Article Last Updated: 12/09/2005
02:52 AM
ANG Newspapers
Residents reject rezoning proposal
By Christine Morente, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area
BURLINGAME — A number of irate Burlingame
Hills residents killed a proposal Thursday night
that would have limited the height of future homes
and renovations from moving forward.
San Mateo County planners presented a rezoning
proposal created by the Burlingame Hills Improvement
Association to a passionate crowd of more than
60 residents.
The objective was to restrict building height to
two stories, change the method of height measurement
and reduce bulk.
The proposal was created after some residents complained
about new homes that blocked views and sunlight
to existing houses, said association member Alison
Sampson.
"(The new homes) affected other people, and
we wanted to protect (them)," Sampson said
after the meeting held at the Burlingame Library's
Lane Community Room. "They wanted some controls."
But the majority of the crowd disliked the association's
proposal. It would have lowered the unincorporated
area's property values and restricted plans for
future development and additions, said architect
and Burlingame Hills resident Kamran Ehsanipour.
In July, Ehsanipour surveyed about 423 Burlingame
Hills homeowners and asked if they wished to be
represented by the association and if they wanted
to change the current zoning codes and regulations.
Eighty-eight percent of homeowners said "no"
to both questions, according to survey results.
"It would be very hard to have the desired
design," he said before the meeting. "To
make such a limit won't prevent ugly buildings,
and that's a fact. Such guidelines is not something
someone with an architectural or design background
can put together."
Staff writer Christine Morente covers Burlingame,
Millbrae, San Bruno and Hillsborough. She can be
reached at (650) 348-4333 or at cmorente@sanmateocountytimes.com.
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