It grinds my gears how these developers have run circles around our city council to achieve their desired outcome. It is a joke to think that Dewey LLC, Millenium Flats, and Handa's development company were all unaware of the PC either back in 2017 when Dewey purchashed the apartments, or when the lot in question was carved out for Handa. Their collective feigned ignorance resulting in a gifted R1 zoning so they can turn a profit at the expense of the safety and livability of this part of Palo Alto is a gross precedent.

I'm very disappointed in the council for not calling out these obviously disingenous, non-resident parties and for not stepping up to protect the *actual* community members of Ellesworth Pl.

Would this even be an issue if the applicant planned to build a house that looked more like a house than a city garage or office building?

The house is way too big for the lot with Handa is crying about wanting yard space while designing the house without any yard except for the front yard on Middlefield Road, and placing the home only 6 feet from the Matadero Creek propertyline. That creek stinks most of the year, and having a house built that close to it will smell the sewage stench coming off the decaying waters, which turn green when it's not raining. There is also a sewer gas outlet next to this property and that adds to the stench noticeable when standing on this lot. If this home was being designed by someone who will actually live there, they would choose a different layout and also heed the warnings of the neighbors who live on Ellsworth.

According to Santa Clara County Assessors records, Handa bought a PARKING LOT and not a vacant R-1 lot, and a lot can legally have only one zoning condition at a time. This issue is with the title company, the developer who sold the property, Hayes Architects who packaged the parking lot for sale, and the real estate agent who represented both sides of this real estate transaction, in addition to the online City maps that didn't record the PC, even though the PC is codified and easy to find with a property history search in the City records.

These developers are threatening the City of Palo Alto with litigation if they don't get their way, and the City seems to be caving to them at the cost of safety in this area of Midtown to avoid this potential litigation. Suppose a pedestrian is injured or killed here due to the decreased road circulation conditions a potential home built on this parking lot creates, the City of Palo Alto will have to pay a lot more to settle any subsequent lawsuit than they would if they just buy the property and keep it a parking lot + parklet for the safety and circulation of the Midtown neighborhood. The conditions at this intersection are unlike anything else in Palo Alto, and there have already been too many close calls here.

This part of Midtown is one of the most unsafe for pedestrians, bicyclists, skateboarders, and scooterists because there is no bike lane along Middlefield Road where Ellsworth Place is located, which is near Winterlodge, Kim Grant Tennis, Keys School, and on the path between the junior high and Midtown Shopping Center. The kids love their boba tea and ice cream and they congregate outside of Walgreens after school. Kids on bikes must use the sidewalk for their safety, and the concerns at this intersection are real. It would be prudent for the City of Palo Alto to acknowledge these concerns and ensure the decisions they make are in the best interests of the community not the developers.

It's disturbing to see how powerful, monied investment groups seem to be controlling the destiny of Palo Alto to their benefit. As savvy real estate developers (neither Dewey nor Handa being first-time buyers/sellers) pleading "I didn't know" (about the PC) doesn't ring true. The parcel at 702 Ellsworth is a PARKING LOT attached to the apartment building. It's been a PARKING LOT since the 1960s! A simple search shows this. It's disingenuous of them to plead naivete.

The residents of Ellsworth have valid concerns about safety. They live it every day, driving in and out. Some have lived there for decades, yet their voices have less importance than the developers? Why? They've seen all the traffic, the kids on bikes, the near misses, day in and day out. There were TWO injury accidents of a similar vein in September - have we forgotten this? One was on East Meadow Drive, not far from this problematic intersection. The developer and prospective home builder do not live on the street, and don't truly grasp the sincerity of the residents' concerns!

I think the city really needs to exercise caution with this issue. It may set a bad precedence for other parcels. And if a child does get hurt? And the city could've taken simple measures to prevent this? That's the worst outcome.