4 MR. KOSS 5
5 MR. THOMAS 53
6 MR. REEVES 65
7 FURTHER EXAMINATION BY:
8 MR. KOSS 76
9 --oOo--
10
11
12 E X H I B I T S
13 NUMBER PAGE
14 1 Plans 51
15 2 One-page handwritten calculations 51
16 3 Summary of Development Standards 51
17 4 Three drawings 51
18 5 Key to Story Poles/Netting 65
19 6 6/29/00 letter to Monte Sereno Planning 66
Department from Jim Stroupe
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7 11/19/99 letter to Jim Stroupe from 70
21 Howard Bell
22 8 Flier re 17682 Blanchard Drive 72
23 --oOo--
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2
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 BE IT REMEMBERED, that pursuant to notice to the
2 respective parties, and on Monday, the 13th day of
3 November, 2006, commencing at the hour of 9:00 a.m.
4 thereof, at the Law Offices of GAGEN, McCOY, McMAHON, KOSS,
5 MARKOWITZ & RAINES, 279 Front Street, Danville, California,
6 before me, JANELL SOKOL, a Certified Shorthand Reporter,
7 License No. C-3443, State of California, there personally
8 appeared:
9 JAMES STROUPE,
10 called as a witness on behalf of the defendants, who, being
11 first duly sworn, was then and there examined and
12 interrogated as hereinafter set forth.
13 --oOo--
14
15 BRANDON L. REEVES, Attorney at Law, representing
16 the Law Offices of GREENE, CHAUVEL, DESCALSO & MINOLETTI,
17 951 Mariner's Island Boulevard, Suite 630, San Mateo,
18 California 94404, appeared as counsel on behalf of the
19 plaintiff;
20
21 CHARLES A. KOSS, Attorney at Law, representing the
22 Law Offices of GAGEN, McCOY, McMAHON, KOSS, MARKOWITZ &
23 RAINES, 279 Front Street, Danville, California 94526,
24 appeared as counsel on behalf of defendant Lou Rae Kagel;
25
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 GRANT H. TURNER, Attorney at Law, representing the
2 Law Offices of GLASPY & GLASPY, INC., 1550 The Alameda,
3 Suite 200, San Jose, California 95126-2325, appeared as
4 counsel on behalf of defendants O'Brien and Stonehenge
5 Properties;
6
7 STEPHEN W. THOMAS, Attorney at Law, representing
8 the Law Offices of NRT Incorporated Western Division, 12657
9 Alcosta Boulevard, Suite 500, San Ramon, California 94583,
10 appeared as counsel on behalf of the defendant Valley of
11 California, Inc. dba Coldwell Banker.
12
13 --oOo--
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 JAMES STROUPE,
2 called as a witness on behalf of the defendants,
3 having first been duly sworn by the court reporter
4 to testify the truth, the whole truth and nothing
5 but the truth, testified as follows:
6 --oOo--
7 EXAMINATION
8 BY MR. KOSS:
9 Q. Mr. Stroupe, can you please state your name and
10 your address.
11 A. James Reed Stroupe. I'm at 67 Janin Place in
12 Pleasant Hill, California 94523.
13 Q. I introduced myself before. I'm Charles Koss. I
14 represent a party in the case called Ralph Simpson versus
15 Lou Rae Kagel and it relates to a house that was built at
16 17682 Blanchard Drive, Monte Sereno, California, and I
17 would like to ask you some questions about your knowledge
18 about that house.
19 A. Okay.
20 Q. Have you ever been deposed before?
21 A. I have.
22 Q. How many times?
23 A. I think one time. Yes, I was an expert witness
24 actually. I was on the prosecutor's side in a case in
25 Santa Cruz one time.
5
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 Q. Well, you may understand the ground rules of a
2 deposition, but just to make sure we're on the same page,
3 let me go through them very quickly for you.
4 First of all, you understand you're under oath to
5 tell the truth, correct?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Okay. And everything you say here and everything
8 I say is being taken down by a court reporter and will be
9 transcribed into a booklet form.
10 Do you understand that?
11 A. Yes, I do.
12 Q. Okay. And even though this is informal, you
13 understand that you need to tell the truth and the same
14 penalties of perjury attach to your testimony here today?
15 A. Yes, I do.
16 Q. Okay. It makes it easier if you wait for me to
17 finish a question and I'll try and wait for you to finish
18 an answer so that Janell, our court reporter, can get it
19 down.
20 A. Okay.
21 Q. Do you think there is any reason today why you
22 can't give your best testimony, because you're sick or
23 under some medication or anything like that?
24 A. No. I should be fine.
25 Q. Okay. One thing I don't want to do is trick you
6
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 or confuse you in any way, although at times my questions
2 may not be clear to you. If they're not clear, simply ask
3 me. I'll try and rephrase it. All right?
4 A. All right.
5 Q. Any questions about the process before we get into
6 it?
7 A. I don't think so.
8 Q. Okay. How are you employed?
9 A. Self-employed.
10 Q. As what?
11 A. Architect.
12 Q. And how long have you been an architect?
13 A. Since -- oh, how long have I been an architect?
14 Q. Yes.
15 A. I was licensed in California in 1981.
16 Q. Do you know Jim and Lynn O'Brien?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. And how did you first meet them?
19 A. I first met them when they were interested in
20 building a house in Saratoga before this project. I had
21 done a house for them. I don't remember the name of the
22 road even now, but up in the Hinterlands of Saratoga, and
23 we built that house and they were intending to move into it
24 and then they sold it before they moved into it; and then
25 after that I got a call about doing this house.
7
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 Q. So you had done one previous project with the
2 O'Briens?
3 A. Yes, I had.
4 Q. Okay. Do you recall your initial contacts from
5 the O'Briens regarding this property?
6 And I guess we ought to define this property as
7 17682 Blanchard Drive, Monte Sereno, California.
8 A. Correct.
9 Q. Okay. Do you recall your initial contact on
10 either Jim or Lynn O'Brien regarding this property?
11 A. No, I don't. I mean I don't remember which of
12 them contacted me or exactly what they said. I know that
13 there was an existing house on the project -- I mean on the
14 lot that was removed to build a larger home and that was
15 the plan from the beginning.
16 Q. At some point I take it you went and looked at the
17 property.
18 A. Yes, I did.
19 Q. And of course there was still a house on the
20 property.
21 A. Right.
22 Q. Before you looked at the property, did you have
23 any substantive conversations with either of the O'Briens
24 regarding what they hoped to do with the property?
25 A. It's been a long time and a lot of projects. I
8
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 don't recall anything specific other than that they wanted
2 to remove the existing house and build a large new home on
3 the lot.
4 Q. When you first looked at it, did you see any
5 difficulties with the site that might prohibit the O'Briens
6 doing what they wanted to do with the property?
7 A. No, I didn't. It looked like it was a huge lot
8 for the area and that they could put a large home on it and
9 it didn't seem to be specifically -- have any problems with
10 the terrain in terms of any gullies or washouts or
11 anything, any drainage problems, so it seemed reasonable.
12 Q. When you initially talked to the O'Briens about
13 the site, did they have any ideas about what size house
14 they were looking to build?
15 A. Well, I know they wanted to build as large a house
16 as they could on the site, and that was very in keeping
17 with all my clients at this time and still is.
18 Q. So if they could have built something larger than
19 they ended up building, they would have done that?
20 A. They may have. We put as large a house as we
21 could on the site with -- they wanted to have a separate
22 unit. I think that came a little later but not too much
23 later. That was early on, that we had the idea of the
24 second dwelling unit.
25 Q. The house as built, do you know the size of the
9
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 house?
2 A. I'm just referring to my own documents here
3 because I probably do twenty or thirty houses a year and
4 this is six years ago or so for me.
5 Q. Sure.
6 A. So it's a long time for me now.
7 Q. Sure. Feel free to look at your documents.
8 A. All right. So 2500 square feet -- I mean 4500
9 square feet plus 450, so 4950 plus 101 for the larger lot.
10 So we were allowed to build 5051 square feet for the City
11 of Monte Sereno requirements at the time for lot coverage
12 and so on and I think we were just one square foot under
13 that, 5050.
14 Q. Okay. And you're referring to a set of plans?
15 A. I'm referring to a set of plans, Sheet 1 of -- it
16 looks like it was 18 February 2000, but actually I'm not
17 sure if that part -- yeah, it should be 18 February of
18 2000.
19 There are several revision dates on this first
20 sheet. There is a revision date of 28 March and 14 June
21 2000, but I don't think those involved the 5051 number.
22 Q. And by looking at your key, you can tell what the
23 revisions were?
24 A. Yes. You should be able to look here and see the
25 dates that -- the original was submitted on the 18th of
10
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 February 2000. MM just means 2000. And then the Revision
2 1 was 28 March 2000 and Revision 3 -- looks like there
3 wasn't a Revision 2 on this sheet. Revision 3 was 14 June
4 2000, and the small triangle is the little deltas here.
5 You should be able to follow and see there is a little
6 triangle, one here with a second dwelling unit, one
7 triangle on the secondary dwelling unit and one triangle on
8 the allowable maximum area for secondary dwelling.
9 So it looks like the Revision 1 was about the
10 secondary dwelling. Revision 3 was about the circular
11 drive location of second unit on the plot plan. That's it.
12 Q. To your understanding is this the final version,
13 if you will, of the plans?
14 A. I believe this is the final version that I have
15 because these prints were made from my originals, and
16 nothing changes if the originals don't change that I am
17 aware of. So this is the final set that I have.
18 Q. Have you been out to the house after it was
19 completed?
20 A. No, I haven't. My contract just goes through
21 getting a building permit. I didn't bring a copy of my --
22 well, I guess I have my contract in here. But my contract
23 makes sure that they are issued a building permit, but then
24 I have no construction supervision or construction
25 management in my contracts. Never have.
