December 4, 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 were presented in an earlier letter. Now we wish to suggest design guidelines to protect existing neighborhoods and encourage appropriate development and redevelopment of new homes. Our intent is to create clear and understandable design requirements which are easy to understand, and can be verified for compliance with little cost or effort.

The Barron Park Association sent questionnaires to all 339 current members on November 8th. As of November 24th there were 183 replies, or 54%. This is an excellent response, and supports the belief that this is a topic of great general interest. The results are summarized below. The actual questionnaire is attached so that you can see how the questions were phrased. In addition 17 people either sent letters or made comments on the questionnaire. Copies of these comments also are attached.

Each residential area or neighborhood should be evaluated for existing types and styles of home, designs, landscaping, materials of construction, setbacks, height, etc. A set of design limits then should be created for each residential area or neighborhood. These design limits and guidelines must be made mandatory design requirements for any new housing, or any remodel where more than some percentage of the walls or floor area is replaced. The review would be by staff initially. Staff would verify that the construction does or does not fit within the neighborhood guidelines. If it does, there would be no further action required. Applications would be forwarded to the ARB for action if 1) staff considers such review to be needed (or desirable even if not needed); 2) The new plan is appealed by any resident living within 500 feet of the site; 3) the plans fail to meet the established design guidelines for the neighborhood.

Summary of BPA Responses Regarding Design Review of Single Family Homes
(10%)
Question %Yes %No %Indifferent
Two story houses in 1-story neighborhoods should be subject to design review automatically. 66 28 6
Neighborhood patterns of street setbacks should be preserved 58 26 16
Neighborhood patterns of side yard setbacks should be preserved 69 18 13
Roof lines, materials & exterior construction should conform to neighboring houses 42 42 16
Limit the number of similar designed homes per block 52 32 16
Special permit for removal of heritage-sized tree 65 28 7
Design review should be required before significant landscape changes are made 29 57 14
Landscaping other than heritage trees should be subject to review before removal. 12 78 10
Offer incentives for good building design 43 39 18

When a new or remodeled home requires design review neighbors should be contacted and asked to comment if they are within Distance:
Distance % Yes
if they are within 500 feet. 48%
If they are on the same block 48%
No need to notify 13%

Design review should be required if remodeling area exceeds present area by X%
By X% % Yes
By 25% 27%
By 50% 48%
By 75% 8%
Never 17%

Design review should be required if remodeling does Action:
Action % agree that design review should be required
replaces front walls 30%
50% of the walls 43%
75% of the walls 8%
Never 17%

Any objection to the plans and proposals should cause the project to be sent directly to the ARB for review and action. ARB approvals or other actions should be subject to appeal to the City Council by either party.

If the home was built before 1941, the HRB will perform the same functions as the ARB for newer homes.

Approval or rejections of new or expanded homes could be appealed to the City Council, as is present policy for ARB decisions. In practice ARB decisions rarely are appealed to the Council.

Design review and controls on new residential development is necessary to preserve the character and scale of Palo Alto. Failure to act will result in irretrievable loss of community character, to the detriment of almost all of the present residents.

Sincerely yours,

Barron Park Association Board