Item No. 2
Town of Atherton
CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT – STUDY SESSION
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
FROM: FRED LUSTENBERGER, BUILDING OFFICIAL
LISA-MARIE DALEY, CERTIFIED CODE ENFORCEMENT
OFFICER
DATE: JUNE 3, 2026
SUBJECT: DISCUSSION AND DIRECTION REGARDING WAYS TO BETTER
MANAGE THE CUMULATIVE IMPACT OF MULTIPLE
SIMULTANEOUS CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OCCURRING
WITHIN THE TOWN
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommend that the City Counsel discuss and provide feedback and direction on ways to better manage and mitigate the various negative impacts resultant from ongoing and projected major construction projects within the town.
BACKGROUND
Historically, the Town has taken a limited approach in the way it regulates and manages full-site development and similarly sized construction projects compared to many neighboring jurisdictions. It has few, if any, amendments to its adopted state building codes, does not have a formalized design review process for new or large-scope renovation projects and, aside from its code enforcement operations and after-hours construction regulation, generally adopts a reactive, rather than proactive, approach to the enforcement of its regulations. The intent is to balance the interests of property owners wanting to develop or renovate their properties in the manner of their choosing with those who are most likely to be impacted by such projects.
The Town, however, does have Chapter 15.40 of the Atherton Municipal Code, which applies to all building construction (including, but not limited to, all additions, alterations, modifications, repairs and improvements) that requires a building permit, and landscaping related to such building construction. It addresses several diverse construction related concerns such as parking and traffic control, operational and delivery hours, project time limits, noise, screening, and dirt, debris, and litter control. Per Section 15.40.100 Site Regulations-Impacts-Purpose, The purpose of this chapter is to protect the peace, health and safety of the citizens of the town and to secure those persons on a regular basis, including weekends and holidays, a reasonable degree of relief from traffic congestion, dirt, litter and air pollution resulting from construction activities and the delivery of construction supplies and materials as defined below. (Ord. 514 § 1, 2000) Construction Impacts
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In recent years, staff experience in fielding complaints covered by the regulations contained in Chapter 15.40 strongly indicates that construction vehicle parking and traffic congestion, noise and dust generated by construction activities, and communication failures are the most problematic areas of concern for both residents living near large scale construction sites as well as for motorists and cyclists within the Town.
ANALYSIS
As is the case with all the other communities on the peninsula, Atherton is almost fully developed, leaving in-fill development projects as the predominant type of new or full-renovation construction activity, which, unlike development in major subdivisions in other areas, can, and most likely will, severely impact nearby existing residences and community infrastructure. Because, as mentioned above, the primary construction related impacts and concerns facing the Town and its residents are parking and traffic congestion, noise and dust generation, and often communication failures between contractors and neighbors, these areas will be the primary focus of this report.
Parking and traffic congestion are the dominant complaints. At most of the larger scale construction sites, parking for service trucks and worker vehicles is at a premium, leaving parking on the side of adjacent streets the primary option for construction workers, which can present several problems, including parked vehicles encroaching on private properties or in the vehicular way, blocking access to fire hydrants, reducing minimum street and cul-de-sac turnaround widths, affecting visibility at blind intersections, etc. And many of these parked vehicles do trigger the need for Code Enforcement actions, where staff have described situations where they must spend hours identifying which vehicles belong to which of several concurrent construction sites, writing citations at $500 per vehicle but with little deterrent effect. Contractors frequently rotate subcontractors who themselves bring additional subcontractors or vendors, making vehicle identification and accountability extremely challenging.
Typical full-site development projects in the Town often involve new homes sized between 10,000 and 25,000 square feet and with most having one or more accessory structures and associated landscape improvements. Within a typical three-year period, there may be 50 to 100 of these projects ongoing along with many smaller alteration and repair projects such as reroofing, remodeling, electrical and HVAC upgrades, solar PV installations, etc. Combined, the total estimated number of workers needed to provide these services easily exceeds the Town’s total resident population, which can and often does result in significant traffic congestion, particularly at rush hours, and heavy wear and tear of the Town’s roadways.
