October 15, 1996

Palo Alto City Council
250 Hamilton Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94301

Dear Mayor Wheeler and Council Members;

The Barron Park Association Board requests that Palo Alto establish a formal design review process for all new or significantly remodeled residential development. Our reasons are given below. There is a significant problem of overbearing and inappropriate home building in Barron Park and all over the city. We received many complaints from residents about some of the new homes which have been built in the past several years. The volume of complaints has increased lately. We recommend that corrective actions be taken now, before the big, the bad and the ugly overwhelm us all.

As you know, many new homes have been built with no regard for the neighborhood or surrounding properties. Standard plans have been used with no regard for individual communities or the appropriateness of the new building. This has a serious adverse impact on property rights and values. For example, 2-story homes are built in neighborhoods which are all 1-story. Windows are placed so that they look into the windows and yards of adjacent homes. Mature landscaping and trees are removed when existing homes are demolished, creating barren lots and reducing shade and habitat. The microclimate near these scraped sites is adversely impacted needlessly. Taller new homes can shadow existing homes or outdoor facilities such as a pool. The character of entire streets is changed, harming many of the qualities which made the area attractive initially. Front, side and rear setbacks of existing homes are ignored, making the new homes undesirably obtrusive. Exterior materials are selected to conform to pre-packaged plans, not existing nearby homes. All of these factors adversely impact neighborhoods and residents.

The proposal to place certain restrictions, and some level of design review, on new homes which replace homes built before 1940 addresses part of the problem. It does nothing to protect neighborhoods and homes built in the past 56 years, a majority of Palo Alto. This is a major concern in Barron Park where most of the homes were built after 1945. Therefore, we wish to propose means to protect existing neighborhoods from inappropriate development, while still allowing development and redevelopment of new homes.

There should be a form of design review and approval of all new homes and all remodeling and expansion of homes over a certain percentage of the existing home. This should apply to both older and newer homes. Applying it only to older homes will create pressures to remove and replace older homes in newer neighborhoods such as Barron Park and south Palo Alto. We find this to be unacceptable and request corrective actions. Without design review and controls on new residential development, the entire character and existing scale of Palo Alto will be irretrievably lost, to the detriment of almost all of the present residents.

The Barron Park Association is developing specific guidelines for application to new developments. They will be transmitted separately in the near future.

Sincerely yours,

Barron Park Association Board