Woodside: Five home subdivision goes before commission Woodside: Five home subdivision goes before commission (October 05, 2005)

By Andrea Gemmet

Almanac Staff Writer

The public has a chance to comment on a draft environmental study of a five-home subdivision on the 92-acre Woodside property where Phillips Brooks School officials had pursued -- and then abandoned -- plans to build a new campus.

Woodside Developers' Sand Hill Estates project would build an access road off of Lawler Ranch Road, as well as driveways and bridges to accommodate lots for five homes on the steeply sloping, environmentally sensitive property.

An appeal of a Planning Commission decision by a neighbor of the property, Jody Lawler, triggered the environmental review.

The Woodside Planning Commission is holding a public hearing about the draft environmental study on Wednesday, October 5, in Independence Hall, 2955 Woodside Road. The meeting starts at 7:30 p.m.

In the report, consultants from San Mateo-based MHA Environmental Consulting say that relocating the proposed road would lessen the number of blue oaks that would need to be cut down and help the project avoid some other significant impacts.

The property, west of Interstate 280 between Woodside and Sand Hill roads, contains a tributary of the Atherton channel, wetlands and ponds, as well as four protected wildlife species: the red-legged frog, Western pond turtle, San Francisco dusky footed wood rat and golden eagle.

As proposed, the project would remove 400 to 500 trees, many of them blue oaks, which are rare in San Mateo County.

Copies of the draft environmental impact report are available from Woodside Town Hall, and comments on it will be accepted until October 11. Call 851-6790 for information.

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