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Published on 05/04/1998 All articles from this issue

Supes OK building moratorium for small lots

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

Santa Clara County Supervisors unanimously passed an urgent interim building moratorium for new-house construction on sub-standard lots in the Los Altos and Los Altos Hills unincorporated areas.

The ordinance went into effect immediately following the supervisor's May 5 meeting. Sub-standard refers to lots that are legal but less than the minimum size per current zoning regulations, which typically require 10,000- to 20,000-square-feet.

The moratorium creates a timeout on new house construction, not on remodels, on small lots only. This will "allow the county to review and implement appropriate measures to minimize the impacts of inevitable development in the area," said Supervisor Joe Simitian who represents the unincorporated areas of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills, centered around the Los Altos Golf & Country Club.

"Developers have no right to plunder our neighborhoods," Los Altos resident Victoria Hambly told the supervisors.

Nineteen Los Altos-area residents, including Hambly, spoke at the meeting. Support came from residents, opposition from Realtors and developers.

"Why a moratorium?" some asked.

"What's the alternative?" Simitian said. "If the county announced it was re-doing the design guidelines, this creates a rush to the application counter to get under the wire. This frustrates people."

Many residents have watched as developers buy a house on a generous lot, that in fact is two, three or four lots.

Then the house is torn down and a new big house built on each of the lots. Where one house stood, now, in many cases, there are several, on lots that would not meet today's zoning requirements.

"These three-for-one or four-for-one lot divisions are subject, currently, to large-lot guidelines," Simitian said.

The result: instances of 35-foot high houses with 6-foot side yard setbacks on 6,500-, 7,500-square-foot lots. And residents are not happy.

Folks told the supervisors how this has changed their neighborhood density and character, how sewer systems have failed and how traffic dangerously clogs narrow, winding streets.

"We need help. We need it now," said Pete McSweeney, a spokesman for the San Antonio Hills Homeowners' Association, an association with voluntary membership of the 1,100 homes in the area. In the past the association has used lawsuits to limit large-house construction on small lots.

But the courts have regularly ruled against the association, as the lots were legal and the houses met zoning guidelines.

Simitian's moratorium promises another solution.

The unincorporated areas affected include homes around the Los Altos Golf & Country Club, from Magdalena Aveune to Permanente Creek, from Foothill Expressway to the west side of Highway 280 at Ravensbury Avenue in Los Altos Hills.

The ordinance will remain in effect for a minimum of 45 days and will most likely be extended to 90 days, county staff said. It could last up to two years.