City Beat

Broadway neighbors still against large home in backyard

Developer declares she's interested in working things out with neighborhood

By Kate Carter

A group of Willow Glen residents continues to protest the possible construction of a so-called "monster home" in their neighborhood.

At an Aug. 28 community meeting, officials with the San Jose Planning Department told about 40 people attending the meeting that they have not yet made a recommendation about the controversial one-story, approximately 3,000-square-foot home and three-car garage in the backyard of another 2,000-square-foot home on Broadway Avenue.

Those opposing the project have accused Cupertino developer Emily Chen of not notifying the neighborhood in a timely manner or of allowing them an opportunity to comment on the project.

"No one prefers this," said San Jose City Planner Susan Walton about the proposed project. "It's the last option for some sites." Chen told the group that when she and her partners purchased the land at 1067 Broadway Ave. about two years ago, they expected to build two houses on the approximately 17,000-square-foot lot where a single home once stood. She said they approached the city about splitting the lot in half to create two lots facing the street.

But, Walton explained, state law requires a residential lot be a minimum of 55 feet wide, and Chen's lot was only wide enough to create two 40-feet-wide lots. Chen then demolished the existing structure and built a stucco house across the front of the lot, leaving space for access to the back and then approached the city about creating a separate residential lot behind the house, called a "flag lot."

Neighbors, emotional at times, said they disapproved of the proposal, even a one-story house rather than a two-story, because it wouldn't fit with the character of the neighborhood in size and style. They said they were worried this would set a precedent for future flag lot developments in their neighborhood. They also said they were already upset about a stucco, 3,800-square-foot house Chen built on a more than 8,000-square-foot lot across the street at 1062 Broadway Ave. that is listed on the real estate market at more than $1 million.

"I really don't see what's wrong with this lot, honestly," Chen said. "We have a right to subdivide the place. We paid for a double lot."

Chen said she had spoken to neighbors about her plans to build the new, two-story house, as well as her plans for splitting the other lot and received nothing but positive feedback. She apologized for not informing the community earlier about the specifics of her proposal and said she wanted to work with the community.

"I really want to work with the neighborhood," Chen said. "I really want to make everyone happy as much as I can."

Walton said Chen's proposal must go through the city's planned development permit process, which would allow planning staff to approve specifics of the design and what could be constructed on the site in the future. The process requires a public hearing before the planning commission and the city council before the building could be approved, she said.

"It's a higher order of review," Walton said. "It gives the city council the final decision. This is much more review than a house on a big lot would normally have."

But some neighbors said that Chen had already illegally removed a large mulberry tree from the site. At least one person told District 6 City Councilman Ken Yeager's staff aides Rick Crosetti and Denelle Fedor that Yeager's vote on the project would determine his vote for the councilman in the future.

"Planned development says this has to be a benefit to the neighborhood," neighbor Juli Moultray said. Moultray and her husband, along with several other neighbors have created a website, savewillowglen@yahoo.com, to inform the community about their opposition to the project. "No one here wants it," she said.

Chen said she thinks her developments could improve the neighborhood but didn't specify how.

"I think I've already made a lot of compromises," she said. "I'm hoping the neighborhood is willing to make compromises, too."

But some residents said they have already compromised enough.

"Why does she have to do this here?" asked one resident, who chose to remain anonymous. "A house in the middle of the block? Why does it have to be special for some of us and not the rest of us?"

Around the Glen

Carl Heintze: How can those who saw live with the memory?

Sports Briefs

Willow Glen High School football preview

Field Hockey Jamboree returns to Willow Glen

Something to say?