Stop-work order lifted for mansion in Woodside

The mansion remodeling project at 360 Mountain Home Road in Woodside is on again. The town had posted a stop-work order on July 3 after staff discovered construction activity not within the scope of project permits.

The Town Council on Sept. 9 voted 5-0 to grant an appeal by representatives of the owner to lift the stop-work order and allow work to resume on the partially demolished 7,423-square-foot mansion.

The decision came with conditions, including that the owner propose to Planning Director Jackie Young, for her review and for her approval at her discretion, sustainability measures such as solar panels and rainwater collectors.

Councilman Tom Shanahan recused himself from the council's decision because he lives nearby. Councilman Peter Mason was absent.

Staff reports list the owner of the 8.74-acre property as SV Projects LLC. The owner has been represented in public meetings by the Mill Valley firm Van Acker Construction Associates, and by attorney John Hanna of the Palo Alto firm Hanna & Van Atta.

The mansion first made news in November 2012 when it was sold for $117.5 million, a new U.S. record for a single-family home, according to news reports at the time.

Stop-work order

The mansion was completed in 2009. The 2013 remodeling plans included replacing wooden siding with stone, expanding the basement and replacing the roofs with gray slate.

While the 2009 home was considered "inconsistent" with the town's design criteria, the limited scope of proposed changes led to permission to raise some areas of the roof and add 400 square feet of floor space.

The town had given the owner permission to remove the basement's floor and the walls. When inspectors visited the site in mid-May, they found the main house sitting on horizontal beams above an empty space where the basement, first floor and first-floor framing used to be, according to staff reports.

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Stop-work order lifted for mansion in Woodside