Publication Date: Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Council gives controversial home thumbs up
Council gives controversial home thumbs up
(December 07, 2005) Neighbors' protest of Santa Rita Avenue remodel denied 7-2
by Bill D'Agostino
It's the house that launched 1,000 letters.
Well, not quite. But more than 600 people mailed letters, signed petitions and sent e-mails weighing in, on both sides, on a Palo Alto family's proposed remodel of its Santa Rita Avenue home.
On Monday night, the City Council voted 7-2 not to hold a public hearing on the remodel, effectively approving the family's application. Council members Jack Morton and Hillary Freeman voted no.
Applicants Lynn Brown and Robert Stefanski accepted congratulatory hugs and handshakes from friends and foes after the vote. The couple told the council they were surprised and distressed to watch their proposal -- to raise their roof and put a playroom in their attic -- become the center of a public, political debate.
"It has been a difficult process, to say the least," Stefanski said.
Attorney Richard Alexander -- who's led campaigns against council members and "bloated" city spending in the past -- and his wife, Nancy Alexander, led the push to have the city reject their next-door neighbors' project. The Alexanders leafleted the neighborhood with fliers warning the project would set a precedent, allowing more three-story homes and overwhelming Palo Alto's two-story neighborhoods.
"Our block today. Your block tomorrow,'' they noted.
Although the council approved Brown and Stefanski's project on Monday, later in the evening it asked for a review of the guidelines used to approve such projects.
Homeowners "are going to continue to push the envelope," Councilwoman Yoriko Kishimoto said, explaining the request.
The Santa Rita Avenue remodel will actually shrink the home, according to the applicant's architect. The city's planning director found the remodel had matched the city's guidelines, conforming to the style of the neighborhood's other homes.
Most of the 30 people who spoke to the council on Monday agreed the home would be an asset to the neighborhood. They held up signs with a pencil drawing of the remodeled home and the words: "NO MORE HEARINGS."
Although the council's rules prohibited its members from explaining why they turned down the Alexanders' appeal of the director's ruling, some members' body language spoke volumes. As Morton made a motion asking to hear the Alexanders' appeal at a future meeting, Councilwoman Dena Mossar placed her head on the desk in front of her in disgust.
It was one of the city's most contentious single-family projects. In 2003, Jamie and Elizabeth Wong's application to expand their Webster Street home pitted neighbor against neighbor and stimulated a citywide debate over the city's regulation of single-family homes.
Also on Monday, the council unanimously approved another proposed single-family remodel on Hamilton Avenue that had also been appealed to the council.
Staff Writer Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com.
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