Although the R1 ordinance was implemented to regulate bulk and mass in residential construction, Nagel had to build a bigger first story than she intended so she could maximize her second story.

The R1 ordinance uses floor area ratios, or FAR, to limit the size of new single-family residential construction. FAR is the ratio of the total square footage of a building as a percentage of the lot size. The ordinance stipulates that two-story additions of new two-story homes whose FAR exceeds 35 percent must go through a design review process and public hearing before the design review committee.

Many people, including Nagel, have chosen to maximize their first story to avoid the trouble of going to the review committee. "The FAR is too strict," Nagel said. "It needs to be changed."

Nagel is not alone in believing that the city should relax its floor area ratio.

"I would like to see more housing diversity," said planning commissioner Marty Miller. "People's needs are changing. The current ordinance eliminates a lot of architectural forms. We shouldn't force people to conform to styles that were popular 40 or 50 years ago."

And according to a recently released survey—which was conducted by the planning department to help the planning commission and the city council review the R1 ordinance—about half the community supports relaxing the FAR. However, the survey also shows half the community is opposed to changing it.

The survey also shows that the community is evenly divided over whether the second story of a house should

be more than 35 percent of its first story and if the city should allow property owners to have a minimum 600-square-foot second story.

R1 is intended to enhance the identity of residential neighborhoods, ensure provision of light, air and privacy to individual parcels, secure compatibility in scale of structures within a residential neighborhood and reinforce the predominantly low density setting in many neighborhoods.

In 1999, the city council modified the R1 ordinance in response to the increasing number of "monster homes" in the city. The ordinance requires developers and homeowners to meet height, setback and landscape regulations to ensure that new houses are compatible with the neighborhood. Pictures and guidelines are available at the planning department for reference.

The ordinance, though well intended, has caused confusion and drawn criticism from residents, developers and architects. Since 2002, the staff has introduced some minor technical changes to add flexibility to the ordinance, and in 2003, the city council decided to revisit some parts of R1.

Because the R1 ordinance affects roughly 10,000 single-family homes in the city, the planning department sent out the R1 ordinance surveys to every household in April. By April 15, it received 492 responses. Ninety-eight percent of the respondents are homeowners in Cupertino and about 70 percent of them have lived in Cupertino for more than 15 years.

The majority of people who answered the survey said they support the current building envelope, height and privacy protection regulations. (Envelope refers to the length, width and height of a house and its placement on the lot.) Most respondents also believe that all developers and builders should send a courtesy notification to neighbors and that all developments should meet compatibility guidelines.

But the residents surveyed are equally split over house-size regulations.

Although the survey is a useful indicator of what the community wants, planning commissioner Gilbert Wong said that it is important to analyze the numbers more carefully.

Among the 492 people who completed the survey, only 34 percent said they can tell the differences between homes built under the revised 1999 R1 ordinance and those built under the previous ordinance. The rest said they either don't know the differences or are not sure.

"The answers from all the 492 people and the answers from the 163 people who said they are familiar with R1 are different," Wong said. "People who said they are familiar with R1 want more flexibility."

About 40 percent of those who said they are familiar with R1 want the second­story proportion to be more than 50 percent of the first story while only 24 percent of the 492 survey respondents support the proposal.

Wong said he would like R1 to be more flexible and the application process to be more streamlined.

Issues other planning commissioners want to revisit or add include the definition of compatibility, more flexibility in design, encouragement of environmentally friendly design and sufficient neighbor notification.

The planning commission will be reviewing R1 over the next few months.

The commission's vice chairwoman, Angela Chen, encourages residents to engage in the process. "We saw a 50-50 split on all major issues in the survey," Chen said. "We would like to collect as much public comments as possible from the public hearings."

People who are interested in the issue should check the city's website at http://www.cupertino.org or contact senior planner Peter Gilli at 408.777.3313.