Menlo Park home-building: easing approvals Menlo Park home-building: easing approvals (May 04, 2005)

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

A plan to streamline the approval process for many homes in Menlo Park passed through the Planning Commission last week and is headed for the City Council.

The plan, which would remove the use permit requirement for single-story, single-family development on lots of at least 5,000 square feet, with some exceptions, sparked a lengthy commission meeting that went until midnight on April 25.

Homes would still have to meet development rules such as height limits to avoid going through the use-permit process, which includes a public hearing at the Planning Commission.

The commission left open the possibility of requiring a use permit for some projects that are more controversial, such as those built next to alleys, commissioner Lorie Sinnott said after the meeting. Those topics will be hashed out at the council level.

The commission voted 6-1 to recommend the plan to the council, with Melody Pagee dissenting. Ms. Pagee said the plan does not provide adequate protection for neighbors and could allow projects to intrude into privacy and daylight access.

Ms. Sinnott said she is in favor of the plan because it makes it easier for residents to build single-story projects, which less frequently spark neighborhood protest. The Planning Commission rarely turns down an application for a single-story project, she said, but the process is expensive and time-consuming for applicants.

On the other side of the issue, some residents oppose the plan because they say the public-hearing process is necessary to allow neighbors to speak up on a project that could harm the character of an area.

Resident Chuck Bernstein criticized the plan in an e-mail to the commissioners and council. He expressed particular concern about its effects on smaller lots of 5,000 square feet, saying they have a greater need for discretionary review because homes are closer together and could more seriously harm a neighbor's privacy.

A date for the council hearing has not been set. The direction for the plan originally came from the council, which voted 3-2 in February to have the ordinance drafted.

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