On June 23 the San Jose Planning Commission upheld its previous 4-3 vote, which overturned the planning department's denial for a permit to expand a 1,008-square-foot home into a 4,550-square-foot residence on Glenwood Avenue. The owner, Joseph Quink, plans to construct a two-story home on the property.

But one Glenwood Avenue homeowner, Spencer Horowitz, questioned the commissioners' logic in approving the size of the home. He asked the planning commission at the June 23 meeting to restate their reasoning for making its decision.

"I do not oppose overturning the denial, but I object to the commission setting a precedent," he said.

Horowitz said that the remodel would be the first approved home on Glenwood Avenue that exceeds the 45 percent floor-to-area ratio since the 1999 single-family home permit ordinance was established.

But Quink told commissioners that his neighbors across the street on Glenwood Avenue built a house with a 52 percent floor-to-area ratio in 2000.

Although the ordinance was created by the city to prevent large remodels that are out of scale with surrounding homes, the planning commission still has discretion over any home it reviews.

San Jose Planning Commission chairman Jay James said after the meeting that the "ordinance was created to prevent a monster house from overshadowing the adjacent house so they have less privacy and too much shade in their garden."

With the existing two-story on the east side of the project and the homeowner on the west side giving testimony that he plans to add a second story, James said those concerns do not arise.

Yet Horowitz was still concerned that the planning commission would start a new precedent by permitting remodels that exceeded the floor-to-area ratio in the ordinance.

After the hearing, Horowitz said, "It appears that they're using the very homes that inspired the monster home ordinance to justify them. This is illogical."