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Silicon Valley property owners split lots--neighbors not happy

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The housing shortage in the Silicon Valley is leading to a new 
trend called "lot-splitting," in which property owners are 
building two, three, even four homes on pieces of land where 
there used to be only one.

This is a boon for the owners who maximize their profits, the 
county that collects extra tax dollars, and tech workers 
desperate for housing—but some residents in neighborhoods struck 
by the building boom aren't happy.

CBS San Francisco reports on a situation in August when a 1950s 
house on East Hills Drive in San Jose was demolished to make way 
for up to four new homes. When neighbors learned an oak tree and 
natural rock formation would also be destroyed, they tried to 
stop the project by blocking construction equipment with their 
cars.

"We parked our cars around the portion of the street that curves 
around the oak tree and stopped the big bulldozers and dump 
trucks," neighbor Dennis Burt said in an interview. "We made it 
hard for the trucks to maneuver and slowed them down and put a 
halt to everything so we could have the situation investigated."

A hundred years ago, fruit orchards bloomed across the Santa 
Clara Valley. Land was cheap and plentiful, and homesteads were 
surrounded by large pieces of property. Even after World War II 
when hundreds of thousands of single-family homes popped up in 
newly formed neighborhoods around the valley, many lots were 
relatively large by today's standards.

But now as the tech industry booms and high-paying jobs attract 
people from all over the globe, housing is scarce. Property 
owners with big chunks of land are seeing an opportunity to 
increase their profits by building multiple homes and helping 
with housing demands.

"The reason it's happening is basic economics as property values 
increase and we have a significant housing shortage," Silicon 
Valley real estate agent Myron Von Raesfeld said in an 
interview. "Our value here is unique. We're encapsulated by 
mountains. We can't just sprawl out. We can't do what other 
cities in places like Texas are doing where the suburban sprawl 
just keeps growing and growing. We need to make best use of the 
land we have."

Von Raesfeld is an advocate for lot-splitting. A few years ago 
he purchased a 0.66-acre piece of property in Santa Clara with 
some investors and they're in the process of obtaining the 
permits to divide it.

The land includes an 1892 six-bedroom Queen Anne Victorian that 
he plans to preserve as well as an enormous backyard that he 
says could easily accommodate an additional home. Von Raesfeld 
is exploring moving one of the historic homes threatened by 
Santa Clara's Irvine Community Development construction project 
onto this lot.

Another case in point: Two larger homes plus an in-law are 
planned for a lot on Bel Ayre Drive in Santa Clara that has sat 
vacant for some 20 years. Von Raesfeld says the project, which 
he has followed but isn't involved in, will increase the 
property value from about $1 million to $4 million.

"As long as you're not overcrowding, you're making better use of 
the land and helping the country bring in more income," Von 
Raesfeld said. "It's a win-win. I understand some neighbors 
don't like it because it changes their status quo in their 
neighborhood but we have a housing shortage and we need to 
provide more housing in the booming Silicon Valley."

But is it worth splitting-lots when natural landscape is lost?

The lot on East Hills Drive is now surrounded by a chainlink 
fence covered in green landscaping fabric as the project has 
become tied up in the permitting process.

The neighbors successfully stopped construction with their 
vehicle blockade, giving them time to learn the property owner 
hadn't obtained permits to destroy the rock formation and oak 
tree and report their findings to the city.

"What makes this neighborhood unique is the big natural rock 
formation that's made up of huge boulder type rocks the size of 
cars that jut out of the ground," Burt said. "These rocks and 
the oak tree are what give our neighborhood character. One 
morning I saw an egret perched on top of the oak tree. These 
developers are destroying the natural beauty of our 
neighborhood."

Comments:

inf11b  Rank 1365
What is it about the Bay Area in particular where everyone 
thinks they have an equal say in how others use their property?

7 minutes ago
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PrentProps
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PrentProps  Rank 556
People with money do what they want. In the bay area, the 
techies have the money. This has been a common practice in DC 
for years. During the one year we lived on one street there six 
single homes came down and twelve new ones went up on those same 
six lots. But those were politicos and lobbyists.

7 minutes ago
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rpupp
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rpupp  Rank 852
This article (well, blog post) basically could have been written 
in any city in the world at any time over the last 5,000 years 
or so. This is what happens in cities. Stuff gets torn town and 
replaced with new stuff where the jobs and economic activity are.

15 minutes ago
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rpupp
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rpupp  Rank 852
SFGate is reporting (well, OK, regurgitating a CBS report) on a 
neighborhood permitting dispute that occurred in San Jose in 
August?

20 minutes ago
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send879
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send879  Rank 26
funny how these people in these "large lots" never complained 
when orchards were taken down so they can build homes on them 
... what goes around comes around ...

40 minutes ago
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SFAdri
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SFAdri  Rank 3284
Cutting down mature trees and removing rock formations is 
shameful. If you can't afford to live in Silicon Valley, deal 
with it; I can't afford to either! It doesn't mean you should 
ruin its natural beauty to cram in whatever you can fit. This 
"lot splitting" sounds like it needs to be reviewed on a case-by-
case basis, but frontage requirements would help keep 
neighborhoods attractive and green.

49 minutes ago (edited recently)
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middlefield
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middlefield  Rank 275
The things that make the bay area special are being destroyed.
Saw that real estate agent/speculator on TV tonight (KPIX) 
saying something like "We're creating homes for people who need 
them...we don't want to deny homes to families". How tender and 
heart warming. He's got the rhetoric down pat.

The reality here in the bay area is different. Why NOT deny them 
homes in their chosen neighborhoods? There are only so many to 
go around. How is denying someone the right to rip up land... » 
more

50 minutes ago
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saurianbrandy
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saurianbrandy  Rank 4839
@middlefield Hush up and go earn an honest buck. Flora my foot. 
You merely want your property values to triple and quadruple 
every few years.

30 minutes ago (edited recently)
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sfpoli
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sfpoli  Rank 1753
Money rules and you can touch it. Sustainability and drought are 
just words. Our crazed building boom is a sure fire recipe for 
future catastrophes, but by then the developers and the 
politicians and lawyers will have left. We are being sold off to 
an unholy alliance of real estate and tech. Don't believe a word 
they say!

1 hour ago (edited)
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saurianbrandy
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saurianbrandy  Rank 4839
@sfpoli What catastrophe are you talking about? You socialists 
just whatever to get your way. No not building is the actual 
catastrophe. Everyone is moving to densely populated areas. 
Rural areas are dead. You've killed the economies of rural areas 
with your cockamamie policies. And if we don't build, the 
homeless population will skyrocket. Which is much worse then a 
couple of stupid rocks getting the chop. As well a probably 
shantytowns will spring up and then America will be a true 
socialist state much as Brazil.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Silicon-Valley-lots-being-
divided-to-build-6553863.php

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Silicon Valley property owners split lots--neighbors not happy "Rebel Flag Bitches" <rfb@lynchings.com> - 2015-10-07 08:39 +0200

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