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Portola Valley’s housing element remains uncertified even though the town is slowly making progress with plans for alternative housing sites and an increasing number of housing units, according to staff updates. However, the Town Council has noted during a recent progress report that it is behind in housing production.
Portola Valley is currently 20% on its way to meet its requirement to build 253 housing units during the 2023-2031 Regional Housing Needs Allocation cycle.
After meeting with officials from the state Department of Housing and Community Development in April, Interim Town Manager Mark Linder reported that the HCD was understanding of the town’s decision not to rezone Dorothy Ford Park and pursue alternative housing sites. Linder said the town will continue to work with HCD informally.
During a Town Council meeting in March, the Ad Hoc Site Evaluation Committee presented four alternative housing sites: Village Square, Christ Church, Thomas Fogarty Winery Open Space and Hawthorns Area.
According to Linder, the town has had “positive contacts with the owner of the Village Square,” and the Christ Church is currently working with a designer.
Interim Planning and Building Director Terrence Grindall explained that the delay in housing element programs are largely due to the town’s “extreme staff shortage.” For much of 2024, the planning and building team was unfilled and the city had only a part-time planning and building director. Now, Portola Valley has a functioning building department with a full-time associate planner and continuing recruitment for a permanent full-time director.
According to Grindall, 30 additional dwelling units were created in 2024 which leaves the town short of its requirement to have 32 units created annually. Including numbers from 2023, the town currently has a total of 52 units with building permits issued and 202 housing units remaining.
Despite delays in implementing housing element programs, the town has made strides in approving actual housing projects such as the Stanford Terrace and Willow Commons project. The total units that will come from these projects will be included in a following report, clarified Grindall.
“We’ve prioritized actually getting housing built so I would hope that the state would see that our energy is in the right direction,” said Grindall. “There are certain programs that we’ve fallen behind on but we can catch up with the staffing I’ve indicated.”
The uptick in ADU productions are due to increased awareness of the possibility of construction as well as property owners growing more familiar with the process of obtaining contractors, he added.
Council members noticed, however, that the housing element progress report was missing multiple programs that were previously listed in prior reports. Council member Rebecca Flynn identified 10 programs that were left out of the current report — all of which are planned for completion after 2024.
Council member Helen Wolter asked for a chart that maps future housing element programs that are expected to be completed to show recognition that the town is attempting to get housing built.
Although the deadline for the report was on April 15, Grindall clarified that there is a grace period allowing the town to submit the report by the end of May.
Following the housing element progress report, the Town Council suggested that Grindall complete the report that will be submitted to the HCD along with a list of building applications and building permits.
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