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 Q. Certainly the person you contract with can call
2 you out to the site and say, hey, we've got issues; can you
3 come on an hourly basis and do this work?
4 A. Of course, of course.
5 Q. Do you recall doing that on this project?
6 A. I do recall doing that on this project because, I
7 don't remember the fellow's name but the guy at the
8 building department in Monte Sereno was very precise and
9 very exact and he wanted to make sure we got everything
10 right, and he came out several times and had questions
11 about the building height, just confirming that, or about
12 the setbacks; and he wanted to make sure everything was
13 right on the project, so I came out to answer those
14 questions.
15 Q. What was the stage of the construction at that
16 point?
17 A. I believe it was in framing. The wood framing was
18 up but the stucco wasn't on the outside yet. Usually you
19 confirm all those things at the framing stage.
20 Q. Okay. And that was the last time you were at the
21 property?
22 A. I believe that was the last time that I was -- I'm
23 trying to remember. I've driven by since to see how it
24 turned out from the front, but I haven't been on the
25 property I don't believe.
12
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 I think I did go on the property to see how the
2 second dwelling unit had turned out, but that wasn't
3 involving any building official. In other words, I believe
4 I came out to see Lynn because she wanted to show me how
5 the second dwelling had turned out. She had done some of
6 the design of this in the end.
7 I mean I do the overall design and then in terms
8 of how they put the size of the arch or where they put the
9 size of the columns, sometimes it's left to the contractor.
10 Q. And you looked at the O'Briens as being
11 contractors?
12 A. No, but I looked at the O'Briens as being involved
13 in the design. Lynn had been involved in the design during
14 the initial house that I had built with her and, you know,
15 my drawings are permanent drawings. They are not bid
16 drawings, and so there are not a lot of details in the
17 drawings. There is just enough information to get a
18 building permit, but in order to get bids for individual
19 subcontractors you have to determine exactly what you're
20 going to be requiring and then meet with those
21 subcontractors.
22 Sometimes she would do that and meet with her
23 subcontractors and get bids and sometimes she would just
24 work with one general contractor and discuss things with
25 him and then they'd decide what to do.
13
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 But a lot of the times I go out and look at houses
2 that I've designed and they turn out somewhat different
3 than I've designed them because there are decisions that
4 can be made, as long as they're not structural or changing
5 the square footage or the massing or anything. The
6 homeowner can change anything, all the interior finish and
7 so on.
8 Q. And you haven't made any effort to determine
9 whether or not the house was built in conformance with the
10 plans?
11 A. No, I haven't. I haven't gone back.
12 I did make a list of impervious site coverage
13 because -- this is what I was beginning to say before you
14 walked in. Lynn called me on Friday and said you're going
15 to meet with the lawyers and I said fine, yes, I am, and
16 she said that she thought the problem was going to be the
17 impervious site coverage and that I just should go back and
18 check my numbers.
19 She didn't say anything about say this or say
20 that. She was very standoffish, which I understand, but
21 she just wanted me to be ready. So I went back and I just
22 -- I didn't check anything except adding up numbers and I
23 did a little tally of that.
24 Q. And that's what -- you have a sheet in front of
25 you.
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 A. I have a sheet in front of me you guys can copy.
2 Q. And you prepared the sheet when?
3 A. Oh, a couple of days ago, so Saturday, I guess.
4 Q. I take it -- strike that.
5 Before you talked to Lynn on Friday, what was the
6 most recent time you talked to her before then?
7 A. Oh, a couple of months ago when I got an original
8 subpoena for information where a guy came by my house and
9 picked up the original drawings and made a set of prints
10 and took all my files and made a set copy.
11 And I called her then just to ask what this was
12 about.
13 Q. What did she tell you?
14 A. Same thing, basically she thought that it was a
15 question about impervious site coverage and there had been
16 a pool. A question had come up and so she wanted me to
17 confirm my numbers and that's -- I hadn't done anything
18 about it and when I talked to her again on Friday, I went
19 ahead and did something and put this list together.
20 Q. Okay. Why don't we start with your list then.
21 A. Sure.
22 Q. What did you determine?
23 A. Okay. What I looked at was I looked at the
24 overall lot size, which in my calculations here on my sheet
25 it showed as 26,000 square feet. Let's see where that was.
15
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 Okay. Well, 26,000 square feet and the allowable
2 impervious coverage was -- I don't know if these numbers
3 are still good. Monte Sereno and all the municipalities
4 change their numbers from time to time, but at the time it
5 was 40 percent was allowable impervious site coverage.
6 Q. Let me stop you right there.
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. How did you determine at the time that Monte
9 Sereno was 40 percent?
10 A. I spoke with a planner at the City of Monte Sereno
11 when we got the project approved. In other words,
12 initially you go through a planning approval before you can
13 submit for a building permit and during the planning stages
14 we went through and we found out what all of the planning
15 requirements and all of their concerns and made sure we had
16 the height limit and the setbacks and the impervious site
17 coverage and the lot coverage and all those, all those
18 areas. We found out what all their requirements were.
19 Q. And when you say we, who were you referring to?
20 A. Lynn and I. Lynn and I. Sometimes I would go in
21 by myself, but sometimes we would go in together and check
22 on things.
23 Q. Who do you recall talking to at the city the most
24 regarding these issues?
25 A. You know, I don't remember any of the planners. I
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 think this is the only house I've ever done in Monte
2 Sereno, because I've done a lot of homes in -- not a lot.
3 Some in Saratoga, some in Los Altos Hills, some in Los
4 Altos, a lot in Santa Cruz.
5 But Monte Sereno is a very small little place, and
6 I think I did one other house in Monte Sereno, actually. I
7 take it back.
8 Q. Do you recall a guy named Brian Loventhal?
9 A. No, I don't. He was a planner at the time?
10 Q. We'll get back to the meetings you had with the
11 city.
12 A. Okay.
13 Q. In any event, at the time that you were submitting
14 plans, you understood --
15 A. Right.
16 Q. -- that Monte Sereno's rules and regulations
17 required 40 percent or less impervious surface?
18 A. I did.
19 Q. Do you know if Lynn O'Brien was aware of that?
20 A. I believe she was because it was right on the
21 front of my drawings. It's right here. It's allowable
22 impervious coverage is 40 percent, and that wasn't included
23 in any revisions so that should have been on the original
24 18 February 2000 drawing.
25 MR. TURNER: I'm going to object to that last
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 question. It calls for speculation.
2 BY MR. KOSS:
3 Q. Let me cover the meetings you had with the city.
4 A. Sure.
5 Q. Do you recall going in and meeting with the city
6 to discuss what requirements Monte Sereno would impose upon
7 this site?
8 A. I really don't. I mean I don't remember
9 individual meetings. I'm sure we would have had to have
10 done that, but I just don't remember the meetings.
11 Q. Do you remember going to those meetings with Lynn
12 O'Brien?
13 A. I don't. I don't remember specifically if she was
14 at a meeting with me or not. I don't.
15 Q. Do you recall -- the meetings all sort of run
16 together in your mind; is that it?
17 A. They do. They do. I have many, many meetings and
18 it's been too long ago for me to remember.
19 Q. Sure. I understand that.
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. All I'm asking for is your recollection. If you
22 can't remember, saying I don't remember is a fine answer.
23 A. Okay.
24 Q. But let me try and test that a little bit.
25 A. Sure.
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 Q. You say you had many meetings. How many meetings
2 do you recall having?
3 A. Well, I probably had between three and five, three
4 and six kind of meetings at the counter. You just walk in
5 to the counter at the City of Monte Sereno. There's two
6 secretaries behind the counter and they call a planner to
7 come up when you have questions about planning, and right
8 at the counter you sit down and show them the lot on your
9 APN map and you just ask them the questions and they give
10 you little handouts as to all the information.
11 And those are the kind of meetings I had. I
12 didn't really go in the back room and sit down and look at
13 all the drawings, although we did have to go through I
14 believe some sort of a design review process. We had to
15 have the house approved by a small group of maybe three or
16 four individuals. That was held in the back room there and
17 that was the only meeting we had that was kind of a formal
18 presentation where we would show the people exactly what we
19 were doing.
20 Q. Certainly the one formal meeting, do you remember
21 Lynn O'Brien being at that meeting?
22 A. Yes, she was at that meeting.
23 Q. Do you recall her being at some of the meetings at
24 the counter but not all of the meetings at the counter?
25 A. I don't recall her being at any meetings at a
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 counter precisely, but I know that she has been -- she's
2 always quite involved in the design and sometimes she likes
3 to go along and just hear it from the planner because she
4 just wants to confirm that I'm not telling her something
5 that's incorrect.
6 Q. Do you recall that impervious surface limits were
7 a concern on this project?
8 A. I'm sure that they -- I do recall that they were
9 and the reason that I believe that they were is because we
10 wanted so much driveway. It wasn't because of the house.
11 The house looks like the structural coverage is 30
12 percent maximum and we were only proposing 25 percent, so
13 we were under with the house and the secondary dwelling
14 unit; but where we were getting close to the 40 percent was
15 with the driveways, and because we had a -- she wanted to
16 have a circular drive in the front of the house for the
17 look from the curb appeal and we decided to put the garage
18 down in the back of the house and not along the front
19 elevation, so we had to have a long driveway going down the
20 side. So it was because of the size of the driveway and
21 the second -- no, because of the size of the driveways we
22 were concerned.
23 Q. Do you recall discussing impervious surface
24 limitations with Lynn O'Brien as it related to these
25 driveway issues?
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 A. Yes, that I do recall because she was concerned
2 about it.
3 Q. Okay. Did you explain to her the 40 percent
4 impervious surface limitation?
5 A. I'm fairly sure I did because it seems clear to me
6 that it was always on the drawings from the original date.