Noise is a significant and recurring complaint, particularly from projects running near or beyond permitted hours. The Atherton Municipal Code, Section 8.16.050, specifically exempts construction activities from the noise regulations contained in Section 8.16.030 provided they are performed pursuant to the terms and provisions of Chapter 15.40, or between 8AM and 5PM, Monday through Friday, excluding most Town observed holidays. However, many residents understandably report that the loud and near constant noise generated from nearby construction sites year-after-year significantly degrades their quality of life. Dust generated from certain construction activities such as grading, landscaping or other earthwork, demolition, and reroofing is also reported by residents but is difficult to verify at the time of the inspection, making Construction Impacts
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enforcement challenging. Further, neither Chapter 15 of the AMC nor the state building codes specifically address dust generation from construction sites, which limits staff’s ability to regulate and control.
Communication failures between contractors and neighbors are a root cause of many complaints.
Residents often endure conditions for six to eight months before calling to complain, by which point problems are at their worst and early intervention opportunities are lost. Over time, Building and Code Enforcement staff have observed that certain contractors who have much experience working within the Town appear to generate far fewer neighbor complaints than others regardless of where their projects are located, suggesting they may be conducting outreach efforts with their neighbors or taking other proactive steps.
Staff tools currently in place:
Construction Operations Parking Plan (COP): Every project technically requires a COP under the Atherton Municipal Code (AMC). They are cumbersome to complete. Therefore, staff applies an internal threshold to determine which projects require one. Reroofing permits, for example, are over the counter and do not trigger a COP. When COP enforcement was strengthened in 2022, code enforcement complaints dropped by 67%. The COP is currently being revised.
Alternate Parking Plans: Contractors frequently submit these, sometimes required by staff prior to COP approval, particularly for cul-de-sac projects. Neighbor sign-off is required when alternate parking would affect their frontage. The alternate parking agreement includes a condition that the easement be restored to at least its prior condition before final sign-off.
Administrative Citations: Available under the Administrative Citation ordinance for violations capable of repetition. However, their deterrent value in Atherton is limited because project costs are so high that fines are treated as a minor cost of doing business.
Stop Work Orders: Available under AMC 15.40.230(D) and the state’s building codes, which authorize the Building Official to stop work whenever work is being done contrary to the provisions of that chapter or the Building Code. However, the codes require specific criteria to be met, and parking violations alone may not clearly meet that threshold under current code language. Under the current AMC administrative citation policy, stop work orders have proven to be a more effective lever because it directly impacts project timelines and profitability.
Required Signage: Per the AMC, each site must post a yellow town-issued sign with dispatch number and construction hours, as well as a contractor sign with business name, project address, and contact number. A field review found that many sites are not in compliance with this requirement.
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Construction (completion) Time Limits: Although these regulations do not directly address the concerns identified in this report, they do augment the Town’s existing compliance tools and could also strengthen the effects of any proposed compliance approaches by providing a heightened sense of urgency to contractors to comply promptly with any corrective orders to avoid any unnecessary project delays, which could result in substantial fines per the AMC.
Discussion points and proposed options:
Designated On-site Point of Contact: The recently adopted 2025 California Building Code has new provisions for the owner’s responsibility for fire protection, which, among other requirements, requires projects to name and identify a site safety director who becomes the primary point-of - contact for that site. The site safety director is responsible and accountable for ensuring that the site complies with all safety measure components specified in the Building Code. Although new to Atherton, this requirement could be integrated into the COP requirement whereas a condition of permit issuance, the contractor must identify the named point of contact with a direct cell phone number, not a business main line. If the contact changes, an updated name and number must be provided promptly. The point of contact’s name and number would be prominently posted on-site in a format visible to neighbors. If that number goes unanswered when called by staff, a stop-work order could be issued for the remainder of the day. This would serve as a foundational, low-cost improvement that would bridge the communication gap between the site and the Town and give neighbors a usable resource.
