A rooftop deck for company employees won’t be allowed atop one of Palo Alto’s tallest buildings, the City Council decided Monday.

Houzz, a home remodeling business at 285 Hamilton Ave., sought permission to build a roughly 2,560-square-foot rooftop deck for its employees to take lunch breaks and quick meetings during work hours.

Houzz proposed the project as a test case for a possible roof deck ordinance in the downtown area. The city has allowed some residential and commercial roof decks on a case-by-case basis as long as they met certain standards.

Except for Mayor Greg Scharff, Vice Mayor Liz Kniss and councilmen Adrian Fine and Greg Tanaka, the majority of council members balked at the proposal as well as the city staff’s recommendation that they explore drafting an ordinance to address rooftop decks.

They cited concerns about privacy and noise affecting nearby residents and noted the building already exceeds zoned height and density limits.

The 82-foot building was built in 1971, before current rules that limit heights to 50 feet. It also exceeds permitted density by a nearly 4:1 ratio.

Councilwoman Karen Holman described a recent visit to Nashville, Tennessee, where many buildings have rooftop decks. She said they generate a lot of noise, particularly those above restaurants, and worried that two hotels near 285 Hamilton could be affected by noise coming from a rooftop deck.

“We’ve had in the past a number of code enforcement complaints, even on ground-level noise, impacting not just residents, but hotels,” Holman said. “I worry that this could impede the success and continued viability of our hotels downtown.”

Council members Lydia Kou, Eric Filseth and Tom DuBois wondered why staff even brought the item up for council action when there are more pressing issues, such as the city’s jobs/housing gap.

“It shouldn’t even come to the council,” Kou said. “Basing this on one applicant, it seems like we are showing preferential treatment. … I think we’re really wasting time.”

Added DuBois, “We want our businesses to support restaurants, and creating private space doesn’t benefit this.”

Kou also took issue with the applicant’s argument that rooftop decks create new open space. “If we start adding this as park or open space, are we going to build in our parks and put in a rooftop garden and say, ‘There’s your park?’ ” she asked.

The staff report recommending approval states that rooftop decks “take advantage of outdoor space that might be underutilized.”

For Scharff, however, approving Houzz’s proposal and exploring a possible ordinance was a “no-brainer” because rooftop decks enhance aesthetics. Besides, he added, those allowed in the past — such as those atop President Hotel Apartments and the former SurveyMonkey building — haven’t led to any noise complaints. He also argued that approving rooftop decks near residences is similar to approving parks near residences, and they would help address a shortage of open space.

“This is the equivalent to saying we shouldn’t have parks near residences (due to) … concern of people playing soccer,” Scharff said. “If we’re really concerned about noise, we should close Lytton Plaza.”

Resident Bob Moss noted that the 285 Hamilton building and another at the intersection of Cowper Street and University Avenue are the ones that triggered the zoning change, so approving Houzz’s plan “would be ignoring the fact that this was one of the triggers.”