MENLO PARK — In a public showdown between a group of residents and the city’s blueprint for downtown development, the people lost.
At its meeting Monday, the Planning Commission voted 4-0 — with Chairman John Onken abstaining because his residence is adjacent to the proposed project — to recommend that the City Council approve a plan to build 24 condominium units at 133 Encinal Ave., which is in the El Camino Real/Downtown Specific Plan’s zoning district.
Even though developer Hunter Properties has met with neighbors a number of times and made some changes to address their concerns, the residents of an adjacent street, Stone Pine Lane, continue to oppose the project as too intrusive.
Onken was one of seven Stone Pine residents to speak during a public comment period. The issues they say the developer has failed to fix include loss of privacy; the lack of a retail use in the project; potential traffic and safety problems; the loss of a heritage tree; and proposed building heights, which they say will greatly reduce the amount of sunlight hitting their properties.
“We do appreciate the developer’s good-faith efforts in trying to accommodate a number of issues (but) the development … has not really changed, aside from some tweaks in our direction,” Onken said. “What we don’t see as acceptable is … the condition imposed on the neighbors, because where we are in the back, we have as little as 31 feet between windows.”
Onken was referring to one of eight planned buildings that will sit at the rear of the property and face three Stone Pine townhomes. Hunter Properties originally planned to have living areas on the second floor directly facing Stone Pine’s living areas. The living areas in that building are now proposed to be on the first floor. The building was reduced from three stories to two, the number of windows was reduced on the second floor and the number of units was reduced from six to three.
For one resident, the new orientation brought up fresh concerns, given that bedrooms and patios will now be looming in Stone Pine’s sightlines.
“I strongly oppose the latest proposal,” said Ursula Feusi. “What we’re looking at from our living quarters (are) bedrooms and patios. In other words, we would entirely lose our privacy.”
Two other residents spoke of how the project would completely alter the nature of the neighborhood, giving it a more dense, urban feel. The nursery has sat at the site since 1919.
The commission’s approval came with a caveat: City staff and the developer were directed to further work out remaining differences with neighbors before the plan goes to the council, likely no earlier than December. One possible outcome aired at the meeting was to eliminate the nursery’s Carriage Stop — a Victorian cottage that housed the plant and gift boutique — from the project, to allow the building at issue to be set back farther from the Stone Pine property lines, even though it would mean the project would contain less open space.
Commissioner Drew Combs brokered the plan’s approval when he stated that the project met all the requirements of the Specific Plan — more so in some cases. For instance, Hunter Properties’ current plan dedicates 41.9 percent of the 1.7-acre property to open space (the minimum is 20 percent); the project will remove five heritage trees, but plant 24 new heritage trees in their place, a 4.8-to-1 replacement ratio (minimum is 2 to 1); and the developer, with a requirement that it build 3.6 below-market-rate units, opted to build one of the BMR units as a low-income unit rather than pay an in-lieu fee to cover the 0.6 remainder.
“I don’t know what we could do up here that would be a valid reason for denying this project or recommending that the City Council approve it,” Combs said, adding that making an exception for the Stone Pine residents would send confusing signals to potential future development.
Hunter Properties president Deke Hunter said the condos would be priced “to give somebody an open space in a slightly more affordable unit.”
Email Kevin Kelly at kkelly@dailynewsgroup.com or call him at 650-391-1049.
