By Lauren McSherry

The Los Altos City Council may face another “5100 El Camino” debate in the wake of a new condomium project planned just a few blocks away.

A developer has been meeting with city staff about plans to construct a multistory building on the former Red Lobster property, near Round Table Pizza.

A planning commissioner tipped off the north Los Altos neighborhood association, which opposed the 5100 El Camino condominium project, that a developer had expressed interest in building multistory housing on the Red Lobster site.

Marianne Hawkes, an association member, immediately forwarded the information about the potential construction project via e-mail to association members last week.

“I thought this was an important ‘heads up’ in case we are all burning out on the effort,” Hawkes’ e-mail said.

The developer wants to expand the condominiums beyond the Red Lobster site to the adjoining Round Table Pizza property at 4400 El Camino Real, according to Chris Croudace, who spearheads the neighborhood association and was on the Nov. 8 ballot as a candidate for Los Altos City Council.

“What we’re seeing here is a fairly quick development area in that corridor,” Croudace said. “It’s coming pretty fast.”

James Walgren, the city’s community development director, said the zoning for El Camino Real allows for three-story buildings and he anticipates that the developer will apply for that height allowance. If it is a three-story structure, it will need to be set back at least 100 feet from the rear residential property line, he added.

Plans for a two-story 55,000-square-foot office building with underground parking were approved several years ago for the Red Lobster site, but the developer never moved forward with construction. That approval has since lapsed because the developer failed to apply for an extension, Walgren said.

He could not confirm how many housing units the condominiums would contain since preliminary designs have yet to be submitted. Croudace said he believed the project would have about 60 units, twice the number planned for the 5100 project.

The Red Lobster closed in 2001 and was demolished in 2002.

Referendum fails

In other related news, the north Los Altos neighborhood association failed last month to qualify a referendum that would have rolled back the city council’s approval of the three-story condominium project at 5100 El Camino Real.

Approximately 580 residents petitioned against the 29-unit condo complex in August, claiming it would funnel traffic into their neighborhood and did not meet setback requirements. The council approved the project that same month.

Controversy surfaced in September over the city’s setback regulations, in particular its definition of “abut.”

If the neighborhood association had succeeded in getting the 2,000 signatures needed for the referendum, a setback provision would have been put in the hands of voters. The neighborhood association collected 522 signatures, about one quarter of the required amount.

“If the planning commission and the council had (enforced the setback requirement), the building would have been farther away and smaller,” Croudace said. “Instead they went in the opposite direction and now they’re inviting lawsuits.”