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Published on 01/12/1998 All articles from this issue

Land issues dominate council meeting

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue

Town Crier Staff Writer

Los Altos folks are subdividing their land. At the Jan. 13 city council meeting, the council approved the division of four separate parcels, in four separate votes, into 13 lots. As a result there are now nine new residential lots in town.

The largest piece involved, the 2.7-acre Los Altos Nursery parcel on Valley Street, is now seven single-family lots with the nursery on a .88-acre "remainder" parcel.

The subdivision request came to accommodate a family division, said Tom Shannon, speaking on behalf of the Furuichi and Maruyama families who own the property.

The city's general plan had called for senior housing on the site but also allowed single-family residential use.

The Furuichis live in five homes surrounding the nursery and "prefer the neighborhood to remain single-family residential," said Todd Roger Fujinaga, an attorney for the family.

Going with single family lots, "is a lost opportunity to develop senior housing in the community," said Bob Schubert, a contract planner, in a staff report. At a density of 10 units per acre, 19 senior housing units could have been on the site, he said.

Another consideration was the community vision, developed a year ago, that ranked "preserving current density" as a number one priority. The community vision also noted the recurring theme of neighborhood preservation and balanced development.

Staff included the vision document in the report, the first time this has been done, because of a recent request by the city council.

Other land divisions approved by the council include two lots from a .88-acre parcel in the 700 block of El Monte Avenue; three lots from a 1.5-acre parcel in the 700 block of Dixon Way; and a market-rate second-living-unit cottage in the 100 block of Garland Way.