A momentous decision is ahead for Portola Valley at the Town Council meeting this week, when the council is likely to choose a design plan for a new Town Center complex.
The project architects will present plans based on review comments gathered over the fall and winter from the town’s Architectural & Site Control Commission and the community.
Estimated to cost $20 million, the complex is likely to include a new Town Hall, library, community hall and activity rooms, plus improvements to the playing fields and playground.
Wednesday’s meeting will also include a discussion of a schedule that may set dates for the demolition of the 1950s-era school buildings that have served for 30 years as a municipal complex.
The meeting begins at 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 1, at the Historic Schoolhouse at 765 Portola Road.
Portola Valley activities looking for rental space
One issue complicating the building demolition likely to occur this spring or early summer at Portola Valley Town Center is the loss of enclosed space for kids’ art and science classes and adult fitness classes. Where will they be held in the interim until the new complex opens in late 2007?Councilman Ted Driscoll said the instructors aren’t having much success in finding space nearby. Woodland School in Ladera may be available for a martial arts class and a commercial property owner at Nathhorst Triangle is thinking it over, but that’s about it, he said.
Town Center fund grows with another $500,000 pledge
A donor, currently anonymous, has pledged $500,000 to the campaign that is raising private funds for a new complex at Portola Valley Town Center.The pledge puts the Portola Valley Community Fund “well above $3 million,” said Mayor Steve Toben. Terms of the pledge — such as when it would be redeemed and what the conditions may be — have not yet been settled, he added.
The major-donor phase of the fundraising campaign for the $20 million project is set to expire June 30, with a general-public campaign set to begin in the fall.
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