Los Altos Hills ponders how big is too big?
 A large home under construction is seen from the backyard deck of a Magdalena Avenue resident. |
By Lauren McSherry
Times have changed since 1973 when Margie Utzinger and her husband moved into their hillside home in Los Altos Hills.
Back then the average house size in their neighborhood was 3,000 square feet. Now, when the Utzingers take in the view from their deck overlooking San Francisco Bay, they can see houses 10,000 square feet and larger being built downhill.
Mega-homes are nothing new to Los Altos Hills. Just take Stonebrook Court, formerly Morgan Manor, as an example. Built in 1916, the mansion provides 25,000 square feet of livable space.
But some residents are raising concerns that Los Altos Hills may be increasingly attracting large-home builders because it is one of only a few cities on the Peninsula that doesn’t limit size.
On Nov. 17 the town’s environmental design committee will present the city coucil with recommendations for an ordinance limiting the size of houses.
Robin Robison, committee co-chairwoman, said committee members began studying the issue one year ago because they are charged with investigating development and landscaping issues from a neighborhood and environmental standpoint.
The committee would not release its recommendations for an ordinance to the Town Crier.
“We don’t want it prejudged before people have a chance to speak,” Robison said. “It certainly is a hotbed issue.”
Comparable communities
In Saratoga, 8,000 square feet is the maximum allowed on a 5-acre lot; in Woodside, it’s 11,979 square feet.
In Los Altos Hills, property owners can build a 30,000-square-foot home on a 5-acre lot, according to data provided by the environmental design committee.
A 6,000-square-foot house is allowed on a flat 1-acre lot. In contrast, Los Gatos has a 6,000-square-foot cap on home size, independant of acreage.
The average size of new homes built in Los Altos Hills is approximately 5,000-6,000 square feet, according to Planning Director Carl Cahill. A newly constructed house in town is generally considered to be “large” if it is over 10,000 square feet.
The other side
Asked for his perspective on a size limit for Hills homes, Mayor Breene Kerr said, “I have been interested in limiting energy consumption of large homes and have not taken a position on limiting their size in an absolute sense.”
He acknowledged that the town may have attracted a few large home builders but contends that the market for such houses is extremely small.
“Having a cap encourages subdividing properties,” he said. “It looks like under five of these houses are initiated every year along the Peninsula. This year we’ve got another one.”
Two families moving forward with plans for homes larger than 20,000 square feet said they have worked diligently to address concerns from neighbors. They also emphasized that their homes will add value to their neighborhood.
High-tech entrepreneurs Fred and Annie Chan, who are building a 27,000-square-foot mansion on their 17-acre property, have gone to great lengths to gain the support of their neighbors.
The massive project requires excavating 25,000 cubic yards of dirt from the ridgeline parcel to reduce the mansion’s profile. The triangular French-inspired edifice will be located at the corner of the property so as not to impose on neighbors.
The Chans also plan to install a sound wall for one neighbor and foot-thick walls in their 3,000-square-foot utility building to dampen sound from the generator.
Once construction is complete, they will surround their house with 100-year-old olive trees acquired from the Hearst estate in Sacramento Valley. The Chans even selected a color for their slate roof that matches the leaves of neighborhood oak trees to help the house blend in with the surrounding landscape. They plan to dedicate a 2.5- to 3-acre conservation easement to the town.
Similarly the Malavalli family is planning a one-story 21,000-square-foot home for its 8.5-acre property and has dedicated a 4.5-acre conservation easement.
“We are not building a huge house,” Kumar Malavalli said. “We have gone out of our way to please everyone. I don’t see why we should be penalized for being nice citizens.”
The Malavalli’s project team consists of an architect, engineer, environmentalist and arborist. The house will generate its electricity from solar power panels and will be surrounded by nearly a dozen gardens - a sculpture garden, rose garden, “secret” garden, “secluded” garden, Japanese garden, sunken garden, Mediterranean garden, Zen garden, “blue” garden, vineyard and golf green.
The estate will also feature a bell tower, a grand entry with gatehouses, numerous fountains and an expansive mosaic promenade.
“We are enhancing the beauty of the area,” Malavalli said. “The house size should not matter because it will be a thing of beauty, not a sore thumb. We want to make sure that what we build is something to be proud of as far as the city of Los Altos Hills and the neighborhood are concerned.”
The town has not yet issued a permit for the home. Malavalli estimates construction will take 2.5 years to complete.
Looking ahead
“Everything was much more rural in the sense that there was a lot more open space,” she said. “The only home we could see from our deck was the Dawson estate, which was over 80 acres, and now there’s a multicomplex of large homes on Dawson Drive. Probably about 60 homes have been built and a lot of them I can see.”
