Neighbors plan lawsuit over second story Neighbors plan lawsuit over second story (February 23, 2005)

** Menlo couple claims the planned addition would loom over back yard.

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

Larry and Judi Morrill enjoy dining, entertaining and just passing time in their Menlo Park back yard on Bellair Way.

But they say all that will be ruined if their neighbors, Robert Carlson and Stacy Starcher, add second-story living quarters above their La Loma Drive garage. Now that the City Council has granted a variance, giving the project the go-ahead, the Morrills say they'll file a lawsuit against the city this week.

The second-story addition would overlook the Morrills' back yard and intrude into their privacy, they say. Jane and George Jaynes, who share a back fence with the Carlson-Starcher home, are also taking part in the lawsuit.

The Morrills and the Jayneses plan to seek an injunction that would keep the project from going ahead, and ultimately seek to have the variance approval overturned, said their attorney Marc Hynes, who is also Atherton's city attorney.

Ms. Starcher declined to comment on the lawsuit. But she and Mr. Carlson have said that their lot's triangular shape makes it very difficult to build on without affecting neighbors.

In a November letter to the council, they said they looked "exhaustively" at different ways to build and concluded that this planned 590-square-foot addition would be least intrusive, partly because the garage is half a level down from the rest of the house.

"We have elderly parents who visit us for long periods, and may eventually end up living with us. We love our neighborhood and city. We do not want to move," the two wrote.

The project requires a variance because it would encroach into a required setback. Last year, the Planning Commission could not drum up a majority vote in favor of the plan or alternatives, so the application was deemed denied. Mr. Carlson and Ms. Starcher appealed to the council.

The council said louvers must cover the addition's windows until landscaping grows high enough to ensure neighbors' privacy.

On February 15, the Morrills asked the council to reconsider its February 8 granting of the variance, but none of the three council members who voted for the variance -- Mickie Winkler, Lee Duboc, and Nicholas Jellins -- agreed.

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