Portola Valley worked in 2019 to cope with the threat of new rules from Sacramento about the need to build affordable housing and other challenges that some residents feel could imperil the “rural character” of the community.
The community also dealt with the threat of wildfires and related PG&E power shutoffs, began consideration of an application from Neely Wine to allow wine tasting and wine club events on its property, and hosted a political demonstration in town when President Donald Trump paid a visit in August to nearby Los Trancos Woods, among other highlights.
Creating affordable housing
The Town Council formed a committee to research using town-owned property to build affordable housing, but the panel found very little land available that would be appropriate.
The state has passed an array of new laws that will affect a new Regional Housing Needs Assessment that will begin in 2022 and could require the town to plan for 100 to 200 units of housing over the next 10 years, with some percentage being below-market-rate units.
So far, identification of town-owned properties, which would be the cheapest to build on, has fallen short.
The committee identified a small segment near the Town Center that could be used to build four condominiums, but the requirements from new state regulations promise to be much higher, according to Town Manager Jeremy Dennis.
The council may have the option of purchasing land to build housing and is considering a plot next to Roberts Market near the intersection of Alpine and Portola roads, but the amount of money available is limited, town officials note.
The council also passed an accessory dwelling unit ordinance in March, which allows homeowners to add units as large as 1,200 square feet on properties that are less than 3,500 square feet, and units as big as 1,500 square feet on parcels that are 3,500 square feet or larger.
Previously, second units were allowed only on residential parcels that are an acre or larger unless they were inside an existing structure.
Stanford Wedge project moves ahead
Stanford University began pursuing a plan in March to build 27 faculty homes and 12 affordable rental units on property it owns known as the Stanford Wedge, located on Alpine Road between Westridge Road and Golden Oak Drive. The rental units would contribute to the town’s affordable housing quota, along with possible faculty units at Woodside Priory School.
Each single-family home would be on its own lot, and each home would be two stories with three or four bedrooms and a study.
“Per the current schedule, which is subject to change, the EIR will be completed and the final project reviewed by the town council in 2020, with development not occurring until 2021 at the earliest,” wrote Joel Berman, Stanford community relations and land use communications officer, in an email.
Dealing with wildfire threat
In April, the Town Council formed a committee to look at ways to reduce the threat from wildfires that have been raging across Northern California. The committee reported its recommendations in November, which include adopting “reach codes” that go beyond state requirements, including banning all combustible roofing and fencing materials, requiring ember-resistant vents and enclosed eaves, and installing multi-pane tempered glass windows and skylights in all new construction.
PG&E implemented planned power blackouts in October intended to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire ignitions from its energized power lines that could fall during inclement weather. Portola Valley was threatened by three blackouts and was affected by two of them.
The largest shutoff of the month began around 8 p.m. on Oct. 26 and affected about 57,218 customers in the county, including portions of Portola Valley.
Winery introduces tasting room plan
A plan to allow wine tasting and wine club public events at Neely Wine at 555 Portola Road came before the Portola Valley Planning Commission in April.
The proposal has met with some resistance from neighbors near the winery over possible noise, parking, and other concerns. Some neighbors expressed concerns that the idea threatened the maintenance of Portola Valley as a semi-rural community, while the Neely family has maintained that it needs to find ways to enhance the financial viability of the 230-acre property it acquired in 1995 to maintain it as open space.
Planning Commission meetings in November and December explored the compatibility of the tasting room proposal with Portola Valley’s general plan and zoning regulations, while Neely has reduced the number of events the winery was seeking permission to hold.
Some opponents argue that the wine club expansion would draw in more visitors and traffic from outside Portola Valley, while Neely has maintained that they are principally targeting town residents in their wine club plans.
Trump draws demonstrators
In August, about 80 to 90 demonstrators came to Portola Valley to protest a visit from President Donald Trump at the home of Scott McNealy, the founder of Sun Microsystems, in Los Trancos Woods near Portola Valley.
The location of the visit was kept a secret until right before Trump arrived at Moffett Field in Mountain View. The demonstrators, assembled at the soccer field next to the Alpine Inn, were able to briefly view the president’s small motorcade turning left onto Arastradero Road off Alpine Road heading toward the site of the meeting for campaign donors.
New 10-year waste disposal contract
In November, the town accepted an offer from GreenWaste Recovery calling for an average 32% increase in rates for curbside service.
So-called “concierge service” customers, who need drivers to walk on or drive onto their properties to empty disposal carts, received a rate hike ranging from 50% to more than 400%, according to Sloan Vasquez McAfee, the solid waste consulting firm that negotiated contracts with Portola Valley and Woodside over 18 months.
The move preceded the Woodside council’s approval of a virtually identical contract on Nov. 19.
Remodeled Alpine Inn reopens
The historic Alpine Inn, purchased by a group of Portola Valley investors in 2018, reopened in August to much fanfare. The remodeling work resulted in a spruced-up interior, kitchen and expanded food and beverage service in a larger outdoor seating area.
According to a published report, the investor group paid more than $3.8 million for the property.
Workers began remodeling the 167-year-old inn in February. They were able to rebuild the original coolers, but had to start over in the kitchen because it was “illegal, all home stuff, needed upgrading, had no sink, no grease trap,” said Greg St. Claire of the Avenir Restaurant Group that manages the inn.
Workers peeled away five layers of old linoleum before covering the floor with barn wood reclaimed from Half Moon Bay.
The initial reaction to the reopening was huge as residents flocked to the redesigned inn, jamming the parking lot on weekends and evenings.
Founded in 1852 as the Casa De Tableta roadhouse, where country folk could gather to play cards, dance and drink, the property has changed names and owners multiple times, and is registered as the second-oldest continually operating tavern in the state.
Council bans gas leaf blowers
In January, the Town Council voted to ban gas-powered leaf blowers to reduce ambient noise and air pollution in the community and followed that up in December by offering a gas-powered leaf blower buyback program that will provide incentives to switching to electric blowers.The switch can be costly. Whereas a typical gasoline-powered blower costs between $400 and $600, an electric blower with all its associated equipment currently costs $1,900, Public Works Director Howard Young told the council. Some jobs will require gardeners to carry a spare battery, available currently for another $850, Young said.
Leaf blowers kick up fugitive dust — a term the California Air Resources Board defines as particulate matter that is not a side effect of fuel combustion. Particulate matter, according to a town staff report and a 2012 report from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, is “by far … the greatest harm to public health in the Bay Area.”
Death of town leaders
Stanford professor, geophysicist and explorer Sheldon Breiner, and George Comstock, a pioneer in the computer industry who served as mayor of Portola Valley during his one term on the Town Council and held a seat on the Architectural and Site Control Commission for eight years, died in 2019.
Others who died this year include Sam Halsted, who served on Portola Valley’s first Town Council, and civic volunteer and pilot Bud Eisberg.
