Filed November 2, 2020 with $110 check
Brielle Johnck
Steve Schmidt
330 Central Ave.
Menlo Park
Appeal to the October 19,2020 Planning Commission Decision
Re: 328 Central Ave TJH Use Permit Approval
Background
330 Central Ave. has been home to appellants since 1971. Unfortunately, we are not able to address our concerns to our future neighbors at 328 Central because the property is owned by Thomas James Homes (TJH), an industrial scale speculative developer from Los Angeles. TJH has purchased 10 houses in Menlo Park and 17 in Redwood City. In the Willows there are 7 TJH projects: 2001 Menalto, 106 Baywood, 441 Gilbert, 333 Marmona, 420 Laurel, 505 Central, and 328 Central. In West MP: 710 Stanford, 30 Sharon Court, 450 Hermosa.
Parcel Description
The parcel is 140 feet deep, 43’ wide at the front and 56’ in the rear with a site area of 6,875 sq ft. A standard lot in this zoning district has a minimum width of 65’ and a minimum area of 7000’, hence the non-standard designation. On October 19, 2020 The Menlo Park Planning Commission (PC) approved a use permit for construction of a 2,798.5 sf spec house, which is 1.5 sf under the maximum allowed on this non-standard parcel in the R-1-U district.
Reason for appeal: loss of privacy:
There are 16 second floor windows, eight of which look down over our 1,300 sf home.
Of particular concern is the view from the project’s hallway extension to the stairwell through two clear glass 2’ x 5’ windows directly into our bathroom and bedroom. Sketches of the relationship between the right side of our home and the left side of the proposed project were delivered to the commissioners. A site section later provided by TJH confirms our original privacy concerns.
Planning Commission Process
At the October 19 PC meeting there was a discussion of our issues which concluded when the Chair asked if the applicant TJH would consider replacing the two windows in the stairwell with a skylight, or using opaque glass or raising the window sill height in that location to address our concerns; The applicant stated that the company would “rather not”. A motion was then made to approve the use permit and the vote was unanimous to approve.
Summary
In considering our appeal we urge the Council to choose from our suggested changes, listed in order of our preference: 1. removal of the stairwell windows in exchange for a skylight,
2. replacing stairwell clear glass windows with opaque glass, 3. increase by 12” the sill height of the stairwell windows. Because the proposed house is still a conceptual design on paper, our reasonable design suggestions can be easily made by TJH, as the company has done on many of its Southern California projects. We ask that approval of the use permit be granted with one of our three modest conditions.
Appellants: Brielle Johnck and Steve Schmidt
330 Central, Menlo Park
November 2, 2020
