American Dream Or Too Darn Big - Lafayette Commission Decides Tonight

Homeowner and remodeling contractor Joe Polichio wants his slice of the American Dream: a chance to turn a 50s-era, 1,600 square-foot California Rancher on Lafayette's Lucas Drive into a stylish, two-story residence he can move his wife and two children into.

Polichio bought the parcel a year ago, drafting plans for his new home. But neighbors have objected, saying the size of the residence is out of scale to the rest of the neighborhood, pushing Polichio and his architect into their fourth redesign and frustrating his efforts to build. As it stands, the Planning Commission takes up the matter at its regular meeting tonight, and are expected to either deny his plan outright or take the latest one under review.

Polichio says much of the opposition to his design is "fear based," and said it was "freeing" to take his plans for the house out into the area to show his prospective neighbors.

"I'm not a 'McMansion' Guy," he said Monday. "I don't think people understand what we're going to build here, that we value their privacy as much as we value ours. After we took our plans out into the neighborhood and showed them what we were actually going to do many people began to side with us."

He points out that while his is the only two-story home in the immediate neighborhood, there are others in Burton Valley, and that he's not setting a dangerous precedent. The 4,273-square-feet people use to describe his home's planned footprint include his garage space and is not the slightly more than 3,500-square-feet of livable space currently called for in his plans.

"People want to point and shout that we're going to ruin the area," he said. "But we're not living in 1956. Homes are updated and - as in our case if we're allowed to proceed - more energy efficient. I think people, one guy actually, just looked at us and said 'see, they're going to cut down trees and block views' and that is simply not true."

Polichio said he felt attempts to characterize the neighborhood as "historic" were also out of line.

"I'm sorry, I appreciate historic areas, and calling a neighborhood of 1950s ranch homes historic is a stretch to me," he said. "To me, it appears as if the neighbors almost wnt to be the one to designing the home."

Final resolution - maybe - comes at tonight's Lafayette Planning Commission meeting.

Polichio has submitted a letter requesting an opportunity to redesign the project and will be on hand - along with his architect.

Planning Commission Meeting

7 p.m., Lafayette Library and Learning Center Community Hall

3941 Mt. Diablo Blvd.