7 That wasn't something that was revised.
8 And when I've just gone through my file, I find
9 that the City of Monte Sereno handout calls for maximum
10 impervious coverage of 40 percent for our 120 lot, which is
11 a lot -- minimum of 21,000 and up to 43,000 and that's
12 where we are, we're at 26,000. So that's the 40 percent
13 number.
14 That's a copy of this. I think the city probably
15 had faxed me this copy and then I went by and got the
16 original.
17 Q. We'll make a copy of this.
18 A. Sure.
19 Q. Do you know whether or not Lynn O'Brien ever saw
20 this Summary of Development Standards issued by the City of
21 Monte Sereno?
22 A. I would say that she did. I don't know for sure.
23 What I typically do is I put the information right
24 on the drawings and I go over it with the client.
25 Sometimes I give them a copy of the information directly
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 from the city. Most of the time I do. I can't say that I
2 did. I just don't remember.
3 Q. So if you look at the development standards for
4 the City of Monte Sereno, the two limits that are
5 applicable to this project are 40 percent overall and
6 within that 30 percent for buildings.
7 A. That's how I understood it.
8 Q. Now let's get back to the calculation that you did
9 a few days ago.
10 A. Sure. So we had allowable impervious coverage of
11 40 percent. That would have been 10,400 square feet. Then
12 we had two buildings. There's the main house, which had
13 5050 total square feet. This is secondary dwelling, which
14 had 900 square feet, so that would have been 5,950 square
15 feet.
16 And then we had a number that I have not gone back
17 and recalculated but at the time it was calculated that the
18 driveway, walk and terrace was 2800 square feet. So with
19 that number that would have put us at 8750 square feet,
20 which when you subtract that from the allowable of 10,400
21 would have left us with 1650 square feet under the max
22 allowable impervious site coverage.
23 So that's where it ended up on my end when I was
24 finished with the project in terms of getting a permit.
25 Q. So at the time you believed that you were well
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 under the limit?
2 A. Right, right.
3 Q. And all the calculations that you did -- and we'll
4 make that an exhibit as well.
5 A. Uh-huh, sure.
6 Q. -- you took right off of your plans?
7 A. I took them right off of these plans. I was just
8 seeing where I was, yeah, just confirming.
9 Q. Did you discuss with Lynn O'Brien what size to
10 make the turnaround driveway and the other driveway that
11 goes back to the garages, what size to make those in light
12 of these limits that were being imposed by the city?
13 A. Well, the city basically tells you what size they
14 have to be. This has to be a 12-foot wide paved driveway
15 down the side. We have to have a minimum going into the
16 garage and we have to have a minimum going back to the
17 garage for the secondary dwelling unit.
18 I guess the only portion of the drive that is kind
19 of changeable is this. Let's see what it says here.
20 No, no, that's not it.
21 We probably could have made this, the little
22 turnaround in front of the house -- I'm sure we could have
23 made it any size -- I don't have a scale with me, but it
24 looks like we made it the same 12 feet as we made the side
25 driveway, and I just don't remember whether that was a
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 requirement that if we wanted any kind of drive, it had to
2 at least be 12 feet or if we decided we'd just go with
3 that.
4 Q. Did you have any discussions with Lynn O'Brien as
5 to what could be done with the other thousand feet of
6 impervious surface that was allowed on the property?
7 A. I don't think that we had many discussions about
8 it. I know that she was going to -- at one time we were
9 thinking of doing a sport court in the rear yard and there
10 was a possibility I believe also of a pool in the rear yard
11 and of some terracing, some art scape in the rear yard, but
12 we never -- I never did an actual plan for that that showed
13 how it would all be laid out and got it all designed for
14 her.
15 Q. Okay.
16 A. We held off on that part.
17 Q. Do you recall in any of the plans you did, at one
18 point there was an indication of a pool in the back yard?
19 A. I did go through my drawings and I did see that
20 somewhere, and I don't remember where it was, I think it
21 did say pool. Let's just see which drawing it might have
22 been.
23 Okay. So it's on Sheet 1 of 12, which the first
24 drawings in the very front are five sheets that are just
25 about the secondary dwelling unit and then -- they were
24
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 attached to the front of this set. So on Sheet 1 of 12 --
2 so this would have been dated 19 July 1999, the original
3 submittal. It says see floor plan for exact size and
4 location of dwellings, pool and court, and I think at that
5 point we were considering a sport court and we were
6 considering a pool. But we never did that.
7 Q. Do you know why that wasn't part of the scope of
8 your work to design a pool and a sport court?
9 A. I believe that Lynn was not wanting to make too
10 many improvements in the rear yard because she was
11 considering that the person who would be purchasing the
12 house would be able to do whatever they wanted to then in
13 the rear yard rather than take something that she had done.
14 I think she was allowing that to be kind of a personalized
15 area back there.
16 Q. Was there any discussion you had with Lynn O'Brien
17 about not doing a pool because of impervious surface
18 limitations?
19 A. You know, it's been a long time. I don't remember
20 a specific conversation about that. But just looking at
21 the numbers, it looks like we had plenty of room to do it
22 with. With 1600 square feet left, that's an awfully big
23 pool.
24 I think there was some talk -- let's see what it
25 says back here. Okay. I was thinking that there might
25
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 have been some talk about not doing the sport court because
2 of lighting, but I don't know. That happens a lot in Monte
3 Sereno, Saratoga, those areas. But I'm speculating, so I
4 won't. I won't say anything about that.
5 Q. Okay. You know there's rules about lighting sport
6 courts?
7 A. Exactly. There's what I was concerned about and
8 it may have been that we decided not to do a sport court
9 because of the lighting issue and dealing with other
10 neighbors and we didn't want to get into that.
11 The pool, I don't know why we wouldn't have done a
12 pool and I really think it was because she wanted to allow
13 the back yard to be finished off by the person who was
14 going to be owning the house.
15 Q. Now, getting back to your calculations on the
16 first page.
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. If I can just turn this around.
19 A. Of course.
20 Q. In looking at this first page, I don't see where
21 it shows that there's still 1600 square feet available. Is
22 that what you did on the second sheet?
23 A. That's what I just checked on on the separate
24 sheet. I don't actually come to a total on this page that
25 says this is the maximum, this is what we're doing and this
26
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 is what's remaining. I just show what we were doing.
2 I think I do say here, though, allowable
3 impervious coverage 40 percent, proposed impervious
4 coverage 40 percent. In other words, I was allowing her to
5 max out what she would do in the back.
6 Q. Okay. You weren't suggesting that these plans
7 proposed 40 percent?
8 A. No. No, I wasn't. I was just saying that she's
9 got room to go all the way to 40 percent if she wants to
10 with whatever she does in the back.
11 Q. Where did you get the information about the lot
12 size?
13 A. About the lot size. I think I calculated that
14 myself from the APN because we did not have a survey. That
15 I remember clearly, and the reason that came up was because
16 the guy at the city, the building inspector, was concerned
17 partway through the project about the height limits and
18 what he found out that -- and I very clearly say on my
19 drawings this is not a survey. Right here, "This is not a
20 survey." It's always a big item on my plot plan.
21 He was concerned about the height limit and he
22 said we really need a survey out there to see exactly what
23 the heights are, and we did do that. I don't know if we
24 got a full survey or if we just got an elevation. I don't
25 know if we got a boundary survey. But I took it right off
27
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 the APN map and I probably checked it with the assessor's
2 office. The county assessor usually has a record that
3 shows what the square footage of the lot is.
4 Q. Now, you say the first five sheets relate to the
5 second unit?
6 A. The secondary dwelling unit, right.
7 Q. And the plans as originally submitted to the city
8 did not include a secondary unit?
9 A. That's correct.
10 Let's go back and take a look. Let me see what
11 they did include here.
12 Yes. So when I submitted on the original
13 submittal of 19 July 1999, there was no secondary dwelling
14 unit. There was a secondary dwelling unit location shown
15 but there were no drawings about the secondary dwelling
16 unit. So if you look through here, all of the drawings
17 that are in this set relate to just the main dwelling unit
18 and nothing on the secondary.
19 Let's see. I could be wrong about that. What is
20 this? Building section -- no. I take it back. This shows
21 the secondary dwelling unit.
22 MR. THOMAS: What page is that?
23 THE WITNESS: Page 3 of 3.
24 Let's just go back here and see what we've got.
25 See this could also have been that these were all of my
28
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 originals rolled together at the end of the project and not
2 just this set that was done originally and this set that
3 was done later. I don't keep them separate. They're just
4 all rolled into one.
5 MR. KOSS: Sure.
6 THE WITNESS: It looks to me like on the original
7 submittal, July 19, 1999, there were only 12 sheets and
8 they did not include anything about the secondary dwelling
9 unit; and then even though this is also dated 19 July 1999,
10 3 of 3, I don't find a 1 and 2 to go with it.
11 So I apologize here for trying to figure things
12 out, but let's see. It looks like -- it looks like these
13 sheets that eventually became the Sheets 1 of 5 and showed
14 the whole secondary dwelling unit -- hmm. I'm not sure
15 which of them it would have been, but it looks like a
16 couple of them.
17 See, they're not shown as a date of 19 July 1999,
18 so I don't think there was anything about the secondary
19 dwelling unit in the original one.
20 BY MR. KOSS:
21 Q. Let's go back to that original Sheet 1 of 12, I
22 guess it was.
23 A. Yes. And this is the one that talks about a pool
24 and a court.
25 Q. It contemplates having a secondary unit?
29
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 A. It does, it does, and it shows it in the same
2 location it eventually ended up, so we must have done some
3 design on it ahead of time so we knew where it was going to
4 go.
5 Q. Do you recall meeting with the city regarding this
6 initial set of plans, the one submitted in July of 1999?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Was there any discussion with the planner or
9 anyone at the city at that time about the secondary unit
10 and whether that would be feasible or not?
11 A. I don't remember exactly, but I'm sure that there
12 had to have been some discussion because we knew that the
13 maximum size of the unit could be a 700-square-foot unit
14 and a 200-square-foot garage.
