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The Portola Valley Town Council meeting on Feb. 14 approved a contract for a permanent town attorney, an automatic license plate reader (ALPR) audit and discussed the need to urgently develop the Opt-In Single-Family Rezoning Program and zoning designations following the approval of their housing element.
Portola Valley’s 2023-31 housing element was approved on Jan. 30 by the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). According to Portola Valley Town Manager Sharif Etman, the next steps are for the town to develop the Opt-In program to provide development standards, including height limits, lot coverage limits and parking requirements. The Opt-In program is aimed at dispersing additional residential units throughout the community and providing a greater diversity of types of housing units available.
The Planning Commission will need to review multi-family and mixed use zoning regulations and changes to building codes which the town’s staff and a consultant team are working on. The drafts will be reviewed by the planning commission in March and they will develop a recommendation to the town council.
During the meeting, Etman estimated that the Opt-In program draft will be completed in no more than two months. The town has responded to the HCD’s comments on the Opt-In program by stating an estimated time frame to “develop objective design and development standards by June 2025” and “issue calls for projects in September 2025.”
He hopes for zoning regulations to be reviewed by the council in April following the Planning Commission’s reviews which will take more than one meeting to review, said Etman to the Almanac.
“Those two things are of priority,” said Etman. “The state and HCD are literally watching us to make sure we get those done in short order.”
ALPR audit
The town council also looked over the mandated ALPR audit submitted by the town manager, Public Works Director Howard Young and the sheriff’s office.
Council member Jeff Aalfs explained that the audit is intended to verify that the information in the ALPR system is secure and that there are no unauthorized searches or abuse of the data to protect people’s privacy.
Young and Council member Craig Taylor discussed whether there are better ways for the town to assess the value of the ALPR system.
Permanent town attorney hired
Later in the meeting, the council voted to approve a contract with Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger to make Interim Town Attorney Catherine Etberg the permanent town attorney. Etberg has been serving as the interim town attorney since May 2023.
The contract includes reductions in general rates ranging from $10 to $15 per hour for non-litigation services based on the attorney’s seniority and a reduction of $40 per hour for the town attorney’s attendance of up to six town meetings per month, according to a staff report.
Engberg, as a law firm partner, will cost the town $330 per hour for non-litigation services and $290 for six monthly meetings.
Upon a unanimous approval to adopt the contract, Engberg expressed excitement about continuing her role as town attorney.
“Catherine has been nothing but a joy to work with and removing the interim title for the town is a huge step for stability,” said Etman. “I think she fits within our culture and we’re lucky to have her.”
