A proposal by Ronald McDonald House to build a three-story addition to its Palo Alto facility got off to an auspicious start Monday when the City Council launched the rezoning process that would enable the project.

Located at 520 Sand Hill Road, Ronald McDonald House provides rooms for children with life-threatening illnesses. As the Weekly reported last week, the organization has proposed building a second house just north of its existing facility. The addition would feature 68 rooms, raising the total number to 115.

The council on Monday voted 6-0, with Karen Holman absent and Larry Klein and Mayor Yiaway Yeh recusing themselves (their wives are affiliated with Stanford University, which owns the land) to begin the process of rezoning the site to accommodate the new facility. The new building would stand on a vacant parcel with oak and eucalyptus trees and a walking trail. The trail would have to be moved closer to Sand Hill Road as part of the project.

Honey Meir-Levi, the nonprofit's executive director, said advances in medicine at the nearby Lucile Packard Children's Hospital have greatly increased the length of patient stays at the facility. As the average stay increased from six nights to 24 nights in recent years, the facility has had to turn families away, she said.

Six years ago, she said, the wait list began to expand to a point where the organization felt it's time to expand. At that time, 15 to 20 families were getting turned away every night, she said. The board decided it had to secure land and build a second facility. Since then, the demand has continued to rise.

"Now, we are looking at 30 to 40 families each night being turned away form the Ronald McDonald House," Meir-Levi said. "The demand is growing and the need is clear at this critical juncture. We must expand to provide housing for the desperately ill kids and their families."

Former Mayor Bern Beecham, who volunteers at the front desk of the Ronald McDonald House, said his duties include calling 20 to 30 families for whom the facility doesn't have rooms. These calls, he said, are hard to make.

The council had only praise for the project. Councilman Pat Burt said Ronald McDonald House has "a basis of values that we all share." Councilwoman Gail Price lauded the design of the proposed building, saying it would be compatible with the existing facility. She said she expects the Ronald McDonald House to be a "wonderful project."

"It's very clear from the presentation that an expansion of the Ronald McDonald House is necessary and overdue to meet the incredible needs for extended services and critically ill children and their families," Price said. "It's very important that children and families in these circumstances have easy access to advanced medical treatment."

The Monday meeting was the council's first look at the project, which would still have to go through a series of public hearings to win approval.