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Letter: Another way to tackle affordable housing

We wish to voice our opposition to the purchase of the former Al's Nursery property by the town of Portola Valley.

As neighbors of the proposed project, we were surprised and upset by the letter of intent announced by the town in June. The process that led up to that point was handled poorly and should have involved the neighborhood and the greater community.

We have heard the town desires 10-12 units on the parcel. That would create a density much too high to be anywhere near compatible with the Wyndham Drive neighborhood. The precedent such a project could set for other parts of the town is not in keeping with what this community has been about. There are other ways to handle the affordable housing issue and the whole town should be involved in these decisions.

We feel the town should focus on second units spread around the town and change regulations as appropriate to encourage this. Since there appears to be no real long-term plan beyond development on the nursery parcel, this is the direction the town would go anyway. Decisions would be made by individual property owners instead of having high-density projects forced upon neighborhoods and the controversies that result.

This is a rather complicated plan proposed by the council for the nursery property. There could also be a risk to the taxpayers if the project does not go as proposed and incurs a loss.

We ask the town to stop negotiating for 900 Portola Road and to begin addressing these important questions together as a community.

Bud and Lynn Eisberg, Wyndham Drive, Portola Valley