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Christine David may be new to the Atherton City Council when she takes office in December, but the longtime resident is no stranger to getting things done in the town, having spent years serving on town committees and helping shape major projects.
David, 63, is one of four candidates who were appointed by the current City Council at a special meeting on Aug. 18. Atherton’s elected officials canceled its November council election because it didn’t have a competitive race — the number of candidates equaled the number of available seats. David and Planning Commissioner Jerry Leugers will join the council as newcomers, while incumbents Rick DeGolia and Bill Widmer will return for new terms. Widmer, who has served on the council since 2010, will serve a two-year term filling the remainder of the term vacated by Councilmember Diana Hawkins-Manuelian.
In 2014, David was appointed to the town’s Civic Center Adviser Committee, which was tasked with assisting the City Council in planning its new $32 million civic center — completed in 2021.
“It was an incredible process: We worked with WRNS Studios and went through a bunch of iterations to come up with what now looks like home,” David said.
As part of her work, she also helped raise funds for the project, which received over $7 million in donations. David has continued to fundraise for the civic center and is currently chair of the board of the nonprofit Friends of the Atherton Library.
In 2017, David was appointed to the Parks and Recreation Committee. However, in 2019, David and one of her committee colleagues both resigned in protest of the City Council’s decision not to move forward with an off-leash dog area at Holbrook-Palmer Park.
David said that she was “mad at bureaucracy” at the time and didn’t understand the role of committee members.
“On a committee, you are appointed by the town council at the pleasure of the town council. You’re an advisor, not a policy-setter,” David said. “At the time, I didn’t really get that and I needed to.”
After a failed council bid in 2020, David is now preparing to become a policy-setter herself. She said her focus will be on addressing the town’s problems and listening to residents.
“I want town residents to know how honored I am and glad to be of service,” David said. “I have ‘big ears’ and I want to know what people think.”
One of the issues David hopes to address is a result of the civic center’s success: not enough parking for all of the visitors. David said she wants to make sure that the civic center and nearby Holbrook-Palmer Park are accessible to everyone — including pedestrians — while also protecting the town’s open space. It’s a tall order in a town with almost no sidewalks.
David said she looks forward to the results of the town’s transportation study and its recommendations for alleviating parking challenges. Atherton began requiring resident permits to park on streets near the civic center due to the influx of visitors.
But top of mind for many Atherton residents are state housing laws that require the town to accommodate significantly more housing. Atherton, which historically restricted residential development largely to single-family homes on one-acre lots, is now required to plan for hundreds of additional units, including 200 new below-market-rate units.
As first reported by The Almanac, a developer has submitted plans to convert a single-family home to a 30-unit townhome development using Senate Bill 79, a new state law that allows greater residential density near a transit station.
“That was why I ran in 2020. I was watching SB 50 (a failed precursor to SB 79) turn into all these other Senate bills. The state just took over local control and it still is happening,” David said.
David said Atherton and other California cities need to fight to return zoning control to municipal governments.
“I think any local person knows their locale better than anybody else — that’s why they are called ‘locals,’” David said.
David, along with Leugers, DeGolia and Widmer, will be sworn in at a council meeting in December.
“I welcome them to the council team and look forward to working with both our current council and the incoming members, as we continue advancing the town’s priorities together,” Town Manager George Rodericks said.
DeGolia said he was looking forward to working with both David and Leugers on the council. “This is the first time since 2000 that two new members have joined the council at the same time, so there will definitely be a serious adjustment period for the council,” said the incumbent who will start his fifth term on the council in December.
“The three other members of the council have worked together for 13 years and we’ve done some very significant things in the town over that period. Given that long-term working relationship, I think that the two new members will have no problem adjusting and getting involved in our work,” DeGolia added.
The Almanac made numerous attempts to contact Leugers for this story but did not get a response.