Enhanced Fine Schedule: The California construction-specific fine schedule starts at $130 per diem and escalates steeply for continued non-compliance to $700, $1,300, and $2,500 per infraction, which is more robust than the AMC fine schedule of $100/$200/$500 currently in place.
Adopting this would require a code change and, although staff believe that stop-work orders would still be a stronger deterrent for larger contractors, an enhanced fine schedule could have more bite for smaller operators.
Stop Work as a Cumulative Enforcement Tool: This would require amending the AMC to allow a stop-work order to be triggered by cumulative citation issuance, such as three consecutive violations, rather than requiring a single discrete safety event. Under a proposed model, the stopwork order would remain in place until the contractor comes to City Hall, meets with Code Enforcement and the Building Department, and demonstrates a corrective plan. A potential escalation would require appearance before a Council Subcommittee or individual member and staff subcommittee for repeat or serious violators. The Council Subcommittee level meeting could be open and noticed to neighbors and could be a significant deterrent and opportunity for neighbors to air concerns.
Neighbor Notification: This proposal would require contractors to provide pre-construction notice to adjacent neighbors and all properties on the same cul-de-sac, introducing the project, the anticipated timeline, and the point of contact. Periodic updates by the contractor, either quarterly or tied to construction milestones, could also be required as part of this process and, potentially, coordinated with the arborist report mailing schedule. However, as noted by staff, language and cultural barriers with some contractor groups could present some practical challenges.
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As mentioned earlier, a few large, well-regarded contractors proactively conduct neighbor outreach, offer services such as power washing to address dust concerns, and as a result generate far fewer complaints
Conflict Between Parking Codes: It should be noted that there is conflict between the AMC (which allows parking in front of a property), the California Vehicle Code (which allows parking within 18 inches of the edge of the pavement), and fire code requirements (which require a minimum 20-foot clear width for apparatus access). And that, from a practical perspective, in Atherton’s street environment, full legal compliance with all three simultaneously is effectively impossible; however, staff agree that the most defensible approach is to prioritize fire code compliance and suggested that if on-street parking reduces the clear width below 20 feet, contractors should be required to arrange off-site parking with shuttle access to the site. This approach has historical precedent: prior to City Hall construction, workers were shuttled from the City Hall parking lot. A similar requirement could be incorporated into the COP conditions.
However, it should be noted that the Town cannot formally approve off-site parking in neighboring jurisdictions, though staff sometimes informally accommodate it.
Conditional Use/Design Review as a Slowdown Tool: Another potential approach would be to reclassify large single-family residential projects from permitted use to conditional use, which would trigger CEQA review (a costly expense); but it would allow additional conditions to be imposed. This would be a significant policy shift from Atherton’s traditional permissive development environment and one that carries political and legal complexity. Staff considers this to be a “nuclear option” and not a practical solution at this time for the Town.
Safety Zone Concept: Following a study of the Town, this approach would identify areas particularly those with narrow streets, poor intersection geometry, or limited pedestrian infrastructure, where cumulative impact of multiple concurrent construction projects creates disproportionate safety impacts. Projects in designated zones would be subject to escalating requirements depending on how many concurrent projects are underway (e.g., one project triggers requirements A; two projects trigger A and B; three projects trigger A, B, C, and D). This concept is acknowledged by staff to be legally and logistically complex, requiring substantial study and raise concerns about property value disparities between zones, with hillside areas being the most defensible locations due to wildfire egress concerns.
CONCLUSION
This report provides an overview of the Town’s approach to how it regulates larger-scale construction projects and addresses the three most common code enforcement complaints related to these activities. It identifies current enforcement tools available to Town staff and presents some proposed alternatives for further discussion and consideration.
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ATTACHMENTS
1. Guidelines for Construction, Operations and parking Plans (C.O.P.)
2. Street photos of parked construction vehicles.
Attachment 1
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Town of Atherton
Building
Depart
ment
80 Fair
Oaks
Ln.
