The Sunnyvale Sun
News
Neighbors win fight to keep homes one-story
By Cody Kraatz
The Sunnyvale City Council approved a neighborhood's request to prohibit two-story homes on its streets, making permanent a restriction that would have otherwise have expired in July.
The neighborhood, bounded by Helena Drive, Wright Avenue, Homestead Road and Cupertino Middle School, consists of 54 homes, and 69 percent of property owners signed a petition, according to a city report.
The single-story status is not truly permanent, as 55 percent of property owners in the district can apply to repeal it.
The neighborhood rallied around Wilma Anderson in 2001 when her neighbors demolished one of the Eichler homes that dominate the neighborhood and built a large home that she said sticks out like a sore thumb and infringes on her privacy.
"If you look at the house, it's completely out of scale with the neighborhood," she said, adding that she felt let down by city planners.
William Callahan, who lives several houses north of the new house, agreed.
"It's a nice house; it just doesn't fit into that neighborhood," he said. "It towers over her house."
Callahan helped form the Fairorchard Architectural Committee, which became the first group to gain council approval, in July 2001, of a Single-Story Combining District tool that the council created in 2000.
Neighbors say some homes have been tastefully remodeled. One house on Edmonton Avenue is two stories, but echoes many of the airy, exposed-beam, glass-infused Eichler design characteristics. But they don't trust that every remodel will fit in.
Other neighborhoods have followed suit to ward off so-called "monster homes," which are common in South Bay cities where some property owners want to maximize the square footage on the pricey land.
Denise Biggs, who lives on the 1000 block of La Salle Avenue in the district, was the only resident who spoke against the application at a Jan. 14 Sunnyvale Planning Commission meeting.
She said it prevents her from making improvements on her home and that it could affect the value of homes, according to meeting minutes.
Any new development in the district is limited to 17 feet high, one habitable floor (not including a basement) and a maximum 45 percent floor area to lot size ratio.
A proposed single-story district must have at least 20 homes, at least 75 percent of them must be one story and at least 55 percent of the property owners must support the application.
Glenn Hendricks, who lives in a different neighborhood, thanked the Fairorchard group for its efforts, saying it had paved the way for other neighborhoods.
"We've saved our neighborhood and we've saved other neighborhoods and I think we've made Sunnyvale a much better city than it already is," said Gretchen Callahan, William's wife.
For more information visit sunnyvale.ca.gov/Departments/Community+Development, e-mail planning@ci.sunnyvale.ca.us or call 408.730.7444.