The Willow Glen Resident

Council Watch

Residents object to Plummer Avenue subdivision

1937 ranch house to be torn down

By John Pancharian

At a July 22 planning director's hearing, the city of San Jose's Planning Department will decide whether to allow demolition of a 1937 ranch house and surrounding orchard in Willow Glen. Although neighbors oppose destroying the house, they have already exhausted their appeal options, said Luke Connolly, project manager for City Council District 6.

"This action is really just a follow-up," he said.

The San Jose Planning Commission voted a year and a half ago to subdivide the half-acre lot at 2553 Plummer Ave. into three parcels, pending the construction of three new homes by De Mattai Construction. An appeal to the City Council early in 1997 was denied.

Neighbors fear the size and density of the development, as well as the loss of the orchard and ranch house, will detract from the neighborhood's ambiance. However, they are mostly resigned to the development, believing both the Planning Commission and the City Council have given a tacit nod to construction by allowing the subdivision.

Connolly said it is unlikely that the planning director will deny a special-use permit allowing for the building's demolition. The house is not considered a historical building by the city, and planning staffers say they will recommend that the director allow the demolition. Connolly said the house straddles newly created property lines and thus must come down if new homes are to be built.

Neighbors realize this but are still not happy.

"This is really going to change the feel of the neighborhood," area resident Kris Dessau said. "This development will stick out like a sore thumb."

Dessau and other neighbors object to De Mattai's plan to cluster three homes on the lot, saying the rest of the neighborhood has only two on comparably sized parcels. They also think that the homes, at roughly 3,000 square feet, are too large for the surrounding area and its 2,000-square-foot houses.

"When I first found out about it, it had already passed planning," Kris Cunningham, president of the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association said. "It does seem to be higher density than what is in the area, [but] what we deal with is what can be done within the law."

Representatives of De Mattai Construction were unavailable for comment.

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