Menlo Park: Neighborhood seeks special home-building rules Menlo Park: Neighborhood seeks special home-building rules (May 04, 2005)

** Lorelei Manor residents want to make it easier to build single-story additions.

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

Many in Menlo Park's Lorelei Manor area have said they have a harder time getting city permission to build home additions because their lots are small. So now a group of residents is asking the City Council to create special development rules for their area.

Last week, several Lorelei Manor residents came to the council's April 26 meeting to present a petition for a "zoning overlay." Their main concern is that the neighborhood has many lots deemed "substandard" -- small or oddly shaped -- and therefore owners need a use permit and a public hearing at the Planning Commission to do many kinds of projects.

Lorelei Manor is between Bay Road and U.S. 101, just south of Marsh Road. Its four streets are Lorelei Lane, Christopher Way, Callie Lane and Harmon Drive.

Under the proposed overlay, Lorelei Manor residents could build a single-story addition without a use permit, as long as they follow development rules.

Some of the rules would be changed to make it easier to build a single-story addition, which would mean less need for a second story -- which is more costly and can be more intrusive to neighbors, said resident Henry Riggs. One change would allow Lorelei Manor residents to build on more of their lots, covering 40 percent instead of 35 percent.

Mr. Riggs is a planning commissioner and secretary of the Lorelei Homeowners Association.

The overlay also has some limits on second stories, such as requiring a farther setback than the first story, Mr. Riggs said. Exceeding the limits would require Planning Commission approval.

Contiguous neighbors of a project would still be notified of all applications for demolition and building permits.

Whether or not a Planning Commission hearing is a good thing has long been a contentious issue in Menlo Park.

Mr. Riggs and others say the process can be costly and time-consuming for applicants, and they say that single-story projects generally get approved anyway.

Other residents say the review process serves a crucial need: it gives neighbors a chance to speak out against projects that may harm their privacy or the area's character.

When the Lorelei Manor overlay was being developed, Mr. Riggs said he encountered opposition from one resident who didn't want second stories allowed at all. There are nine two-story homes in the neighborhood.

Otherwise, Mr. Riggs said, there is wide support for the plan in Lorelei Manor. It was constructed by a task force and further developed at several neighborhood meetings. Ultimately, proponents sought signatures from 73 residents and got 71, he said. (One section of the 89-home neighborhood was inadvertently left out.)

The next step for the petition is a future City Council meeting, once city staff members have a chance to analyze it and outline what the process would be, City Manager David Boesch said.

Meanwhile, Mayor Mickie Winkler said she hadn't yet analyzed the proposal and could not comment on whether it was a good idea. She did say, though, that she admires the process that created it.

"This was developed by people who understand zoning," she said. "It's a neighborhood-wide effort with a huge amount of consensus."

One zoning overlay already exists in Menlo Park's Felton Gables neighborhood next to Atherton's Holbrook-Palmer Park. It includes a more stringent limit on how much square footage can be built.

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