Category: League News

January 12, 2021

The City Council officially appointed Brad Kilger as Interim City Manager. He retired after forty years’ experience as City Manager for a number of California cities. Although retired, he helped South Lake Tahoe as Interim City Manager in 2020 during the initial pandemic months. He is expected to serve Los Altos well and provide more time to find a permanent City Manager.

The City Council adopted the Cut the Commute resolution to support the goal of reducing vehicular commute and increasing remote work in the Bay Area for city employees. The Los Altos City priority is to “adopt policies and practices that advance the City’s sustainability and GHG emission reductions.” It follows the Bay Area Air Quality Management District request to employers to pledge to allow employees to telecommute one or two days per week even after restrictions stemming from COVID-19 stay-at-home orders are eased. The city’s IT staff has established the necessary infrastructure and tools to make remote work successful, and the past nine months have demonstrated that the City has the ability and means to have city employees successfully work remotely. The resolution demonstrates the City’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gases and protecting the environment.

The City Council accepted the State Certified Local Government grant in the amount of $34,100 for the Halsey House Feasibility Study. In addition, the City Council authorized appropriation of $16,353 of Park-in-Lieu funds to the Halsey House Feasibility Study for the City’s matching contribution amount. The Historic Structure Report and any other studies will be shared with the Historical, Parks and Recreation, and Finance Commissions. Recommendations will be formulated on the direction they would like the Council to go with the Halsey House in Redwood Grove. The recommendations will be delivered by March 2021.

The Halsey House is located at 482 University Avenue in what is now the City-owned 6.12-acre Redwood Grove Nature Preserve. The 1923 house, a local historical landmark, was purchased by the City of Los Altos in 1974 to be part of a nature preserve and for recreation programs.

January 26, 2021

After negotiations first discussed in an April 2020 council meeting, the City Council adopted the resolution amending the North County Library Authority Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) Amendment. The original JPA language stated that the two member entities (LAH and LA) will split specific expenses while the City of Los Altos provide staff and basic support to the JPA. The NCLA Commission recommended amending the JPA such that NCLA will pay the cost of consultants hired by NCLA to provide administrative support services using NCLA funds. Los Altos will no longer provide staff and basic support to the JPA. Both Los Altos Hills and Los Altos have now approved the amendment.

The City Council authorized the Interim City Manager to approve the final Tract Map and execute the Subdivision Improvement Agreement for development of the housing project at 389 First Street. It will contain one unit of two-bedroom affordable housing at the moderate-income level.

At the end of the meeting, Anita Enander made a request to have the Embarcadero Institute, an interest group, discuss its views on the RHNA issue facing the region. Mayor Neysa Fligor denied the request, and two other council members agreed that it’s not wise to bring questionable groups before the Council. City staff said they were in the process of hiring a consulting group for upward of $500,000 to assist in preparing the city for the updated housing element. Results from the consulting group leave open the possibility of appealing the RHNA required numbers if the City finds it cannot accommodate the RHNA numbers for affordable housing.

Claire Noonan, Observer

October 13, 2020

Nine Los Altos residents were appointed to the Citizen’s Police Task force. A report will be delivered to the City Council at the November 24 meeting about school resource officers’ role at the MVLA Union High School District.

City Council considered the repeal and replacement of the Los Altos Municipal Code regulations for Accessory and Junior Dwelling Units by adopting a zoning amendment. In addition, the Council reduced permit fees for ADU dwellings for twelve months after the final adoption of new regulations. The Council also directed the staff to prepare an annual ADU rental income survey for the city which can be sent to the state to meet Los Altos’ Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) housing element figures. Final decision will be made on the zoning amendment at the October 27, 2020 meeting.

To continue financing for the Community Center construction the City Council authorized the City Manager and Council to pursue an agreement for a $10 million loan on behalf of the City with Sterling National Bank. The staff will return to the Council with the final agreement and resolution for approval at the council meeting on November 10, 2020.

