A protest seems to be rolling through a Sharon Heights neighborhood of single-family homes over the recent opening of a residential board-and-care facility for elderly residents at 735 Monte Rosa Drive.
The home on Monte Rosa was licensed by the state on July 26, now houses four patients, and is soon to be expanded to accommodate a maximum of six, said owner Lana Samporn.
For the past 14 years, Ms. Samporn has run a similar six-patient care facility at 1239 Middle Ave. in Menlo Park. She’s an old hand at encountering annoyed neighbors.
John Sakrison, president of the local homeowners association, described the Monte Rosa Drive home as “an extremely odd and wrong environment” for the patients and the neighborhood. He has many questions.
If there are enough attendants to provide good care, he asked, will there be enough parking? If there aren’t enough attendants, will patients be wandering off on their own? Will garbage trucks be making extra visits? Will used syringes be found on the curbside? Will fire-suppression equipment be adequate to an environment that includes bottled oxygen?
The homeowners association’s rules — called covenants, conditions and restrictions — limit residence to single families, he said. Would such rules supersede more permissive city and state laws? Mr. Sakrison said he doesn’t yet know.
“I’m concerned about it bringing property values down,” said Thomas Conley, who lives just across the street from the care facility.
“This is all kind of a bombshell for everyone,” Mr. Sakrison said, noting that he learned about the facility at a September 10 community meeting. “I think, as a community, we’re going to go ahead further and try to fight this.”
Having neighbors put out the unwelcome mat is not new to Ms. Samporn. When she opened her Middle Avenue facility — where she lives — “the whole block didn’t want to talk to me (and) at the beginning, no one wanted to live with me,” she told the Almanac.
That was then. Opinion has apparently mellowed over time. “Now, (the neighbors) are so nice to me,” she said. And business is good.
She said her rooms are always full and always clean. Residents have “gourmet” meals — reheated at the Monte Rosa Drive home — that she makes and that she enjoys at the same table with her patients. “We’re just like an ordinary family,” she said.
As for concerns about too little parking, too much garbage, used syringes, and fire suppression, Ms. Samporn noted that “there’s a big, big book of rules and regulations.”
The fire marshal has signed off on both homes, she said. Used syringes are taken to a pharmacist for disposal, two 32-gallon garbage cans are all she needs at either place, and attendants tend to live on site and don’t own cars. The residents, she said, “are old, not sick.”
In Menlo Park, there are four other licensed residential care homes — on Coleman Place, Haight Street, and Roble and Glenwood avenues — and one with a license pending on Ivy Drive, according to a list maintained by the state.
The California Department of Social Services licenses and oversees the facilities.
The Menlo Park Planning Commission can regulate larger elderly care facilities through the granting of use permits, but facilities that serve six or fewer patients are exempt from permit requirements, said Arlinda Heineck, the community development director for the city of Menlo Park.
