Down and out in Atherton: Why half-finished construction and abandoned houses have cropped up among the town's elegant estates. Down and out in Atherton: Why half-finished construction and abandoned houses have cropped up among the town's elegant estates. (April 28, 2004)

By Andrea Gemmet
Almanac Staff Writer

A sodden heap of phone books and newspapers slowly turns to mulch just inside a wrought-iron gate. Flapping paper covers window openings in an unfinished mansion. An enormous hole in the ground holds weeds and rainwater, rather than the basement of a designer home.

Abandoned construction sites, and the occasional abandoned house, are not something that most people would associate with the town of Atherton, where adjectives like "tony" and "upscale" are frequently applied by outsiders. But even streets lined with mansions suffer the occasional eyesore, and since the economy turned sour, the number of blighted properties in town seems unusually high.

"I'm shocked, not only at the property next to mine, but how many (construction) projects initiated permits, and then stopped. It looks like a war zone on Atherton Avenue," said Jeff Martin, a resident of the street who lives next to an abandoned house.

Unlike many Atherton homes, tucked away behind landscaping and high walls, the house Mr. Martin lives next to is visible from the street and clearly appears unoccupied. It's been that way for about 10 years, he said. It's one of two on a single block near Alameda de las Pulgas that have been languishing unkempt, and in the case of the second one, unfinished.

"I haven't been trying to sell my house, but it would certainly be an issue, having an eyesore next door. It affects not only me, but the people near me," Mr. Martin said.

From Lindenwood on the east end of Atherton to streets west near Woodside, on main thoroughfares like the Alameda and Stockbridge Avenue, it's hard not to notice the stalled construction projects.

The sharp drop in the high-end real estate market that began in 2002 proved disastrous for a couple of developers with several Atherton projects, said Bob Jenkins of Coldwell Banker's Woodside office. That, coupled with the stalled economy, definitely coincided with the increasing number of abandoned construction sites in Atherton, said Charlie Ramorino.

As president of the Atherton Civic Interest League (ACIL), Mr. Jenkins has been lobbying town officials to force the cleanup of vacant houses and abandoned construction sites, as well as using his real estate connections to track down property owners.

Under the auspices of the league's "Atherton Pride" campaign, Mr. Jenkins and then-ACIL president Mr. Ramorino helped compile a list of 55 properties that members considered to be public nuisances for various reasons, and presented them to City Council members last fall. The list dwindled as some properties changed hands and others were cleaned up by owners, Mr. Jenkins said.

He said Atherton officials should use the town's nuisance abatement ordinance to authorize cleanups of the remaining problem properties, and charge the owners for the work by placing a lien against their property taxes.

"Frankly, the irritating thing is that the town management did nothing," Mr. Jenkins said.

City Manager Jim Robinson and Councilman Charles Marsala countered that claim, however.

Mr. Marsala said the council has reviewed a number of complaints about run-down properties, and discussed a dozen of them with City Attorney Marc Hynes during a closed session meeting in December.

"The city takes very seriously the provisions of the code-enforcement program," he said.

But, the council also has a policy to be prudent in spending town funds on litigation, he said, and members agreed with Mr. Hynes that legal action wasn't called for.

"When someone contacts me, I take the complaint, and either I follow up or the building department does. If we find a violation of the municipal code or the nuisance abatement ordinance, we will follow up with the city attorney," said City Manager Robinson.

But uncompleted construction alone does not constitute a public nuisance, said Mr. Robinson, as long as the property is fenced and secured.

"Of those properties that were identified (by the ACIL), we reviewed each and every one, and only in a few cases was it necessary to contact the property owner," he said.

As for homes being abandoned or unoccupied, that's not a violation of municipal code, either, he said. Town staff is aware of them, and the police patrol the neighborhood whether houses are occupied or not, he said.

Atherton police Chief Bob Brennan said that an abandoned house on Stockbridge Avenue was one of the hideouts used by Marcus Anthony Zgraggen, the suspect in an attempted rape who evaded a major police manhunt for over a week in November 2001 before skipping town in a stolen car.

But other than the high-profile Zgraggen case, Atherton hasn't had many problems with people breaking into unoccupied properties, he said.

"Once in a while, kids break in," Chief Brennan said.

Police do step in when houses are left in a hazardous condition, such as in a recent case involving a house on Linden Avenue. In that case, Chief Brennan tracked down the brother of the owner, who had died, to take care of the property, he said.

Town officials are authorized to act if there are dead weeds and dry landscaping that are creating a fire hazard, and have done so on several of the properties, Mr. Robinson said.

It's a fire's aftermath that bothers a resident of Callado Court. For nearly two years, a fire-damaged home on the street has been not only an eyesore, but a dumping ground for local contractors leaving dirt and construction debris in the back yard, he said. And there are rats, clearly visible, that have taken up residence, he said.

"The yard is a weed pit out back, the fence is falling down, and there's a pool. We worry about animals and small kids getting into the back yard," said the resident, who didn't want his name used in the story.

"It's virtually impossible to get anyone to do anything. The town has not been responsive," he said. "No one wants to live next to a rats' nest."

A demolition permit recently was taken out for the burnt house and, by early last week, it had been razed, effectively ending the problem.

In fact, real estate transaction records show that a number of the unfinished homes in Atherton have changed hands recently, several through foreclosure sales, including the one on the Alameda. Building and demolition permits have been taken out for a number of homes, and with the summer construction season getting under way, work is expected in the near future, Mr. Robinson said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ramorino of the civic interest league said the group will continue to contact property owners "on a friendly basis" when things become rundown.

"People should take pride in their little town," he said.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.