Single-Story Overlays in Silicon Valley and the Peninsula, City by City

A single-story overlay is zoning that limits homes in a neighborhood to one story, usually adopted because the owners asked for it. Six cities on the bay side of Santa Clara County use them. We found none in San Mateo County. Here’s how each city’s version works, where they’ve been adopted, and how to check a specific house.

Palo Alto

Palo Alto’s R-1(S) single-story overlay limits new homes and additions to one habitable floor and 17 feet. A neighborhood applies with signatures from 70 percent of owners (60 percent where deed restrictions already limit homes to one story), and the City Council adopts it by ordinance. Many of the city’s overlays cover Eichler tracts, starting with Walnut Grove in 1992 and including Los Arboles and Greer Park North in 2015. Our post on which Palo Alto Eichler tracts have an overlay goes tract by tract.

Sunnyvale

Sunnyvale’s single-story combining district, in effect since January 1, 2001, adds an “S” to the zoning (R-0/S, R-1/S or R-2/S). It needs at least 20 homes and signatures from 55 percent of owners, and the City Council decides. The first, in 2001, covered 54 Eichlers on Wright Avenue, Edmonton Avenue and La Salle Drive; many Eichler blocks followed in 2016 and 2017. See Sunnyvale’s districts, block by block.

Cupertino

Cupertino’s code provides a single-story overlay shown with an “i” at the end of the zoning (for example, R1-10i), limiting homes to one story and 18 feet. To apply, at least 75 percent of homes in a defined neighborhood must already be one story, and owners of two-thirds of the properties must sign a petition; the City Council decides. We couldn’t find a list of adopted overlay areas, so check the parcel’s zoning. Fairgrove, Cupertino’s Eichler tract, is zoned R1-e, which carries Eichler design rules but isn’t a single-story overlay.

Mountain View

Mountain View uses a height overlay, shown as “-H” on the zoning map; the one-story version is “-H1S.” Owners of at least half the parcels in an area apply, and owners are then polled by mail before the City Council acts. Known one-story areas include part of Gest Ranch, about 75 parcels near Miramonte Avenue, adopted in December 2000, and Grandmeadow, the 53-home Eichler tract, which an Eichler publication says was protected in 2011. Owners can still add on at the side or back.

Los Altos

Los Altos created its R1-S single-story overlay in 2000. It limits homes to one story and 20 feet, with basements not counted, and is adopted by a two-thirds vote of owners in a clearly defined neighborhood, with the City Council deciding. City records we found show overlays on Verano Drive and in the Angela-Galli-Merritt neighborhood (2001), Rosewood Court (2002), Deodara Drive (2003) and the Larkellen Lane area (2017, 47 properties). The city keeps a map of all of them. Fallen Leaf Park, the city’s Eichler tract, isn’t on the list we found.

Saratoga

Saratoga has one named single-story overlay, for the Saratoga Woods neighborhood, where additions and rebuilds are held to the height of the neighboring one-story homes and existing two-story homes are exempt. We found no petition process for it; the district was set by ordinance. Saratoga’s Eichler tract isn’t covered.

Menlo Park: close, but not quite

Menlo Park has no single-story overlay. The nearest thing is the Lorelei Manor neighborhood’s special zoning, adopted in 2005 at the neighborhood’s request, which limits second stories without banning them. Watch the name: in Menlo Park, “R-1-S” means suburban, not single-story.

Where we found none

We found no single-story overlay in San Jose, Santa Clara, Campbell, Milpitas, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno or Los Altos Hills, or in the San Mateo County cities of Redwood City, San Carlos, Belmont, San Mateo, Foster City, Burlingame and Millbrae. That includes Eichler neighborhoods such as San Jose’s Fairglen, and none in the unincorporated San Mateo Highlands. Design review and neighborhood guidelines still apply in many of these places.

How to check a specific house

• Read the zoning. Look for the city’s marker: (S) in Palo Alto, /S in Sunnyvale, a trailing “i” in Cupertino, -H1S in Mountain View, R1-S in Los Altos.
• Ask about pending petitions. A neighborhood can apply while a house is for sale; ask the planning department whether anything is in process.
• Check the title report. Some tracts also have recorded deed restrictions that limit height, separate from zoning.
• Ask how state housing laws apply. Accessory units and lot splits have their own state rules; the city can tell you how they interact with an overlay on a given parcel.

For Eichlers specifically, our tract indexes for Silicon Valley and the Peninsula and San Francisco note the rules city by city, and Which Eichlers Are Historic? covers the National Register side.

Weighing an addition or a purchase? Call the Boyenga Team at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606. Commissions are negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what’s included.