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A Woodside family’s hopes to build a multi-generational home with affordable housing in the Western Hills neighborhood has been postponed by the town for almost six years. Christin New and David Mittelman shared with The Almanac the struggles they have faced with building affordable housing in Woodside.
The proposed housing project lies on two-tenths of an acre on a 9.6-acre property that New inherited from her father, who purchased the land in the 1970s. The building site is located at 10 Still Creek Road among hundreds of redwood trees with no neighbors in sight. Further down the road are three other properties, the closest being 846 feet away, according to Mittelman.
The project has become a contentious topic among its neighbors who have expressed their concerns about setbacks, disruption to the rural character, luminance, emergency vehicle access on a nearby trail and the height of the project.
“I grew up here and I want to live here and raise my kids,” said New, who described the “vitriol of the neighbors” and the town’s approval process as “emotionally wounding.”
Mittelman, as a member of the town’s Architectural and Site Review Board, has had to recuse himself from meetings about his family’s project.
As of now, the proposed house includes a main residence and three additional dwelling units, which are intended to house New and Mittelman’s aging parents and offer community members, such as teachers, town staff, police officers and firefighters, with affordable housing.
In the town’s certified housing element plan for 2023 through 2031, New and Mittelman’s Still Creek property is listed as the first pipeline project on its chart. The plan states that the project would provide two very low income housing units — the most among all listed projects — and one above moderate-income unit in the form of ADUs.
The couple had their first public hearing for the housing project in December 2020 and had its fifth hearing on Nov. 3, in which the ASRB recommended denial of the project, determining they did not make the necessary changes recommended in a previous ASRB hearing in March.
According to the Housing Accountability Act, “a local government may not hold more than five hearings to consider a proposed housing development project, if it complies with the objective general plans and zoning standards.”
Mittleman also added that their housing plan was approved to move forward in the ASRB’s formal design review in 2021 but the addition of a third ADU was considered by the ASRB as a substantial change that needed further review — elongating the approval process.
Despite the state’s five-hearing limit, the project will be reviewed in a sixth hearing by the town’s Planning Commission on Nov. 19 due to a setback exception.
During various town meetings reviewing the project, local residents have voiced their concerns about who would be living in the affordable housing units. Others commented their worries that the project could become an apartment complex, “inappropriate for the area and for Woodside,” said local resident Terry Braunstein, who does not live on Still Creek Road.
Another resident, Zhendi Emigh, described the project as a disruption to the rural feeling of the community and a “monster” they would have to see as they drove through the road.
Neighbors concerned with the sight of the proposed project have suggested longer driveways up the hill. Emigh shared in an ASRB meeting that her property goes back 500 feet from the road.
Project details, setbacks and trails
Rendering of northern view of additional dwelling units at a proposed housing development at 10 Still Creek Road in Woodside. Courtesy Baranki Hammer Moretta and Sheehy Architects and Planners. 
Rendering of western view of additional dwelling units at a proposed housing development at 10 Still Creek Road in Woodside. Courtesy Baranki Hammer Moretta and Sheehy Architects and Planners. 
Nighttime renderings of the proposed housing development on 10 Still Creek Road in Woodside. Courtesy Baranki Hammer Moretta and Sheehy Architects and Planners.
New and Mittelman’s project includes a main house with four bedrooms, a junior ADU studio, an attached ADU connected to the main residence and a detached unit across the street.
While neighbors consider the project to be contentious, New told The Almanac that she does not intend on building a “McMansion, ” but rather a home where she and her husband can provide housing to their retired parents and integral community members.
The proposed area for the detached ADU on the other side of Still Creek Road is adjacent to an unofficial trail, of which a majority of the land belongs to the neighbor. This trail was historically used for logging.
Joan Mehn, who lives on Still Creek Road commented during the ASRB meeting asking the family to move the detached unit further away from the trail, which she uses as an emergency road.
During the review of the project application, New explained to the ASRB that there is enough room for a car to pass with the current location of the ADU. She also ensured the board they are willing to make improvements to expand the width of the trail to allow for better vehicle passage.
Most of the land in the area was developed prior to the neighborhood’s annexation into Woodside decades ago. Prior to this, setbacks were under the purview of historic San Mateo County which allowed for a front setback of 25 feet, side setback of five feet and rear setback of 20 feet.
According to New and Mittelman, the property on Still Creek Road was part of San Mateo County before it was annexed by the town in 1975. Many neighboring properties around the road in the Skywood Acres neighborhood have at least one setback that does not match the town’s current zoning code for the area.
However, the SCP-5 zone district standards state that developments in the area must have a front, rear and side setback of 50 feet with a minimum 30-foot setback exception, meaning many of the nearby properties are non-compliant with the zoning code.
For the 10 Still Creek project, the 50-foot front setback is measured from the middle of the road, of which the point of measurement was determined subjectively by the planning director. The project has also requested a 30 feet setback exception.
But due to continued requests from the ASRB and neighbors to push the project further away, New and Mittelman are forced to remove a healthy redwood tree that they had originally wanted to save. They explained that increasing the setback would require more excavation to level the hill and increase in tree removal.
“What the ASRB is asking is antithetical to the way of the town, (which is) to follow the natural terrain, ” said Mittelman. “We’re trying not to disturb the land as much as possible.”
Board oppositions to the project
In its fifth hearing, ASRB members Pat Del Gavio and Christina Kamra voted to deny the project while Robert Sullivan shared his approval.
“I truly believe the amount of light from the inside coming out and the light around the outside of the property is going to totally change the concept of this neighborhood,” said Pat Del Gavio.
Kamra added that she is still hoping the applicants can push back the development farther away from the road.
Sullivan commented his approval of the setbacks and acknowledged that the biggest issues around the project are people’s opinions.
“Considering how contentious it’s been, I expected something a lot more onerous and challenging of what I thought were pretty reasonable guidelines and establish city criteria for how to build a house in that neighborhood,” he said.
New and Mittelman’s project will continue to be reviewed by the Planning Commission at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 19 to be approved or denied. If denied, they may enter another hearing to appeal the commission’s decision with the Town council. That meeting was scheduled after Almanac print deadlines. For an update, see almanacnews.com.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story misspelled David Mittelman’s name.
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