October 27, 2020

City Council confirmed the repeal and replacement of the Los Altos Municipal Code regulations for Accessory and Junior Dwelling Units by adopting zoning amendments that provide details on the ADU and Junior ADU requirements. The main purpose of the proposed amendments is to ensure compliance with new state laws affecting the development of accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units in the residential zone districts of the City.

Every three years, the State of California adopts new building standards that are organized in Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, referred to as the California Building Standards Code. The Los Altos Environmental Commission recommended the City Council adopt building electrification and electric vehicle REACH codes, which amend the 2019 California Building Standards Code that had been adopted and became effective on January 1, 2020. The ordinances would put into effect requirements for newly constructed buildings.

New development would be all-electric with exceptions and include the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure for new construction. The adoption of the new regulations would reduce carbon emissions associated with new construction, reduce costs of new construction, improve indoor air quality and building safety, support affordable housing, and increase adoption of electric vehicles, all qualities to improve the quality of living in Los Altos. The Council discussed possible exceptions. A second reading and discussion of adoption is scheduled for the November 10, 2020, council meeting.

The City Council authorized the City Manager to enter a Memorandum of Understanding between Los Altos and Santa Clara County to agree to the purchase by the county of property for developing a 90 unit affordable housing site at Distel Court in Los Altos. In addition, the council agreed to waive park-in-lieu fees and traffic impact fees for the development. Three-quarters of the site units would be low-income level units which improves the Regional Housing Needs Allocation of affordable housing for the city.

September 8, 2020

The City Council adopted a zoning text amendment to the Municipal Code to ensure compliance with new state laws affecting the development of accessory dwelling units, junior accessory dwelling units, and multi-family accessory dwelling units in the residential zone districts of the City.

The City Council directed staff to start processing an amendment to the zoning for the General Plan Land Use designation for Civic Center lands. The amendment would limit the City’s ability to sell, transfer fee ownership, or re-designate lands of the Los Altos Civic Center. The goal is to preserve park and open space areas within the Civic Center Complex.

On July 28, 2020 a virtual Police Town Hall Meeting took place with Los Altos residents, Mayor Jan Pepper, Vice Mayor Neysa Fligor, City Manager Chris Jordan, and Los Altos Police Chief, Andy Galea. The City Council offered support for a Citizen’s Task Force that would provide recommendations on the School Resource Officer (SRO) program at Los Altos and Mountain View high schools, however, the decision to approve the formation of such a task force was postponed to the September 22 meeting. If the proposed task force resolves the SRO issue, the group might address other concerns brought forth from reflections in America about systemic racism that affects all communities big and small.  The task force would include citizens of varied age groups and races.

Also, the city manager and police chief were instructed to expedite the collection of ‘police stop’ data under the Racial Identity and Profiling Act to provide more information since current data is not complete enough to draw significant conclusions.

September 22, 2020

The City Council approved the formation of a Citizen’s Task Force to review and make recommendations on the services of a School Resource Officer (SRO) and for a method to receive complaints about an SRO. The Task Force will serve for six weeks, ending on November 24, 2020. The services of the group are limited to recommendations on the role of an SRO at the high schools. A Task Force is a first attempt to resolve questions raised at the July 2020 Town Hall.

The City Council approved new amendments to the City municipal code which conformed in 2019 to the California Building Standards Code. Called Building Electrification and Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (Reach Code), it mandates newly constructed buildings to be all-electric with certain possible exceptions and electric vehicle charging infrastructure installed. According to the City Environmental Commission which has studied research since early 2019, these new regulations to the building codes are aimed to reduce carbon emissions which are part of the City’s Climate Action Plan. In addition, the changes will improve indoor air quality, support affordable housing, and place Los Altos City in sync with construction changes in other communities. Of thirty public comments, most were positive to the amendment. There were three top reasons for opposing the changes. One, Reach Code is governmental overreach. Two, greenhouse emissions reduction may be limited (not supported by the Environmental Commission research). Three, residential and consumer choice is rejected. In the end, adoption of the regulations mean that new building construction will be all-electric with the exemption of cooking appliances and fireplaces. Infrastructure for electric vehicles is part of the adoption. The amendment pertains to new residential, commercial, multi-family, ADU, and mixed-use buildings.