City to consider banning two-story homes in Greer Park North

If they want to see historic Eichlers preserved, why not pass a historic preservation district? Eichler himself built two-story houses that preserved neighborhood privacy. With an SSO, Eichlers can be torn down and replaced with non-Eichlers.

Excellent idea!

Yes, it is always assumed that tear-downs will have owners that respect the neighborhood and will build an Eichler-style house. But with all the selfish behavior moving to town, this isn't a guarantee. A "historic preservation district" is a great idea!

@Palo Altan - I wouldn't assume the selfish behavior is just "moving into town". Some of the most selfish people in town have been here for a long, long time. The newcomers and the oldtimers are mostly just selfish about different things.

While I understand why you may not want a two storeyed home coming up next to your single storeyed one, these kinds of ordinances are overkill and short sighted in my opinion. Between ipos, the so-called chinese buyers and now these 'exclusive' neighborhoods, Palo Alto is becoming more unaffordable to entry level buyers who incidentally bring vibrancy to a community. Restricting two storeys may actually hurt these neighborhoods. Some of the Eichlers are so run down and poorly designed, a new buyer knowing that he is restricted in what he can and cannot do, will not want to buy there. Those in these neighborhoods who oppose this move or who are too old or financially unable to keep up with the eichlerness are screwed. A very short sighted approach to an already prohibitively expensive and increasingly exclusionary real estate market.

I agree that there is no reason to establish this as a zoning ordinance. The problem as I see it is that if a single story house in the flood is torn down, the replacement, even if it is still single story, will have to be raised 6' above ground level to be present code and permit. In fact, if a home builds an extra room or bathroom, if it gets beyond a certain percentage of the square footage, then the add on will also have to be higher than the rest of the house. This definitely will prevent someone from wanting to buy a home to tear down. However, Eichlers and similar homes were not intended to last forever and to imagine that they are going to still be something people will want as family homes in even 30 years' time is not realistic.

Neighborhoods evolve. They don't remain the same. 50s and 60s style streets are not going to remain looking the same for much longer, even if they still do. I have visited my childhood homes in other areas. They are nothing like my memories. Everywhere changes. Expecting some of these neighborhoods to remain in the mid 20th century as we approach the mid 21st century is holding back natural progression. We don't wear poodle skirts and bobby sox anymore, or scream at conventions by growing hair long and wearing tie dye t shirts either.

I hope the City Council does the right thing and approves the recommendation from the planning department and the original application as it was intended. When arbitrarily shrinking the affected area, the PTC made up their own rules which harm those who signed on to this in it's intended area which includes the circles AND Greer and Amarillo.

All of these houses have a One-story CC&R so this is not changing rules on owners. If a house was left to age, that was the owners choice. Many Eichlers have been well maintained by owners who care.

IF Palo Alto had Eichler protections or IF Palo Alto did a better job of using the two-story guidelines to protect the privacy and property values of neighbors and IF Palo Alto were to respect the existing CC&Rs of this neighborhood, there would be other choices than the zone change. Until those other protections are in place (and there is no current plans for them), the zone change is the only thing residents have.

I feel like these zoning designation should have a time limit. Over time residents change, neighborhood characters change, and new people may or may not want the same overlay. A built-in time limit will offer people a chance to vote again on the same matter.

Also should be considered is if the overlay will reduce density, in a city that already is facing critical housing shortages. I feel any such rules must be "density neutral" and not reduce the number of bedrooms that can possibly be built onto the lot. We are rapidly becoming a city that can't attract younger new residents due to costs. I sure hope PA don't become a "retirement community".

re: time limit. I don't think you need to worry about that. I would assume that a 70% vote in favor of going back to a 2-story allowance would be accepted just as the 1-story overlay has been implemented. Though that is a question worth asking the city...

@XY

Crescent Park Dad is correct. 70% can re-zone back to two-story. It is only 60% in neighborhoods like Greer Park North that already have a one-story CC&R.

re: density-neutral. Although the change may reduce the scale of a future single family house, this is currently and will remain a single family residential zone. These Eichler neighborhoods are not in multi-family zoned areas.

@ Overkill.

It pains me to say that Palo Alto is already out of the range of affordability for families wishing to buy unless they have benefited from great stock options or family wealth. In recent years, many run down single story homes have sold for well over $2mill for the land value and then torn down and replaced. Prop 13 keeps many residents in their homes longer than they wish. All of this happened before these neighborhoods started asking for protection from tear downs so they are not creating the lack of economic diversity.

The reason to apply for an SSO rather than an historic preservation district is that an SSO is faster and easier to obtain. With an SSO in place 2 story homes cannot be built and then a neighborhood could decide whether there is enough support to go even further than an SSO and try to determine consistent design controls. The fact that in these neighborhoods a clear majority of the homeowners, and above a % of homeowners that the city requires in order to apply, want to maintain the overall mid century look of their neighborhood should be enough to allow them to do so. This seems like an ideal grass roots campaign, neighbors protecting their neighborhoods, and protecting an aspect of Palo Alto's legacy.

"protecting an aspect of Palo Alto's legacy"

What legacy are they protecting? Palo Alto used to be affordable. Now, with protectionist and conservative mindsets, it isn't.

Maybe the legacy you speak of is the legacy of exclusion?

@ The PTC misunderstood: "Prop 13 keeps many residents in their homes longer than they wish."

I disagree with this opinion. Prop 13 allows senior residents to remain in their homes since their property taxes aren't skyrocketing like they were in the 1970's. Imagine now how it would be...1970's real estate escalation is nothing like what we've seen in the last 20 years.

I can tell you that there's no way that my widowed Mom (83yo) would be able to stay in her home if we didn't have Prop 13 in place. If not for Prop 13, her property taxes would be more than 50% of what she receives in annual gross retirement income.

Palo Alto had low property taxes prior to the passing of Prop 13 thanks to the industries in SIP (Stanford Industrial Park). It was San Mateo County's property taxes that were growing rapidly prior to Prop 13.

Palo Alto had low property taxes prior to the passing of Prop 13 thanks to the industries in SIP (Stanford Industrial Park). It was San Mateo County's property taxes that were growing rapidly prior to Prop 13.

The City should ban all new 2-story homes in R1 neighborhoods that were single story originally.
The new ones going up in Barron Park are blocking the sun from my garden and what once were sunny areas.
They are also blocking the view of the sunset.
Perhaps the City could consider a moratorium on all lot splits, teardown and rebuild as 2 story, and all sales to people who do not intend to live there. The unoccupied places drag down a neighborhood and make it look abandoned.