15 Somewhere we got that. Whether it was from a
16 handout or from a discussion with the planners, we
17 determined that and then we maximized those two and we knew
18 the location because there's a building envelope that's set
19 up by the lot setbacks. So we went right to the -- we
20 figured out our size of our unit and we kind of wedged it
21 back in the corner so that it was parallel to the rear
22 setback and touched the point over here. So we had it laid
23 out.
24 Q. Okay. Well, let me show you this Summary of
25 Development Standards.
30
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. On the backside I believe it addresses the partial
3 restructure.
4 A. Okay. Let's take a look. Okay. The attached
5 accessory structures. Yes, it shows the required side yard
6 setback, the maximum building height, the maximum size of
7 structure.
8 Now, see here it says 800 square feet and I think
9 we only had 700 square feet. Why I don't know, but it
10 looks like I think the secondary dwelling we did -- let me
11 find that again. Secondary dwelling, we have 700 square
12 feet of dwelling and 200 square feet of garage for 900
13 square feet.
14 And it says on here 800 square feet, so I'm not
15 sure where that -- you know, I'm not sure why we didn't do
16 800 square feet. It must have been -- please see separate
17 handout for development standards for second living unit.
18 So these are for accessory structures. This would be for
19 more like a barn or a shed or a pool cabana, something like
20 that. For an actual separate living unit, it says see
21 separate handout. So it wasn't that 800 number.
22 Q. Okay. And I have seen that handout somewhere. I
23 just don't have it with me.
24 A. Okay.
25 Q. But in any event, before you submitted these
31
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 plans, you recall looking at those requirements.
2 A. I would say yes because I had to get this on this
3 drawing and it doesn't look like it was part of a Revision
4 4. It looks like it was original.
5 Q. When you submitted these plans to the city, do you
6 recall any discussions with anyone at the city about the
7 possibility of putting in a pool?
8 A. I don't. I just don't recall. I don't recall.
9 I know that a long time ago, I think I laid out a
10 sport court and a pool on here just in terms of how big
11 you'd have to have a sport court be, like 20-by-40 or
12 25-by-50 something, and like maybe a 15-by-20 pool, a small
13 pool; and I believe I showed it to Lynn and she decided not
14 to go ahead with it, but I couldn't find any record of that
15 in my stuff.
16 Q. Well, I guess my question really goes to this. Do
17 you recall anybody in the city telling you that there would
18 be any difficulty in putting in a pool?
19 A. No, I don't. I don't.
20 Q. Did you ever talk to the city after submitting
21 these plans about putting in any structures in addition to
22 the secondary unit and in addition to a swimming pool?
23 A. Hmm. I would say no.
24 What kind of structures could they be?
25 Q. You mentioned before things like a barn, a cabana,
32
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 things like that.
2 A. Oh. No, no.
3 Now, there are lots of times when an owner will
4 put up a little premanufactured shed or something on their
5 own. But no, we didn't discuss any of that.
6 Q. Did you have any discussions about that with Lynn
7 O'Brien?
8 A. Not that I'm aware of, not that I remember.
9 Q. Do you recall Lynn O'Brien ever asking you whether
10 or not the City of Monte Sereno would allow yet another
11 accessory type structure in the rear of the property?
12 A. No, I don't.
13 Q. From your understanding of the rules of Monte
14 Sereno at the time, would there have been any prohibition
15 to putting up an accessory structure?
16 A. I don't believe so in that if we had the 1650
17 square foot impervious site coverage and we were under our
18 impervious structure by 5 percent and that we were allowed
19 30 and we only had 25, it looks like you could figure out
20 what 5 percent of the lot was and go ahead and add an
21 accessory building that would be no more than that. That
22 should work. But I don't remember any discussions about
23 adding anything else.
24 Q. And you don't remember going to the city with Lynn
25 where the city said, by the way, you can add an extra
33
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 800-square-foot structure back there?
2 A. No.
3 Q. And you don't remember Lynn ever asking the city
4 about that?
5 A. No. Just the main house and the secondary
6 dwelling unit and the front driveway. Those were our
7 concerns at the time, and the height limit. That was
8 always a concern. That's why we have a flat roof, you
9 know.
10 Q. Oh, okay. Now, you indicated you went out and
11 looked at the secondary unit at some point.
12 A. I think I did. I think I did, because I remember
13 walking in and taking a look around at it. I think it was
14 framed and not finished on the inside, but I think it
15 either had just the framing or the stucco on the outside
16 and that would have been after the main building was mostly
17 complete; because I think she did the main building first
18 and then did this kind of -- I don't think it was inhabited
19 at all, but I think it was mostly framed when they started
20 this.
21 Q. When you were out there, did you notice that there
22 was flatwork that had been constructed that wasn't part of
23 your original plan?
24 A. I don't remember. I just -- I don't recall that.
25 I guess if there were any flatwork, it would have been in
34
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 this courtyard area and I just -- I don't remember going in
2 there, going back to that area.
3 I think we just came along the side and went back
4 here and checked out -- this is the main porch from this
5 side and just saw how it looked from the house and how it
6 looked from back and forth.
7 Q. Now, when you did your original calculations about
8 impervious surface -- and obviously, you would do those
9 calculations before you submitted to the city.
10 A. Of course.
11 Q. To make sure you're in compliance, correct?
12 A. Correct.
13 Q. Did you take into account flatwork filling up this
14 courtyard area?
15 A. No, I didn't. I didn't call out for any flatwork
16 whatsoever. That was one thing that -- you know, that's
17 what allows you the 1600 some square feet to do whatever
18 you want to in the back yard. It can be all flatwork. It
19 can be all pool. It can be all sport court. It can be
20 all -- or a mix of any of those.
21 But no, we didn't show anything back here. I
22 think the only flatwork we showed in here really was this
23 front terrace and there was a small stoop I think on the
24 side where some bedrooms came out, just little four-by-four
25 piece of concrete or something.
35
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 Q. Okay.
2 A. That was it.
3 Q. Did you have any discussions with Lynn O'Brien
4 about doing flatwork in this area around the -- what did
5 you call it?
6 A. The courtyard.
7 Q. -- the courtyard?
8 A. No, I didn't. We just said that that would be an
9 obvious place to do some flatwork because it's enclosed on
10 three sides. It seems like an outdoor living space that
11 should be used and the main family room from the inside
12 goes out onto it and the main master bedroom goes onto it,
13 so it seemed reasonable. But we didn't discuss anything,
14 no designs.
15 Q. When you say it seemed reasonable, do you mean you
16 discussed with Lynn and the two of you agreed it seemed
17 reasonable or is this just something you thought of in your
18 own mind?
19 A. No. I think I probably did discuss it with Lynn
20 that it seemed reasonable to do something to improve the
21 courtyard out there as a living area. But I don't think we
22 did any layouts of any -- how much, you know, pervious
23 surface there could be or what kind of materials there
24 could be or whether it would be an arbor or whether it
25 would be a trellis or anything like that.
36
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 So I normally try to stick with just the buildings
2 under my contract and then, if the client wants more, then
3 she can request more and then I do a separate design for
4 the exterior, which I didn't do on this project.
5 Q. Okay. When you were out there, did you notice
6 there was a patio built off of this master bedroom area?
7 A. No, I didn't. I just knew that there was a
8 concrete stoop over on that side where it comes off the
9 bedroom.
10 Q. To your understanding is that a requirement when
11 you submit these plans for building approval that you
12 include patio areas on the plans?
13 A. Well, that's kind of a reasonable thing to do, but
14 you don't have to do it, as I understand it. With most --
15 the design review board, who likes to see these drawings
16 before they even get permitted in the first place, before
17 they even go to the building department, likes to see a
18 landscape plan and they like to see all the exterior
19 improvements that you would like to make.
20 A lot of clients, though, just do the minimum
21 landscape plan and the minimum exterior flatwork plans.
22 It's really part of the landscape architect's work and not
23 the architect's work, and so a lot of times they hold off
24 and don't show anything.
25 And by normal building code, as long as it's less
37
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 than 18 inches above ground, you're allowed to do
2 flatwork -- and it doesn't go over the impervious site
3 coverage, you're allowed to do flatwork usually up to the
4 property line. So that's usually handled after the
5 building is completed by a landscape architect.
6 Q. Do you ever recall discussing with Lynn O'Brien
7 the fact that doing additional flatwork would affect the
8 impervious surface on the property?
9 A. I don't remember discussing that with her
10 specifically. However, I mean she knew the overall
11 impervious site coverage numbers of the 40 percent and, you
12 know, she knew that she was limited. But she didn't know
13 exactly probably what her numbers were and so on. But I
14 don't remember her ever asking me to check anything or look
15 at anything for her.
16 Q. Do you ever recall discussing with Lynn how the
17 impervious surface limits might affect the ability to put
18 in a pool?
19 A. No, I didn't. I mean I don't remember anything
20 about that. The pool is seen as impervious site coverage
21 and so the pool counts just like a piece of concrete, just
22 as if it's a driveway, same.
23 Q. Did you ever discuss that concept with Lynn
24 O'Brien, that is, that a pool is an impervious surface?
25 A. I don't remember having a specific discussion with
38
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 her, but that is something I've known for twenty years and
2 something that I tell all my clients when I'm discussing
3 design options with them early on. So if I discussed it
4 with her, I probably discussed it with her early on when we
5 were talking about the pool and the sport court and
6 everything else, not at the end of the project when she was
7 finishing it all.
8 Q. Okay. So your normal custom and practice is to
9 discuss with clients limitations on the property such as
10 impervious surface?
11 A. That's correct.
12 Q. While you may not -- strike that.
13 Do you remember doing that specifically in this
14 case with Lynn O'Brien?
15 A. I don't remember specifically doing it. It's just
16 been too long ago. I can't say specifically I did, but
17 I -- I would think I had to have in that we were discussing
18 the pool and a court and we've got the 40 percent maximum.
