BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Palo Alto City Council was caught tonight (Aug. 11) between the city’s desire for more housing and neighbors who are pushing back on a six-story apartment building that’s proposed where the Chinese restaurant Su Hong used to be.
Residents of the neighboring Palo Alto Redwoods condominium complex are worried the development will kill their trees, take away their privacy and make traffic worse.
“We want housing done right,” said Kevin Chung, president of Palo Alto Redwoods Homeowners Association.
Developer Mircea Voskerician told council the project will benefit the city by adding 100 apartments, including 15 rented below the market rate at 4256 El Camino Real.
Voskerician already received a permit to build a hotel there in June 2020, and the restaurant was demolished. The property has been empty ever since.
“We do need to end the blight on that lot,” Councilman George Lu said.
Councilman Keith Reckdahl said the development would add housing that’s badly needed in Palo Alto.
“The challenge to the city council is we want to balance both housing production with the impact to the neighbors, and I think that this proposal doesn’t give enough attention to the impact,” Reckdahl said. “The design needs to be tweaked.”
Council members said the 80-foot building needs to be smaller, particularly at the top floors so the neighbors can get sunlight.
“It’s going to tower over the neighboring community,” Councilman Greer Stone said.
“We don’t want towering buildings,” Councilman Pat Burt said.
Council members also asked Voskerician to add more than one parking space for deliveries, to show the redwoods around the property would survive and to design the windows so neighbors aren’t looking directly at each other.
Tonight’s meeting was for council to give initial feedback on the project before Voskerician turns in a formal application. He would go through the Planning and Transportation Commission, the Architectural Review Board and back to council for final approval.