Seeking to untangle a complex zoning dispute between a group of Midtown residents and a property owner looking to build a home at the end of their block, Palo Alto's planning commissioners backed a compromise Wednesday that is unlikely to fully satisfy either side.

The debate pitted the residents on Ellsworth Place, a narrow street off Middlefield Road just north of Matadero Creek and the Winter Lodge, against Nitin Handa, who bought a property at the intersection of Ellsworth and Middlefield with the intent of building a single-family home. His proposal ran into a zoning barrier when he learned after purchasing the project that it is in fact part of a "planned community" (PC) zoning district that was approved in 1967 and that would preclude his proposed house.

Errors in the city's zoning map further complicated the matters. According to the Department of Planning and Development Services, the city's online property parcel records did not show information about the PC zoning designation on their reports for the residential parcels for the two properties at the center of the dispute: 2901 Middlefield Road and 702 Ellsworth Place.

Richard Dewey, who owned both properties, sold the latter one to Handa in 2022 with an understanding — informed by the city's own map — that the land could be redeveloped as a new home.

Residents, however, have a much different understanding. They strongly rejected a request by Handa that the city rezone his property to create a single-family residential (R-1) district, allowing him to build the home. At a prior hearing, which stretched for longer than four hours, many argued that putting up a home on a site that has functioned as a parking lot would make traffic conditions worse.

Kristen Van Fleet, who lives on Ellsworth and who has been leading the opposition to the Handa proposal, said the parking lot has always been necessary for circulation on Ellsworth.

"It was designed with our street in mind and it's very much integrated as part of our street," Van Fleet told the Planning and Transportation Commission at the June 28 hearing.

To address these concerns, Handa and Dewey have proposed a compromise: widening the width of Ellsworth from 20 feet to 24 feet for the 35-foot stretch of Ellsworth closest to Middlefield. Architect Ken Hayes, who is representing Dewey, said that revised plan would improve conditions for vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians.

He noted that the only reason the property owner now finds himself in a dispute with neighbors is because of an error that the city made decades ago, when it failed to properly record the planned community district.

"None of us here had anything to do with this, but we're here trying to resolve this in a fair and reasonable way," Hayes told the commission Wednesday.

But the commission determined after an extensive debate that even this proposal doesn't go far enough. By a 3-2 vote, with commissioners Cari Templeton and George Lu dissenting, the commission recommended widening the street further, to 26 feet. This despite assertions by Hayes that further expanding the road may not be feasible because doing so may interfere with a power pole at the site.

As part of the compromise, the commission supported allowing Handa to move ahead with the home construction, notwithstanding residents' objections. But the motion passed by the three-member majority of Chair Doria Summa, Vice Chair Bryna Chang and Commission Allen Akin rejected the idea of breaking off Handa's property into a separate residential zone. Rather, the three members favored creating a new PC zone for the Ellsworth property, a designation that would give the city more flexibility in establishing permitted land uses and development standards. (Two other commissioners, Bart Hechtman and Keith Reckdahl, were absent.)

Chang, who spearheaded the motion, said she had recently visited the site to see the traffic conditions firsthand. Many cars sped up and down Middlefield Road at 40 mph despite a posted speed limit of 25 mph (20 mph when children are present). Most bicyclists had opted to ride on the sidewalk rather than on the street.

"This is just a harrowing stretch of road that is heavily, heavily used," Chang said.

Summa and Akin both supported Chang's modifications to Handa's proposal, including her proposal to retain 702 Ellsworth within a PC zome. Summa suggested that doing so would allow the city to have more control over the site. Akin said that the road improvements proposed by Handa and his team have swayed him from a stance of opposition toward a compromise that he can live with.

Templeton and Lu were less thrilled and argued that the latest proposal offered by Handa sufficiently addresses the community's concerns about safety on Ellsworth.

"I think 24 feet is a compromise that was offered in good faith by the applicants, and I feel it is surprising that there are people who want more because it's a tremendous improvement over the street already," Templeton said. "And it would be taking away property from the applicant, whereas nothing has been taken away but given to the neighborhood by the proposed compromise."