19 So somewhere in there I'm sure I mentioned it to her.
20 Q. And if you followed your regular custom and
21 procedure, you would have discussed that?
22 A. Right, I would have.
23 Q. And it's also your custom and practice to discuss
24 things like height limitations?
25 A. Right, setbacks.
39
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 Q. And other limitations on the lot?
2 A. Sure, sure, sure. What I always try to do is -- I
3 think I've only applied for one variance in my whole career
4 and that was for a house for myself. For my clients I try
5 to do everything by the book and make sure everything is
6 done correctly so they have no problems.
7 Q. Did you have any discussions with Lynn O'Brien
8 about replacing any of the driveway surfaces with something
9 like pavers that would allow more impervious surface?
10 A. I don't remember a specific conversation about it,
11 but since about -- well, since the earthquake, since '89
12 I've been letting people know that if they wanted to put
13 down pervious, pre-laid pavers and sand, that that would be
14 seen as a pervious surface and not impervious and they
15 could have more impervious somewhere else.
16 So again, it's something that I may have discussed
17 with her earlier in the project, but I don't think we ever
18 did that. I think we went ahead and poured concrete for
19 all of these. I don't remember that.
20 Q. From a structural standpoint, do you prefer to see
21 concrete under the pavers?
22 A. No. From a structural perspective I'd rather see
23 the pre-laid pavers and sand, because in earthquake country
24 if you have an earthquake the pavers pop up and you can put
25 them back down; but if you have an earthquake and crack all
40
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 the concrete, you've got to replace it all.
2 Q. Do you know why in this case the pavers were put
3 over concrete?
4 A. Were put over concrete? I don't. I don't know.
5 I don't think I had -- let's see what it says here.
6 Circular drive. I'm looking to see if there was a
7 note about how to do it, exactly what to do. I know we
8 counted them in this 2800 square feet because we were
9 concerned about how much of it there was.
10 But I just don't know. Let me look in here for a
11 second. I don't know if I did a detail that showed
12 actually that we were supposed to do it over concrete or
13 over sand. I usually don't call out a detail like that.
14 It's usually 2500 psi concrete. It's just a
15 concrete drive. It's not even pavers on top for most of my
16 clients. They don't want to spend money on the driveway.
17 But I don't -- just looking quickly at it, I don't
18 see a detail that just calls out what the specific was
19 supposed to be, whether it was supposed to be in concrete
20 or not.
21 Q. So that would be up to the homeowner or the
22 contractor?
23 A. Yes. It's like so many things on a permit set of
24 drawings. It's a decision that's made by the homeowner in
25 working with his contractor.
41
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 Q. If you are concerned about impervious surface
2 limits on this property, could you have called out pavers
3 over sand to help alleviate that situation?
4 A. Definitely.
5 Q. Is there a reason why you didn't do that?
6 A. The reasoning at the time was that, as I remember,
7 that we were planning on doing concrete driveways. As I
8 understood it, they were just going to be a concrete drive,
9 a flat standard concrete drive and a concrete drive. I
10 don't think there is anything called out on here about that
11 there's going to be pavers on here.
12 Q. I see. So all you're showing here is driveway?
13 A. Right. I'm just showing a driveway with a swale
14 in the middle of a 2 percent grade down the side. It's
15 like a civil engineering kind of a drawing. It doesn't
16 really call out what the finish is going to be. I'm just
17 assuming it's going to be concrete like in drawings.
18 Q. Now, in your drawings do you call out heating and
19 air conditioning?
20 A. Yeah, yeah, I do, usually on -- let's see. It
21 should be on electrical, mechanical and plumbing on Sheet
22 5. Let's see what we've got.
23 All right. And if we look over here there should
24 be a hot water heater. Let's see, forced air unit. Here
25 it is, forced air unit. So it looks like there's two
42
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 forced air units in the garage next to the hot water heater
2 on a mechanical platform. Very typical.
3 Q. So there's two zones of heating and air
4 conditioning in the house?
5 A. I don't see anything about air conditioning. I
6 just see two zones of heating.
7 Normally if there was air conditioning, if air
8 conditioning was included there would be a condensing unit
9 or two condensing units on concrete pads just outside the
10 garage wall just beyond the other side of the heating unit,
11 and that's usually where the condensers are, just outside
12 there, and I don't see any AC shown on here.
13 Let's look back at the site plan. Sometimes it's
14 on there.
15 No. It shows all the electrical, gas and water
16 meters. What is this? New clean-outs, power and electric.
17 Looks like it comes over to this side. Water, cable and
18 gas comes over to this side.
19 This just shows utilities. I don't see any AC on
20 this.
21 Q. Is there a reason why AC isn't shown on the
22 drawings?
23 A. No. If AC is intended it should be shown on the
24 drawings, so I don't think there was any AC intended on
25 this. I don't remember a discussion saying let's do AC or
43
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 not do AC, so there was no AC shown on the drawings, so
2 there would be no AC on the house as it is.
3 Q. Do you recall having a discussion about whether or
4 not to have AC on this house?
5 A. No, I don't.
6 Q. Would it surprise you to have a house of this
7 style and quality and size without air conditioning?
8 A. Not really, not to me. I do -- many, many houses
9 I do don't have air conditioning. Part of it is that there
10 are a lot of operable windows in the house and there are a
11 lot of chances for natural ventilation.
12 I try to do as much passive heating and cooling
13 and natural ventilation as possible, so I general don't put
14 air conditioning in most of my houses unless it's required
15 by the owner.
16 Q. Now, on these drawings does this specify any
17 particular type of cable, cable TV, telephone, computer
18 wiring, that sort of thing?
19 A. No, it doesn't.
20 Q. Do your drawings typically do that?
21 A. No. Typically they don't show any specific
22 drawings, any cabling or anything like that. Usually if
23 the owner wants to do that -- again that kind of comes back
24 to what these drawings are. These are just permit
25 drawings.
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 So if the owner wants to put in a specific
2 internet system or a wy-fi or anything like that, they do
3 that with their own subcontractor during the construction
4 process.
5 Q. Do you recall any discussions with Lynn O'Brien
6 about installing fiber optics?
7 A. Fiber optics. No, I don't, no.
8 Q. Any of the houses you do, do you ever specify
9 fiber optics?
10 A. No, I never do. Never have. I don't know
11 anything about fiber optics. The only time I've used
12 anything like that is to light pools, not for
13 communication.
14 Q. If I could have you flip to the plans down on the
15 secondary unit, do those plans specify air conditioning?
16 A. Let's take a look. Okay. We have the EMP plan,
17 electrical, mechanical, plumbing on Sheet 4. So let's go
18 over here. I don't see any air conditioning on here. I'm
19 just checking.
20 Q. Does it show heat?
21 A. It shows a hot water heater rated direct vent exit
22 from the back, 40-gallon upright heater. Yes, it does show
23 heat. There's a horizontal gas fire forced air unit in the
24 attic with a loop cold air return duct to the R vent -- oh,
25 cold air return vent high on gable end above the -- what is
45
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 that, above something.
2 But there is an attic-mounted forced air unit and
3 an access hatch to it in the ceiling of the bedroom it
4 looks like.
5 Q. Do you recall any discussions with Lynn O'Brien
6 about whether or not there was going to be air conditioning
7 in the secondary dwelling unit?
8 A. No, I don't. Monte Sereno is not known as a hot
9 area typically. You get down to Morgan Hill and Gilroy and
10 you need it, but it doesn't seem too bad there.
11 Q. Now, on the plans does it -- somewhere on the
12 plans it shows the total square footage of the house?
13 A. Yeah, yeah. There's a secondary dwelling unit
14 which is the 700 -- it's 25-by-28 feet, which is 700 square
15 feet, plus the garage of 10 feet by 20 feet is 200 square
16 feet, equals 900 square feet. So that's for the secondary
17 dwelling unit.
18 Q. Okay.
19 A. On the main house we should be able to go back --
20 yes, to here, which -- actually it shows proposed area of
21 main dwelling, 5050 square feet. That's how it shows.
22 MR. THOMAS: I'm sorry. What page is that?
23 THE WITNESS: That's page 1 of 12 of the original
24 set, 1999.
25 MR. THOMAS: Thank you.
46
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 THE WITNESS: And it looks like that number was
2 changed in delta two which is '03 December 1999. I don't
3 have an original to go back to to see what the original one
4 was. The city may have a copy of that, but I don't know
5 what that's about. It looks like it was a fairly small
6 revision, a couple of feet probably.
7 MR. KOSS: Okay.
8 THE WITNESS: Yes.
9 BY MR. KOSS:
10 Q. So if you add the two together, it's 5750 square
11 feet?
12 A. Well, then you include the 200 square foot garage
13 for the secondary dwelling unit. I think you just added
14 700, didn't you?
15 When you add the other 200 you come up -- that's
16 where that one comes in the sheet here. That's the 5900.
17 Q. In terms of living feet, in terms of square
18 footage of actual living space.
19 A. Yes, in terms of living space.
20 Q. What's that on the main house?
21 A. Well, that's interesting because typically --
22 let's see if it shows it here. Typically I would break it
23 down as heated and garage, but I don't see a breakdown of
24 that at the moment. I just see a total of 5050. We can
25 calculate what it is.
47
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 Q. By subtracting out the garage?
2 A. Yes. You can just take the dimensions of the
3 garage. I mean the garage is -- let's see. Well, it
4 doesn't show.
5 Okay. The garage is 21-6 by 32-4 and then there
6 is a small triangle that we'd have to figure. But if you
7 take that square footage and add maybe 20 square feet,
8 you'd have a number and we could subtract that from the
9 5050 and see what the heated was. But I don't see a
10 separate place where I showed just the heated space and a
11 separate number for just the garage. I just showed the
12 5050.
