Town eyes time limits on home-building projects Town eyes time limits on home-building projects (November 16, 2005)

By Andrea Gemmet

Almanac Staff Writer

No one likes living next door to a construction project, especially one that goes on for years and years. Atherton officials said they may try to create rules that would put time limits on construction projects and impose fines on the ones that go on for too long.

The Atherton City Council sent a mixed bag of construction-related complaints that emerged from its October 19 meeting to the town's General Plan Committee and charged that body with gathering community input.

About 24 people spoke at the committee's November 2 meeting with issues that ranged from screening unsightly construction sites to dealing with abandoned projects, said Councilman Jim Janz, who sits on the General Plan Committee.

"People talked about all kinds of things," said Mr. Janz.

But one idea that emerged would put a cap on seemingly interminable home-building projects and the inconveniences they bring -- messy construction sites, streets clogged with workers' trucks, noise and dust.

"We clearly have residents who are concerned, all way up to upset, about how long it takes for a building to get built in Atherton," said Councilman Alan Carlson.

Atherton town staff is researching rules in two California communities that place time constraints on construction projects, said Mr. Carlson, who is also a General Plan Committee member.

The time limits, along with construction parking and construction hours, will be the topic of the next committee meeting, set for 6 p.m. Thursday, December 1.

This past spring, the town of Hillsborough enacted a law that restricts construction projects to a maximum of 36 months, depending on the value of the job, and requires builders to post a bond that can be used for daily fines if the work is not finished in time. Fines range from $200 to $1,000 per day.

The city of Belvedere has fines of $1,000 a day, up to a total of $100,000, for projects that go beyond its 18-month time limit.

Atherton currently restricts construction hours to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, but puts no cap on how many weeks or months or years a project may take to complete.

Although contractors have said that projects would go faster if they could work longer hours on weekdays, or work on Saturdays, Mr. Carlson said most Atherton residents favor keeping construction hours the way they are now.

Atherton also requires all vehicles associated with a construction job to park on the site, but there are a number of ongoing building projects that predate the construction parking ordinance, said Mr. Janz.

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