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Atherton looks so funny from a satellite: https://imgur.com/a/kKpymj9

You can see the NIMBY lines so clearly.

I think speaks more to the average lot size. The surrounding towns are also mostly single family homes as well. They're just subdivided into smaller plots. But lot size restrictions are a factor of zoning laws.

My understanding (via my wife's family, who have been in Menlo Park for ~50 years) is that Atherton doesn't allow lots smaller than 1 acre.

I live at the yellow star at the top of the map. Needless to say, my lot is vastly smaller than an acre :)

Friend sent me an old ad for lots in the east bay. The developer was saying they were only selling 50 foot lots. No 25 foot lots! If you look on the map now all the lots have 50 feet of street frontage. If you look at San Francisco they are mostly 25 feet.

The ads date is 1913.

That makes me rethink how much zoning is about muni's forcing developers to do things. And how much of zoning is actually regulatory capture. Developers have always been pushing as much lux as the market and technology can bear. And home owners that are all in try to protect their investment in class distinction.

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