The council unanimously approved the Leong family's plans for a second-story addition to their Lilac Lane home in the Blossom Hill Manor neighborhood Aug. 2. The home is in an area bordering unincorporated Santa Clara County property, and of the handful of houses on that street that are in Los Gatos, all are single-story.

The planning commission denied the proposal May 26 with the specific purpose of sending it before the council, since the commission felt it required a policy decision about the definition of a neighborhood.

Though it would be the first two-story residence in the Los Gatos portion of the neighborhood, more than 20 percent of the homes in the immediate area have second stories.

Nine neighbors showed their support for Debbie and Wesley Leong's proposed "good-neighbor" pop-up addition, which they said was designed to have as little impact on neighbors' sunlight and view as possible.

"I have no objection," said Ann Davis, who lives two doors down from the Leongs. "In fact, I think it's going to be very, very nice and will add to our neighborhood."

Others said the neighborhood was obviously a mix of the town and unincorporated areas, and that as such, the two-story home would not be out of place.

"The whole neighborhood feels like a neighborhood irrespective of the county and city boundaries," said Bill Broad, a resident of nearby Orange Blossom Road. "Almost all of the remodels that I can think of in the neighborhood are going up two stories ... so it doesn't seem inappropriate."

Only one neighbor expressed concern about the addition. Shervin Farhadi said his backyard would be visible from the new second story and his view would be partially obstructed.

Council members said the Leongs made a good-faith effort to mitigate potential impacts to neighbors. They also said the issue was indeed a policy decision and the planning commission was right to send it on to the council. And all agreed that neighborhoods were not constrained to arbitrary boundary lines.

"The question of 'What is a neighborhood?' is of interest to me," Councilwoman Diane McNutt said. "I agree with my other council members ... that clearly a dividing line between county and town is artificial, and it is not something we should be concerned with as we look at this project or any one that comes forward. We have to have a different definition of 'neighborhood.' "

McNutt said she came to her own conclusion about that definition during a previous council meeting.

"I decided a neighborhood is as far as you'll go to borrow a rake from somebody," she said.

Mayor Steve Glickman later contributed a similar interpretation.

"I might say it's how far you'd go to complain about somebody's kids."

Just before the Leongs' appeal—which was approved unanimously—the council approved another man's plans to build a second-story addition to his home. In that case, the planning commission approved it, but a neighbor appealed, fearing the addition would adversely affect the light reaching her home.

The council denied her appeal.