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The Woodside Town Council ruled that Menlo Country Club will no longer be allowed to hold planned events on a portion of its property, following complaints from nearby neighbors who say it gets so rowdy that they feel like they’re living “in an amphitheater.”
The situation is the latest in a longstanding feud over noise between neighbors and the country club. This time, the area of contention is a shaded lawn area on the south side of the property that was supposedly designed as a place for kids to get respite from the sun. Instead, neighbors say, it’s being used for noisy gatherings.
“Kids laying the shade looks a lot like 100 people sitting at tables having dinner,” said Kevin Greenwood, who lives with his partner Debbie Mendelson on Sheridan Way, a stone’s throw from the country club.
Menlo Country Club’s lawyer Alex Merritt declined a request for comment, though he told the Woodside Town Council members at the July 25 meeting that he doesn’t believe it’s within their legal right to bar the club from using its property in this way.
Amplifying tensions
Greenwood and Mendelson say they’ve had to contend with the noise from the country club for decades. But in 2019, tensions escalated when the country club received approval to tear down and renovate its main clubhouse and pool house – a revamp that neighbors anticipated would attract even louder events, and more of them. Mendelson and Greenwood ended up joining forces with neighbor Dave Burow, a former Town Council member, to appeal the approval, demanding hard limits on how loud the club’s events could get.
In response to the appeals, the Town Council at the time upheld the Woodside Planning Commission’s approval, but added a list of 15 conditions, including that amplified sound could not exceed 65 decibels during club events.
Over the years, Greenwood said he and Mendelson have learned how to adjust their lives to work around their noisy neighbor.
“We knew that Labor Day, Fourth of July, Memorial Day – those were not good days to be home if you wanted quiet,” Greenwood told Town Council at its July 25 meeting. “You could plan your life accordingly, whether it’s a dinner on your deck, or having people down by the pool, you weren’t concerned about hellacious noise coming from down below.”
But recently, “that’s changed,” Greenwood said, namely due to a lawn area located on the south side of the club’s pool.
“It was never stated during the planning process, the appeals process, the Town Council meetings – no one ever stated, ‘We’re going to have an entertainment area south of the pool,’” Greenwood said.
Woodside Planning Director Sage Schaan explained at the council’s July 25 meeting that after the 2019 appeal was resolved and construction began, the Menlo Country Club proposed adding a shade structure over the south lawn area to its plans, just a few dozen yards from Mendelson’s backyard.
“The planning department determined that it was a minor enough improvement to provide additional shade during the day,” Schaan said, and the planning director at the time approved the change without requiring the project to go through another public hearing.
The project was completed in October 2021, with a requirement that it come back to the planning commission for review in a year to determine whether Menlo Country Club was complying with the decibel limit and the other conditions. After a few months’ delay to gather more information, the planning commission held the one-year review in April.
During the hearing, planning commissioners raised concerns about the behind-the-scenes addition of the shade structure to the project after it had already gone through the public hearing process. Commissioner Marilyn Voelke opined that such a change should have been reviewed by the planning commission, and noted that the country club has since added unpermitted electrification to the structure.
When asked how the lawn and structure is used, Club Manager Steven Gonzalez told commissioners it’s primarily for children to seek shade during the day, according to meeting minutes.
Mendelson had a different perspective to share. She told commissioners during the April hearing that there’s often groups of about 100 people sitting at tables under the shade structure having dinner or enjoying a barbecue, which causes significant noise that she can hear from her home up the hill.
Despite concerns about the structure, the commission determined that Menlo Country Club was still operating in compliance with its conditional use permit, as long as it removed the electricity installed without a permit in the shade structure.
Neighbors take action
Within days of the planning commission’s April decision, Mendelson filed an appeal, arguing that the shade structure was not a minor adjustment, was never discussed publicly prior to construction and should not have been authorized.
In its response, Menlo Country Club representatives maintained that the purpose of the planning commission’s one-year review was to determine whether the club was in compliance with its operational conditions, “none of which address or regulate the (shade) structure.”
Mendelson’s appeal came before the Woodside Town Council at its July 25 meeting, and town staff recommended that council reject the appeal and uphold the planning department’s decision.
While the council generally agreed that the club is technically in compliance with its operational conditions, multiple council members were troubled by what they dubbed “mission creep” of the club’s shaded lawn area: That the originally intended use of the space doesn’t match what neighbors say is actually happening.
“We approved this plan that had the lawn, but this structure kind of came out over the last couple years without us looking at it, without the appellants looking at it,” said Council member Ned Fluet. “… I do think that is something that was not part of our original look in 2019, and I think it does require some limitations.”
Town Attorney Jean Savaree told council that from her legal perspective, she believes it’s within the town’s right to impose a condition that Menlo Country Club only use the lawn for its originally intended purpose.
“I think you have the authority to say that when the conditional use permit was looked at, this was to be a lawn,” Savaree said. “It’s OK to have a shade structure on a lawn, just like a tree would provide shade, but that’s what that is to be used for — shade.”
Merritt, the club’s legal counsel, didn’t agree. He argued that because the club’s original use permit doesn’t impose conditions on the shade structure, the council doesn’t have a right to make this call without a formal review process.
“When you’re talking about taking out the lawn area, that’s going to disrupt all of the events,” Merritt said. “They’ve always used that area for tables and outdoor events. … They have a wedding coming up in a couple weeks that they’re going to have to cancel.”
The council ultimately followed the directive from town staff to deny the appeal, but decided to add three conditions on the country club: First, that the shade structure only be used for providing shade, with no tables, chairs or dining in that area; second, that the club remove the unpermitted electricity within the shade structure; and third, that a device be placed at Mendelson’s property line to gauge the decibel levels coming from the country club, and that the data be monitored by town staff, rather than by the country club, as it is currently. In six months, staff will report back to council whether or not the decibel limits are exceeded.
The council unanimously supported the motion.
“To our friends at the Menlo Country Club, you’ve heard some pretty serious criticism at this Town Council tonight,” said Council member Paul Goeld before the vote was cast. “Even if the appeal is denied, this Town Council may very well revisit this conditional use permit, and the Menlo Country Club may not like what this council comes up with. So I would encourage them to take whatever measures they can to have respect and at least honor these agreements in spirit with our neighbors.”