Atherton, California 94027
Phone: (650) 752-0560
Guidelines for Construction, Operations and Parking Plans (C.O.P.) The following guidelines have been adopted by City Council Resolution incompliance with Chapter 15.40 of the Atherton Municipal Code requiring the submittal of a Construction Operation and Parking Plan.
Prior to acceptance of plans for building plan check, the applicant for a building permit shall submit a Construction Operation and Parking Plan (COP Plan) for review and approval by the Building Official. The Plan shall be made a part of the public file. At a minimum, the Construction Operation and Parking Plan shall contain the elements listed below:
Parking Area for Construction Personnel. All construction parking shall be located on-site or within the public right-of-way, only in front of the construction site and on the same side of the street as the construction site. The COP Plan shall provide a sufficient area to accommodate the number of construction personnel anticipated to be working on the project. The construction parking area shall be located outside of any tree protection fencing area. The construction parking area shall be rocked, with a rocked access drive. All construction personnel shall park in the construction parking area when at the jobsite. The City Manager or City Manager‘s designee may provide written permission for construction personnel parking in the public right-of-way only during such times as finish landscaping or other similar circumstance prevent use of the on-site construction parking area and further provided that the parking is located and conducted in a safe manner and affords a minimum disruption to the neighbors and neighborhood.
2. No Parking Signs. At the discretion of the Police Chief or Police Chiefs designee, to protect health and safety, or in the event the contractor fails to properly implement the COP plan, the City Manager or City Manager's designee may require the contractor to post signs on and along streets at 100 foot intervals for a distance of 500 feet on both sides of the street from the construction project notifying that parking is prohibited except for residents and their guests as authorized by the California Vehicle Code Section 22507. The contractor shall pay for the cost of the signs.
3. Construction Trailer. If a construction trailer is proposed, it shall be located completely on the private property at least 10 feet from any side or rear property line, at least 20 feet from the front property line for properties located in the RI-B zone and at least 40 feet from the front property line for properties located in the RI-A zone.
4. Debris Box is required. Any debris box used in conjunction with the construction shall be placed completely on private property (not in the right-of-way). The debris box shall be accessible from a paved or rocked access road.
5. Deliveries and Truck Traffic. A temporary construction driveway shall be installed Construction Impacts
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consisting of base rock or alternate material approved by the Building Official, beginning at the edge of pavement and extending a minimum of 100 feet into the property in order to reduce dust and mud tracking. Signs, delineators and flag personnel shall be available on-site, if necessary. If an existing paved driveway is maintained during construction, temporary access will not be required. The applicant may propose, or the Building Official may require temporary construction fencing to restrict additional access points.
6. Sanitary Facilities. The temporary sanitary facilities shall be placed out of the views of neighboring properties as much as possible. The facilities shall be accessed from a paved or rocked road or driveway. The sanitary facilities shall not be located in the public right-of-way and shall be located at least 10 feet from any side or rear property line, at least 20 feet from the front property line for properties located in the RI-B zone and at least 40 feet from the front property line for properties located in the RI-A zone.
7. Clean-up Area. When on-site cleaning of equipment is required for concrete forms and trucks, paint brushes, plastering tools and other similar equipment, a cleanup area shall be specified on the COP plan and posted with a sign. This area shall trot be located beneath any tree canopy or in any proposed planting area. Runoff from the clean-up area shall be contained and the waste material disposed of using "Best Management Practices" acceptable to the Regional Water Quality Control Board.
8. Construction Materials Storage An area shall be designated on-site for the storage of construction materials. The storage area shall not be located within the drip lines of any trees.
9. Notes to be Included on Construction Operation and Parking Plans. The following notes shall be included on all Construction Operation and Parking Plans:
a. Construction, deliveries and servicing of any item (i.e., debris box,sanitary sewer facilities, etc.) on the site shall only be permitted Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
b. No work of-any nature, including but not limited to hauling or heavy equipment shall be permitted on Saturdays, Sundays or Holidays.
Attachment 2
Construction Impacts
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