13 Q. Okay.
14 A. Usually I do.
15 Q. And the spot where you see the 5050 is on page 1
16 of both sets of plans and that's really more an impervious
17 surface calculation than anything?
18 A. No. That's the main dwelling calculation,
19 proposed area of main dwelling, 5050.
20 And normally it would just break it down as, you
21 know, 4250 of heated and 800 of garage let's say. I don't
22 have a number on it, but something like that, and those
23 same numbers are on Sheet 1 of 5 when it's talking about
24 the secondary dwelling unit.
25 Q. Now, in some of the documents that we got from
48
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 you, they show some -- look like preliminary drawings.
2 A. Oh, yes, very preliminary. This is like if I'm
3 having lunch at Denny's and drawing something up quickly.
4 Q. Let me show you these three pages, if you can tell
5 me which is the first and which is the last and which is
6 the middle in terms of when they were done.
7 A. Okay. Let's figure it out. Um-hum. Let's see.
8 You know, if it's ever a drawing that I intend to
9 show a client, I date it, and so none of these were ever
10 intended to be shown to a client. These were just some of
11 my own ideas of the project and without a date on it I
12 really can't say which came first. If I had to make a
13 guess, I would guess that the simplest one came first,
14 which would have been this one.
15 Q. Okay. That's Bates number 140?
16 A. Yes. But I'm just guessing at this point because
17 there's no dates on it and you really have to have dates.
18 And when I do preliminary drawings, I never do
19 anything like this that I show clients because this is just
20 freehand doodling. I always do everything to scale with
21 straight edge and I date everything.
22 So these would have just been ideas that I was
23 having in my mind. That's all these were. I'm not sure I
24 ever showed these to anybody.
25 Q. Okay. What I was going to ask you about was, was
49
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 this sitting down for a cup of coffee or a glass of wine or
2 whatever with Lynn O'Brien and doing ideas?
3 A. No, I would say not. I hardly ever let my clients
4 see me thinking that way. I try to do that on my own and
5 when I present something to them, I like to have it a
6 little bit more complete.
7 So I normally don't doodle like this in front of
8 my clients. So I have a feeling this was stuff that I did
9 probably even before I got the project when she just told
10 me about it and before it was even a project, because as
11 soon as I have a retainer and I know I'm working on the
12 project, I don't waste my client's time by doing stuff like
13 that. I start out doing hard fast drawings.
14 Q. So I take it she described some aspects of the
15 site to you and you started doing some drawings.
16 A. That's right. She said it was a pie-shaped lot
17 probably and so I had it in my mind and thought what would
18 we do. And she probably told me that she wanted a circular
19 drive in the front. I didn't know how big the lot was, so
20 it looks like in this one I created a whole circular drive
21 where there really wasn't room for it.
22 Q. And you're looking at document 118?
23 A. Yeah, 118. It shows a big circular drive in the
24 front and big terraces. This is like pipe dreams, you
25 know, when you first get a project and you're kind of
50
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 thinking what could it be.
2 And this one, it looks like this is just taking an
3 alternative view of the whole thing and not having the
4 house even face the street. So I'm sure this is not
5 something Lynn would like. Lynn is very symmetrical lady.
6 She likes things lined up and fairly formal.
7 Q. By looking at your file, can you tell what plans
8 you initially showed to Lynn O'Brien?
9 A. None of these. All the plans here are the final
10 plans that are done for the building department.
11 While we're in the design stage, I'm working on
12 yellow flimsy paper and 8 and 1/2-by-11 or usually 11-by-17
13 drawings and all of those are usually gone at the end of
14 the project. They're used during the project and then when
15 these drawings are done, I toss all my original schematic
16 design drawings and I only have those left.
17 Q. Okay. And you did that in this case as well?
18 A. I didn't find anything else other than this set of
19 files, and that's very typical.
20 MR. KOSS: Okay. Why don't we take a short break.
21 I need to photocopy some of this stuff to mark as exhibits.
22 (Recess at 10:11 a.m.)
23 (Whereupon, the documents described
24 below were marked Exhibits Nos. 1
25 through 4 for identification.)
51
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 (Resume at 10:21 a.m.)
2 BY MR. KOSS:
3 Q. Okay. So during the break we've marked some
4 documents. The first one we marked as Deposition Exhibit 1
5 is the set of plans which you've brought with you.
6 What did you say, it's 18 sheets?
7 A. It's actually kind of two sets of plans, a set of
8 five, first drawings as they're bound on the secondary
9 dwelling unit, Sheets 1 through 5. Then there is a set of
10 12, Sheets 1 through 12. So that would be 17 total, and
11 then there is a Sheet 3 of 3 at the very end, which I guess
12 was a preliminary set of building sections and elevations
13 that was probably used at the planning approval level, but
14 I don't recall exactly what that was.
15 Sometimes the City of Monte Sereno would have
16 records on what was actually presented at those meetings.
17 They might have better records than I would.
18 Q. Let me show you Exhibit 2. That's the
19 calculations did you within the last few days?
20 A. Right, that's correct.
21 Q. Exhibit 3 is the Summary of Development Standards
22 that you received from the City of Monte Sereno that we
23 talked about before?
24 A. That's correct.
25 Q. And then Exhibit 4 are your handwritten
52
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 preliminary drawings?
2 A. Yes. Conceptual let's say instead of preliminary.
3 Q. Okay. Conceptual.
4 A. Way back.
5 MR. KOSS: And I don't have any other questions.
6 THE WITNESS: Okay. We'll just go around the
7 table?
8 MR. TURNER: I don't have any questions.
9 THE WITNESS: Great.
10 EXAMINATION
11 MR. THOMAS: I do have some questions. My name is
12 Steve Thomas. I'm an attorney here representing Coldwell
13 Banker, which is a defendant who has been sued by Ralph
14 Simpson.
15 Q. Have you ever met Ralph Simpson?
16 A. Don't know him from Adam, no.
17 Q. Never spoken to him by telephone?
18 A. No.
19 Q. Never received any correspondence from him?
20 A. Not that I know of.
21 Q. No requests from Mr. Simpson to have you help him
22 with his attempt with the city to get a swimming pool
23 approved?
24 A. No.
25 Q. Have you ever heard of Ralph Simpson before today?
53
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 A. Never have.
2 Q. Did Lynn O'Brien ever talk to you about the buyer
3 of the house?
4 A. She talked to me about the buyer of the house on
5 Friday, just a couple of days ago when she called me, and
6 she informed me that a large pool had been constructed in
7 the rear yard; and I was surprised because I didn't think a
8 large pool, you know, was going to be constructed in the
9 rear yard. I didn't know what was going to go in the rear
10 yard. I thought all of this was about what could be done,
11 not what had already been done, so I was just surprised by
12 that.
13 Q. Why were you surprised that a large pool actually
14 had been put into the back yard?
15 A. Well, I was surprised because I knew that Lynn was
16 going to be selling the house and I had no idea how it was
17 going to be finished and so I was just -- I didn't know
18 what they were going to do back there.
19 It wasn't that they couldn't have done a pool.
20 They could have done a pool. Like I said, they had 1600
21 square foot to do something.
22 Q. When you spoke with Lynn O'Brien on Friday, did
23 you know that the courtyard had been filled with flatwork?
24 A. No. No, we never discussed that.
25 Q. When did you first find that out?
54
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 A. I haven't found that out yet.
2 Q. Other than today you've never heard that before?
3 A. We were just discussing what could be done in the
4 courtyard, but I didn't know.
5 Q. I'll represent to you it has been filled with
6 concrete.
7 A. Okay.
8 Q. Some variation of concrete.
9 A. I understand. That's the first time I heard about
10 it.
11 Q. Okay.
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Now, Mr. Koss asked you a lot of questions about
14 conversations with Lynn O'Brien during the course of the
15 project. What about Jim O'Brien, did you have any
16 conversations with him?
17 A. Very, very few. Jim and Lynn kind of split the
18 work and all of the design projects and things that they do
19 are within Lynn's purview, so he kind of stays out of it.
20 Q. Did you discuss any aspects of this project with
21 Jim O'Brien?
22 A. I don't believe so. I don't remember having any
23 discussions with Jim about any of this. I would always
24 meet with Lynn.
25 Q. Did Jim O'Brien ever accompany you to the City of
55
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 Monte Sereno?
2 A. I don't think so. He might have come for the
3 design review hearing when we got our approval to build.
4 That would be the only one and I don't remember if he was
5 there or not.
6 Q. Did you ever speak to any real estate agents about
7 this project?
8 A. No.
9 Q. Did you ever speak to a real estate agent by the
10 name of Lou Rae Kagel?
11 A. No.
12 Q. Or Douglas Rea?
13 A. No.
14 Q. Would you turn to page 10 of 12.
15 A. Um-hum.
16 Q. Now, what is that sheet?
17 A. Title 24. This is state mandated law that you
18 show how many square feet of glazing there are and what
19 kind of -- type of glass is being used and what kind of
20 furnace. It's an energy furnace.
21 Q. Who prepared it?
22 A. Betsy Castellano is the woman that I use for all
23 my Title 24. Right here, Betsy Dirk Castellano.
24 Q. And your signature is on that sheet?
25 A. Right, as designer.
56
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 Q. There is some reference to AC on there. Is that
2 not a reference to air conditioning?
3 A. Any reference here to AC would be air conditioning
4 and what Betsy usually does is she allows for air
5 conditioning in her calculations, whether it's called out
6 for on the drawings or not. In other words, if you wanted
7 to put an air conditioning by showing it here on these
8 calculations, she shows that it would still work within the
9 state guidelines that allow for a certain amount of energy
10 to be used in a house.
11 Q. I see.
12 A. So she always shows AC as being prepped for AC.
13 It's not a full AC I don't think in here. I really don't
14 know. You will have -- this is a subcontractor's work and
15 I don't know exactly everything that she does on here.
16 I give her the drawings for the house and the
17 exterior elevations and she takes off all the sizes, the
18 windows and all that kind of stuff.
