Woodside subdivision's EIR raises questions Woodside subdivision's EIR raises questions (October 12, 2005)

By Andrea Gemmet

Almanac Staff Writer

Nobody loves an environmental impact report.

The unwieldy documents are expensive and time-consuming to produce, subject to a nit-picking review process, and often end up as fodder for litigation.

And the draft environmental impact report (DEIR) being circulated for a 92-acre undeveloped property in Woodside on the west side of Interstate 280 is no exception.

At last week's Woodside Planning Commission meeting on the report there were questions and complaints aplenty.

The DEIR assesses the environmental toll of a proposed road and bridges associated with the Sand Hill Estates five-lot subdivision on the steeply sloping and environmentally sensitive piece of property off of Lawler Ranch Road.

"It just seems like a sloppy document," said Planning Commissioner Rick Anderson, pointing to a number of internal inconsistencies. "It doesn't seem like anybody actually read the whole thing when it was done to see if it held up."

The town's Open Space Committee submitted an 11-page response to the draft report. Among the issues the committee raised: suggested measures to alleviate problems are contrary to Woodside's policies, and may actually make some environment impacts worse. The town's Conservation and Environmental Health Committee had similar concerns in its written response.

The property is home to a vast and rare stand of blue oaks, four protected animal species, ponds and wetlands, and a tributary to the upper Atherton Channel.

Virginia Dare, chair of the Open Space Committee, said members were concerned that the project would pave the way for further subdivision of the property in the future. They also wanted to know if the estimated 400 to 500 trees that would have to be removed only included trees with trunks that were 30 inches in diameter or more.

"Blue oaks generally do not grow to be that large," Ms. Dare said.

San Mateo-based MHA Environmental Consultants Inc. prepared the report and found that rerouting the subdivision's access road would significantly reduce the number of trees that would have to be cut down and the amount of grading work that would have to be done, but would place more of the road within the environmentally sensitive stream corridor.

Permits for the project were approved by the Planning Commission in April 2004, but neighboring property owners Roger and Jody Lawler filed an appeal, saying that a full environmental review needed to be done. The planning commission will need to reconsider the permits once the environmental review is completed.

Before the Sand Hill Estates subdivision was proposed, the property was to be the future home of Phillips Brooks private school. In 2002, Phillips Brooks officials abandoned plans to build the new campus after an expensive and bruising battle that divided the community. The school sold the land to Woodside Developers LLC.

Tuesday, October 11, is the last day for public comments, complaints and questions about the draft EIR. Responses to the comments will be included in the final EIR. Call Town Hall at 851-6790 for information.

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