A Californian advisory board is recommending officials refuse Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's plans to demolish and rebuild four homes around his property because of privacy concerns.
Zuckerberg reportedly bought the Palo Alto homes in 2013 for $US30 million ($A40 million) after learning a developer planned to build a neighbouring house tall enough to have a view of his master bedroom.
He planned to replace those structures with much smaller two-story and single-story homes that would be used as an extension of the family's living, cooking, dining and entertaining quarters, says Kathy Scott, of the firm working with Zuckerberg on the project.
"The idea is just to expand our client's capacity to enjoy the property,'' Scott said.
Palo Alto's Architectural Review Board members said plans for all four homes meet architecture standards but a single family using all four properties would create a compound and ruin the feel of the neighbourhood.
The homes "are part of a larger compound", board member Peter Baltay said.
"This is something you might find in Atherton (California): a large estate, a series of guest houses, recreational facilities, movie theatres surrounding a house.''
Atherton, which neighbours Palo Alto, is one of the wealthiest cities in the United States.
The board voted on Thursday 3-1 to recommend the city doesn't approve Zuckerberg's plan.
The project will return to the city's planning director, who will decide whether to advance it.