19 Q. If there were to be an air conditioning system in
20 this house, would you prepare the specifications for it?
21 A. No, I wouldn't.
22 Q. Who would you ordinarily have do that?
23 A. That would be the mechanical subcontractor who is
24 actually going to be putting in the air conditioning.
25 Q. Would that be under your supervision?
57
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 A. No.
2 Q. Who would hire that mechanical subcontractor?
3 A. The owner or the general contractor.
4 Q. Was there a general contractor on this project, do
5 you know?
6 A. Not that I was aware of. I think Bill Hites was a
7 framer and other than that I'm not sure. I'm not sure if
8 Lynn acted as her own general contractor or if she worked
9 through Bill.
10 Q. You produced copies of your file in connection
11 with this litigation earlier on, didn't you?
12 A. Right, um-hum.
13 Q. Let me show you a few things here.
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Let me show you what we call these Bates stamp
16 numbers down here. It's 199, a letter dated November 19,
17 1999, and that's to you; is that right?
18 A. Right.
19 Q. As you sit here today, do you recall this letter?
20 A. No.
21 Q. Why don't you just take a quick look at it.
22 A. Okay.
23 Q. Would you ordinarily respond to that letter?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Okay. Let me show you Bates stamp 200200 dated
58
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 November 16, 1999, and would you agree these are the
2 comments that -- the typewritten portions are the comments
3 that accompanied that letter?
4 A. Right. Seems reasonable, yeah.
5 Q. And then there is a handwriting to the left.
6 A. Yeah.
7 Q. Is that your handwriting?
8 A. That's my handwriting, yes.
9 Q. And what was your intention in putting the
10 handwriting there?
11 A. Right. These are the sheets where they can find
12 the answers to their questions. Typically there are
13 incompleteness letters that are sent out by all the
14 different departments, Department of Public Works, all the
15 different -- fire, environmental health and so on, and they
16 have a list and they want you to annotate each -- their
17 copy with where they can find the answer.
18 So like on sheet number N, this first one, payment
19 of school tax fees is done by the owner so it's not on our
20 sheet. Then if you go down to Sheet 4, on Sheets 3 and 4
21 it shows where the answer is.
22 Q. What would you do with this sheet after you made
23 the handwritten entries?
24 A. Yes. I would include a copy of this with my set
25 of drawings that goes back to these departments, and it
59
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 doesn't usually go just to one department. You usually
2 have to answer all the departments at once.
3 Q. Would it go to the owner as well, your client?
4 A. Yes, typically it would.
5 Q. Would you read number six for me.
6 A. Number six, "What is the square footage of the
7 slab at the front of the structure? I assume that there is
8 no slab at the rear area identified as a courtyard and the
9 only concrete in this area will be for the landings at the
10 doors," and I say, "Correct."
11 Q. That's your handwriting, correct?
12 A. Yes, correct.
13 Q. And you refer to number three. That refers to
14 what?
15 A. Sheet 3. So if you look on Sheet 3, I don't think
16 I show any concrete slab in the area called a courtyard.
17 Q. And that would be Sheet 3 of 12 or --
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. -- Sheet 3 of 5?
20 A. Probably 3 of 12. Let's look and see what it
21 says. Yes.
22 So what we did is we showed the minimal concrete
23 courtyards that would be required at the outside of the
24 landings from the two doors, one from the master bedroom,
25 one from the family room. You're required to have a
60
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 four-foot deep landing and six inches wider than the
2 opening of the door, so that's what these are.
3 Q. Okay.
4 A. And I think later I believe we added one over here
5 for -- or two for the bedrooms that came off this side.
6 But again, that's all the concrete that I knew was going to
7 be in the courtyard and that's all that had to be in the
8 courtyard by code. Anything else is landscaping.
9 Q. Okay. Let me show you one of the other documents
10 out of your file Bates stamped 00080.
11 A. Um-hum.
12 Q. Is this your drawing?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Tell me what the purpose of this drawing is.
15 A. Okay. The purpose of this drawing is to identify
16 the square footage of elements of the building. It doesn't
17 look like it's the whole building. But here, what we've
18 done here is we've got 21 foot 9 by 33 feet is 726 feet and
19 the garage plus 44, so somewhere on here it should say 726
20 plus 44. This is just an area calculation for the house.
21 Q. Okay.
22 A. This one is dated 10 September '99, so that's
23 reasonable.
24 See, there's also a cost estimate going along with
25 this which is very rough, $10,000 for a three-car garage
61
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 there at the time.
2 Q. And what about these figures on the right-hand
3 side of the page?
4 A. Yeah. Okay. Here we have the heated 4396 and a
5 quarter plus garage of 770 equals 5166 and a quarter minus
6 5070. So this shows that I'm over. I was thinking that we
7 had 5070 to go with and that's probably why there was a
8 revision on that number under Delta two, was that actually
9 it turns out that it was 5050 is what we were going for.
10 So I thought we were over by this much and so I
11 was figuring out where we could subtract. So here when I
12 do cross-hatching like this, I'm saying if we took two feet
13 off the depth of the building by 44, we'd get rid of 88
14 square feet, so we'd only be 8.25 square feet over.
15 Q. And this is all your handwriting and your
16 calculations?
17 A. Yes, and this is what I do when I'm in the
18 preliminary stages of the plan and I'm trying to make sure
19 we're under our square footage maximum. So I have one
20 drawing that's not always under. Then we have to pare it
21 down and we take two feet from the back of the building or
22 come in three feet from the side or whatever.
23 Q. Okay. Let me show you 000081. What's this?
24 A. This was an early drawing where we showed a sport
25 court and a pool. This is what I was remembering. I
62
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 didn't even know this was in the file. Okay.
2 This is when we set up the story poles. This is
3 what happens when you go for a design review permit. You
4 have to put up story poles so that the lay people can go
5 out and kind of imagine how big the building is going to
6 be. So we had to set up these story poles.
7 Q. And who gets a copy of this?
8 A. This drawing would have gone primarily just to the
9 guy putting up the story poles and the city. The planner
10 has to have a copy of this because they have to approve
11 that this is where they want the -- this is sufficient for
12 the story poles.
13 Q. How did you come to place the pool in this area?
14 A. I just drew it in.
15 Q. And what about the sport court?
16 A. These were just possible areas for them, sport
17 court and pool.
18 Q. Did you review this conceptual drawing with
19 Ms. O'Brien?
20 A. I think I did, yeah.
21 Q. And what about Jim O'Brien?
22 A. That I don't know. I don't think I reviewed
23 anything with Jim that I can remember. Everything went
24 through Lynn.
25 And what this was was it was a layout showing,
63
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 like I said, the story poles and Bill Hites I believe put
2 up the story poles, the guy who eventually became the
3 framing contractor. So he would have gotten a copy of this
4 and one copy would have gone to the planner.
5 And in this one we don't show the circular
6 driveway in front either. We show turf in the front and
7 just a walkway going up, so I guess that was added.
8 Q. That was my next question.
9 A. See, this is what happens in the early parts of a
10 design. Everything is flexible. So at this point what we
11 did is we had drawings for this building and this building
12 that we wanted to get approved by the design review board
13 but we didn't have anything on the sport court or swimming
14 pool. So this is just a conceptual, just a little square
15 in the back yard.
16 Q. All right. Do you hold any other licenses, such
17 as an appraiser or realtor?
18 A. No, I don't.
19 Q. A contractor?
20 A. I hold a general contractor's license but it's
21 on -- whatever it's called.
22 Q. Inactive?
23 A. Inactive.
24 Q. Is that a B license?
25 A. I believe it is, yeah. I got it in 1983 or
64
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 something like that. I've never really used it.
2 MR. THOMAS: Okay. Thank you very much.
3 MR. REEVES: Are you going to mark those exhibits?
4 MR. THOMAS: Well, I did them by Bates stamps. We
5 have copies of them.
6 MR. REEVES: Okay. I was going to use a couple of
7 them as exhibits.
8 MR. THOMAS: You're welcome to take a look at
9 these. Oh, you mean that?
10 MR. REEVES: Yes.
11 MR. THOMAS: That's fine. Go ahead.
12 EXAMINATION
13 MR. REEVES: Okay. Just for the record, my name
14 is Brandon Reeves and I'm one of the attorneys representing
15 Ralph Simpson in this case, and I only have a few
16 questions.
17 If we could mark this as the next exhibit. This
18 is Bates 81 that you were just talking about.
19 (Whereupon, the above-described
20 document was marked Exhibit No. 5
21 for identification.)
22 BY MR. REEVES:
23 Q. On this drawing, do you know what the impervious
24 coverage percentage would be on this with the sport court
25 and the pool?
65
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 A. I have no idea.
2 Q. And is this a drawing that you submitted to the
3 city at any point?
4 A. I don't think I ever actually submitted it to the
5 city. This is a drawing that was done for the story poles
6 to be erected by the contractor and I usually review this
7 with the city planner to make sure that they're comfortable
8 that there are enough story poles on here that they can get
9 a good look at what the -- make sure the design review
10 board is going to be happy with what they're seeing out
11 there.
12 I don't know that I would have -- it's not
13 required to be submitted to the city. Put it that way. I
14 don't know if I would have left them a copy.
15 Q. Okay. I'll mark this as the next exhibit. This
16 is a letter that you apparently wrote to the city dated
17 June 29, 2000.
18 A. Looks like it.
19 MR. REEVES: The Bates number is 408.
20 (Whereupon, the above-described
21 document was marked Exhibit No. 6
22 for identification.)
23 BY MR. REEVES:
24 Q. Do you remember writing this?
25 A. I don't, but it's got my signature so I must have.
66
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 Q. In the second paragraph --
2 A. Um-hum.
3 Q. -- it says, "When the project was first submitted
4 in July 1999 --"
5 A. Right.
6 Q. "-- it included a proposed swimming pool and sport
7 court in the calculations and had 'maxed out' at the
8 allowable 40 percent coverage."
