Cookie-cutter homes in Atherton? Cookie-cutter homes in Atherton? (September 28, 2005)

** Atherton council tells developer to change facades on three-home subdivision.

By Andrea Gemmet

Almanac Staff Writer

Here's something you've probably never heard of before: tract houses in Atherton.

Residents of the neighborhood near Atherton's Town Council Chambers complained that plans for a three-home subdivision on Ashfield Road would bring an unwelcome touch of Daly City to town.

"To me, they are high-end cookie-cutter tract homes," Atherton resident Jack Ringham told council members at the September 21 meeting after viewing sketches of the three proposed houses. "I don't think that's what we want in Atherton."

A majority of council members agreed that the design of the houses at 40, 50 and 60 Ashfield Road looked too similar to one another, and taken as a group, would be incompatible with the surrounding neighborhood.

They upheld an appeal filed by 12 nearby residents who protested the Planning Commission's approval of the homes, and directed the developers, Brian Kelly Sr. and Brian Kelly Jr., to tweak the design of the facades to make them more distinctive.

The vote was 3-2, with Alan Carlson and Jim Janz opposed.

"My feeling is that those three houses do not meet the standards of the community," said Councilwoman Kathy McKeithen.

The Messrs Kelly appeared baffled that anyone would think the houses looked alike, and pointed out that one would be a Craftsman-style shingle house, another had a Cape Cod-feel with painted lap siding and a full front porch, and the third had a stucco exterior flanked by bay windows.

"I think these are better looking than the homes that are on Ashfield," said Brian Kelly Jr.

Another key complaint by neighbors was the size of the proposed homes, which range from nearly 3,700 to almost 4,000 square feet on one-third-acre lots, but council members did not require a reduction in the size.
'Exception review'

Atherton rarely dabbles in design review for homes that meet the zoning code's setback and floor area requirements, but the complicated provenance of the three small lots made them subject to a so-called exception review.

The lots were originally subdivided in 1907, predating Atherton's one-acre-minimum rule, although, until recently, only one home that straddled property lines was built on it. That house was torn down earlier this year, causing consternation among neighbors on Ashfield Road and people with abutting properties on Maple Avenue.

Paul Quinlan, an attorney who lives at one of the abutting lots on Maple Avenue, argued before the City Council in June that there were numerous irregularities with the original subdivision.

It appeared that some possibly illegal "adjusting" of the property lines enlarged the three Ashfield lots by taking strips of land from three abutting lots on Maple Avenue in the 1930s, he said. He asked the council to override Building Official Mike Hood, who legalized the subdivision by issuing certificates of compliance to BK Development of Saratoga.

The council upheld Mr. Hood's action at the June 15 meeting, paving the way for a three-house subdivision to be built, pending an exception review hearing, which was held by the Planning Commission in July. Council members agreed with Town Attorney Marc Hynes, who said that the rarely used certificates resolved any lingering problems with the old subdivision, and there was no legal reason for Mr. Hood not to issue them.

Mr. Janz, who dissented with the council majority and voted against the appeal at last week's meeting, said the designs were in keeping with those of new homes being built all over Atherton, so he couldn't find that they would be incompatible with the neighborhood.

"New houses are always big, bigger than the old ones, and yes, they stand out," he said. "It's just going to take time until all the houses look like this. Eventually, they will all be sold and replaced, as long as the existing zoning is in place."

Councilman Alan Carlson said that judging the facades to be too similar put the council in the position of being arbitrary and subjective.

However, all council members concurred that, while the proposed homes are larger than most in the neighborhood and will occupy a greater percentage of the lots, they are acceptable under town rules.

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