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Woodside: Architect joins architecture review board

by Dave Boyce

The Woodside Town Council, in a unanimous vote, appointed resident and architect Thalia Lubin to the town's Architecture and Site Review Board at the council's July 27 meeting.

Ms. Lubin takes the now-empty seat of Glenn Atkinson, who resigned recently. Her term ends in February 2011.

"She is an architect and the (ASRB) charter calls for there to be an architect" on the seven-member board, Councilwoman Anne Kasten said after the council's interview of Ms. Lubin.

Councilwoman Sue Boynton added that, "as an architect, I think she'll be able to realize or visualize what the applicant is trying to achieve. I think that's a very important component (of the process)."

Bringing construction and design plans to the ASRB for review is a required step for new homes and major remodeling projects before they go on to the Planning Commission. Ms. Lubin told the council that she has been involved as an architect in at least 10 projects that went before the ASRB.

She is also on the town's History Committee and is participating in this year's task force of volunteers and staff who are reviewing the town's general plan, according to her application for the ASRB post.

"I feel I would be a valuable addition to the board," Ms. Lubin said in her application. "Having represented clients before the ASRB, I have an understanding of the process. I love Woodside and want to help ensure that it remains the special place that it is!"

Ms. Lubin lobbied persistently and prominently for the preservation of the Jackling house, a Jazz Age country home on Mountain Home Road now owned by Apple Corp. chief executive Steve Jobs and originally designed by noted architect George Washington Smith.

After years in court battles, the path is apparently now clear for Mr. Jobs to have the house divested of historically significant parts, dismantled and replaced with a modern home.