9 A. Maxed out, right.
10 Q. So when you submitted a plan to the city with the
11 pool and the sport court, was the impervious coverage limit
12 exactly 40 percent?
13 A. I would say it was by this letter and by the note
14 on Sheet 1 of 12 here that says -- oh, actually that one
15 says 35. But see, I bet this was 40 percent allowable
16 impervious site coverage and proposed impervious coverage
17 40 percent and then in Revision 3 in 3 January 2000 that it
18 was changed to 35 percent; and then later when we did the
19 proposed impervious coverage we were at 40, 40. We were
20 right at 40 percent.
21 Q. Okay.
22 A. I bet we were right at 40 percent originally with
23 the pool and the court.
24 Q. And according to this letter, you removed the pool
25 and the sport court and added the circular drive and that
67
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 you came out to 36.9 percent; is that correct?
2 A. That looks right. It says during the building
3 permit review process the pool and court were removed and
4 recently a circular front drive was added, and so that just
5 totals up the total square footage and that looks right.
6 Second unit, 1150, let's see what that would have
7 been. Typically it would have been 900 -- oh, I bet
8 there's a 250 square foot porch on the front of that that
9 wasn't counted on that secondary dwelling unit, because I
10 know there's an entry porch to that. The entry terrace,
11 side driveway, circular driveway. Yes, that looks right.
12 Q. Are these the same -- in this document are these
13 the same calculations that you made in your -- I believe
14 it's Exhibit 2 that you just calculated in the last couple
15 of days?
16 A. Not exactly. Pretty close. I think the -- I
17 think I used 26,000 even for the square feet instead of
18 26,018, but that's the correct number on here and the 5050
19 is the same.
20 The second unit is different though, because like
21 on my little calculation I just did I think I had 1650
22 square feet remaining, and I think you'd have to get rid of
23 250 of that square feet for the second unit porch that I
24 didn't write anything about in my little calculation. So
25 from 1650 you'd be down to 1400 square feet now, you see.
68
DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 The entry terrace, the side driveway and the
2 circular driveway, it looks like I would also be off with
3 that because I think I had shown 2800 square feet -- yeah,
4 2800 square feet for driveway walk and terrace, and that
5 really is just a side driveway and the circular driveway is
6 this number, so you'd be 610 square feet more. So if we
7 were at 1400, you'd be at 790 square feet remaining.
8 See, if you took the little calculation I just did
9 a couple days ago, you'd have to take off 250 more square
10 foot for the second unit because of the entry porch and
11 you'd have to take off 610 square feet it looks like for
12 the difference between the 2800 and the actual numbers that
13 are shown here. I didn't have this one in front me when I
14 was making the quick calculation to check it.
15 Q. So based on your calculations, the home and
16 everything as built, your calculations come out to 790
17 square feet remaining?
18 A. Approximately, right, remaining, um-hum, without
19 any concrete terrace in the back courtyard or any pool or
20 anything else, just with the buildings and the drives and
21 so on.
22 Q. And you didn't design any concrete patios or
23 walkways for the property at all?
24 A. No, no. The only things I designed were what is
25 on these drawings. There was nothing else done by me.
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 MR. REEVES: I'll mark this as the next exhibit.
2 This is the November 19, 1999 letter to you from the city,
3 that was referenced earlier, Bates numbers 199, 200 and
4 201.
5 THE WITNESS: Okay.
6 (Whereupon, the above-described
7 document was marked Exhibit No. 7
8 for identification.)
9 BY MR. REEVES:
10 Q. Looking at the Bates 200, number 6 that you
11 discussed earlier.
12 A. Right.
13 Q. It was your understanding that no other impervious
14 coverage would be put in the back yard?
15 A. Right. And it looks like Revision 2 on Sheet 3 of
16 12 shows a total area of slab of 660 square feet. That's
17 why there's a three in the front of number six.
18 And then the second question I just say correct.
19 So what is the square footage of slab at the front of the
20 structure, for that question they look to Sheet 3, and on
21 Sheet 3 it says on 3 December 1999 Delta two shows total
22 area of slab is 660 square feet. Now, that is a little bit
23 different though from what we just went over here where it
24 says 560 square feet for the entry terrace.
25 So let's see what's going on here. I don't know
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 if we made the terrace a hundred square feet smaller
2 between these two or not. That I'm not sure. But there is
3 a 100-square foot discrepancy there.
4 During the time you're getting approval for all
5 these kinds of things, there are many things that are
6 fluid, you know, like the whole idea of the sport court and
7 the pool. That was something that Lynn originally wanted
8 to show and get approved, but during our design review
9 process we decided to eliminate it. I think probably part
10 of it was the lighting of the sport court and the pool. I
11 don't know why she didn't do that.
12 Q. Did you know whether or not the O'Briens would
13 install any kind of concrete patios or walkways in the back
14 yard?
15 A. No, I didn't.
16 Q. If they did that, would they need a permit from
17 the city?
18 A. I don't think they would need a permit from the
19 city to install flatwork less than 18 inches high, but if
20 they were exceeding their impervious site coverage or if
21 they were getting even probably within a few hundred square
22 feet of it the building -- Howard Bell, as I remember his
23 name from these things, Howard Bell would have brought it
24 to their attention if they had asked him about it.
25 He was a very particular guy. I remember that
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 very well, and I know Lynn didn't want to do anything that
2 would upset him. So whenever there was a question about
3 what we were doing, she was trying to do everything within
4 those guidelines.
5 MR. REEVES: Okay. I'll mark this as the next
6 exhibit. This is a brochure or an ad, Bates label K96 and
7 K97, for the Blanchard property.
8 (Whereupon, the above-described
9 document was marked Exhibit No. 8
10 for identification.)
11 BY MR. REEVES:
12 Q. Have you ever seen either of these documents
13 before?
14 A. I think I have, yes, because this was one of the
15 best kind of, you know, color pictures of the house that I
16 had done in a while, so I think I have a copy of this.
17 Q. On the second document, K97 where it says "Quality
18 Specifications," there's a list of specifications for the
19 home.
20 Did you design any of these?
21 A. I have no idea. Let's go through them. I have
22 never seen this one. I just saw the picture on the front
23 of the first one.
24 Twelve foot ceilings throughout. Yeah, I did that
25 probably. I'd have to check the sections to see if they
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 were twelve feet.
2 Eight foot interior doors, yes.
3 Three zones of heating and air conditioning, no.
4 I think I only did two zones of heating.
5 Three attractive fireplaces. I'd have to look at
6 the plans but sounds right.
7 Built-ins throughout, no. I don't do built-ins.
8 That would be the cabinet guy.
9 Sprinklered ceilings, yeah. I would have shown
10 the sprinklers or at least called out the places to be
11 sprinkled.
12 Two water heaters. I think I just showed one.
13 R-30 insulation and R-19, yeah. That would be
14 part of the Title 24.
15 M&S brand convenient -- I don't know anything
16 about that one.
17 D&S brand built-in alarm system. I don't do
18 those.
19 Fiber optics, I don't do that.
20 Beam built-in -- no, I don't do that.
21 Slate design concrete tile roof. There was --
22 yes. I don't know what the actual look of the roof was,
23 but we called it out for concrete tile roof.
24 Three separate patio areas. That I don't know
25 anything about and that's a major one I'm sure.
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 Old world balustrades with wrought iron accents,
2 no. All the interior is up to the owner.
3 Expansive front porch. That's shown on the
4 drawings as a terrace.
5 Curved entry approach drive. That's shown on the
6 drawings.
7 Garage for four cars, yes.
8 "City says space in back sufficient for an
9 additional 800 square foot structure." I don't know about
10 that because as we just calculated, I think we were down to
11 like 740 or something when we were just doing it without
12 any of the additional --
13 MR. TURNER: I think it was 790.
14 THE WITNESS: Yes, 790. Okay. So I don't know
15 about that one. The city never told me about this. This
16 is all done when they're going to sell the house and the
17 owner is meeting with their real estate agent, so I'm not
18 involved at this point.
19 BY MR. REEVES:
20 Q. And you never designed the property to include the
21 guest house and another structure?
22 A. No.
23 Q. The impervious structure.
24 A. No, no additional structure, no.
25 Q. Did you ever design the main home and the --
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 strike that.
2 Did you ever design the property to include 5300
3 square feet, including the home and the guest home?
4 A. 5300, yeah. I think it was more than that, wasn't
5 it? It was 5050 was the main dwelling and then the guest
6 unit was 900 as I had it, so that was 5950. So that much I
7 designed, instead of 5300 you were saying, yes.
8 Q. With regard to the fiber optics, do you know any
9 contractors who would install fiber optics?
10 A. No, I don't. I've never worked with a fiber optic
11 contractor.
12 Q. And you don't have any estimate of how much it
13 would cost to install fiber optics?
14 A. No, I have no idea. Usually all that work is done
15 by the subcontractors.
16 Q. And you didn't create any kind of landscaping
17 plan?
18 A. No. The most landscaping plan I've created, and I
19 was surprised to see it, was that one about the story poles
20 that showed a sport court and a pool out there somewhere.
21 So it was like those original doodle sketches. It was just
22 a couple of rectangles back there to show what might be and
23 then they were taken off obviously by the letter that came
24 saying that we had the 36 -- this one, Exhibit 6, when we
25 took those off. So -- that happens a lot in design.
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DEPOSITION OF JAMES STROUPE - 11/13/06
1 MR. REEVES: Thank you. That's all I have.
2 THE WITNESS: Okay.
3 FURTHER EXAMINATION
4 MR. KOSS: Just a couple of follow-up questions.
5 Q. I'd like to direct your attention to Exhibit 6
6 again. It appears that you wrote this letter in response
7 to Lynn O'Brien's request to you.
8 A. Um-hum.
9 Q. That's yes?
10 A