By Lauren McSherry

High-tech moguls Fred and Annie Chan are no strangers to big buildings. In 2003, the couple reportedly invested in the construction of two 400-foot-tall residential towers in Hawaii. Now, they’re building a 27,000-square-foot home in Los Altos Hills.

But the couple will have to hold off for another couple of weeks on plans for a 3,000-square-foot utility building and an 8,000-square-foot tennis complex that would include an area for spectators and a six-car parking lot. The city council postponed approving their application last Thursday when controversy surfaced over the location of a proposed pathway on the property and whether the town or the Chans are responsible for building it.

When former Mayor Toni Casey and other councilmembers approved the project in 2002, they said the building plans, which used 64 percent of the 11-acre property, would have less environmental impact than if the lot were subdivided and houses were built on the smaller parcels. The Chans’ latest application, which involves plans to develop an additional 23,507 square feet, means that the they would use 94 percent of the maximum allowable development area on the La Paloma Road property.

The application comes on the eve of the city’s enactment of an energy efficiency ordinance requiring homes over a certain size to beat California’s energy standards by 25 percent.

The couple reportedly invested $40 million in Hawaiian real estate in 2000.

The council is scheduled to vote on the application Sept. 15.

Look for an in-depth article on Los Altos Hills mega homes

in the Town Crier’s Sept. 14 issue.