Menlo Park: Architect named to Planning Commission Menlo Park: Architect named to Planning Commission (January 19, 2005)

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

An architect and prolific letters-to-the-editor writer has been named to the Planning Commission, Menlo Park's most prominent commission.

Henry Riggs, who was chosen by the City Council on January 11, has come before the commission with projects he was working on and said he is looking forward to seeing things from the other side. He also said he's pleased that there will now be an architect on the panel.

Mr. Riggs said his own experiences before the commission have been successful -- his projects were approved -- but added that he's heard of other residents becoming frustrated with the process, feeling that the commission was focusing on too many details of projects.

"I know it firsthand from some of my neighbors who have tried to build and have actually given up," he said. "I suppose I could complain some more, but participating seems like a better idea."

Council members Mickie Winkler, Lee Duboc and Nicholas Jellins voted to appoint Mr. Riggs to the commission. The three are widely seen as a council majority, and also voted together last fall on four other appointments to the panel.

The other two council members, Kelly Fergusson and Andy Cohen, voted for venture capitalist J. Michael Gullard.

Mr. Riggs will take the commission seat that Ms. Fergusson vacated upon her election to the council.

A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Mr. Riggs has written many letters to the Almanac in recent years. He was a strong critic of a proposal by the Menlo Park Fire Protection District to require fire sprinklers in most new homes and major remodels, and was also critical of the city's public art law, which the council rescinded last year.

In his most recent project in Menlo Park, Mr. Riggs worked on a house addition and remodel in Belle Haven. He says, however, that he doesn't expect to have to recuse himself from many commission hearings because he works on projects elsewhere in the Bay Area as well.

Mr. Riggs has been an architect for about 25 years, working for firms such as Marshall Erdman & Associates in Santa Clara and Fisher Friedman Associates in San Francisco, he said. He's been in private practice since 2000.

He is secretary of the Lorelei Manor Homeowners Association and also serves on the board of directors for the San Francisco chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

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