Photo Illustration by Monique Schoenfeld, Town Crier
The faces and images of 1998 in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills include: (Top left and right) Steve Finn and Toni Casey being sworn in as Los Altos Hills City Council members after being the top vote-getters in the Nov. 3 election; (middle, left to right) Carol Tefft, the head librarian for the main library, who retired after 37 years in Los Altos; the veterans memorial statue, "Cradle of Liberty," dedicated at a Fourth of July ceremony at Shoup Park; new Los Altos City Manager Phil Rose; (bottom, left to right) the "Dalmatian House" on Camellia Way; and the gas station at Fremont Avenue and Grant Road, which was torn down this month.
Land use
The Tree Farm project could easily be labeled the most unpredictable development of 1998. First, the Los Altos City Council OK'd a 131-unit residence inn for the mixed-use project on El Camino Real at its April 28 meeting. This was a change in direction from the previously approved plans that called for 87 condos in the space where the inn is now scheduled to be.
In addition, the project included a 95,000-square-foot office building on El Camino Real on the 4.5-acre site.
However, in October, the project stalled due to squabbles among the developers. Beverly Brockway sued co-developers John Challas and Oliver Lin, citing mismanagement, diverting income for personal use and misconduct. The irony was as thick as the cold December air when the vacant, graffiti-laden site became a Christmas tree lot despite months of changing plans and numerous discussions.
The Sunkist Lane saga continued in 1998. In January, neighbors complained that a second-unit cottage built by resident Gary Greenberg was not the design approved by the council the year before and that the access issue from Sunkist Lane had not been fully addressed. Residents were displeased before that Greenberg asked for the second unit to face Sunkist, which would have put the small cottage alongside larger homes. Neighbors spoke at the May 26 council meeting urging the council to address what they considered to be inappropriate access from Sunkist to a second-living unit that is on Avalon Drive.
At the Aug. 18 council meeting, neighbors and the city agreed that the cottage is in compliance with city codes. Greenberg sealed the gates on Sunkist so that, per the city's second-living unit code, access to the cottage would be from Avalon. And he agreed to plant large screening trees between the cottage and Sunkist.
The Sunkist Lane controversy underscored a continuing theme throughout the year: neighbors challenging neighbors over housing development.
A two-story vs. one-story debate on Camellia Way over a proposed second-level addition was another example of residents' concerns that oversized houses on small lots would raise privacy and design-consistency issues.
In May the Los Altos Planning Commission began a series of meetings for community input regarding issues they want considered by a newly-formed design guidelines task force. The task force was charged with reviewing the city's residential design guidelines.
In the meantime, on May 12 the council turned down a resident's request to add a second-story addition to a home in the Galli and Angela drive area. The issues of where two-story additions could be considered and the design elements of a "good" second-story addition were added to the agenda of the design guideline task force. On July 22 the task force held its first meeting, but has yet to come up with final recommendations to council.
On May 5, county supervisors OK'd an emergency 90-day building moratorium for the unincorporated areas of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. The action came in response to residents' concerns about developers building over-sized new houses on sub-standard lots.
During the 90-day building reprieve, the county held seven neighborhood meetings. With that resident feed-back, the county created new design guidelines for the small lots that dot the unincorporated area. The moratorium was lifted Aug. 18.
Discussions over off-road Los Altos Hills pathways continued in a big way in 1998. The issue brought residents out in droves to April and May council meetings.
The current pathway system includes 93 miles of trails. Residents disagree on whether or not the system is complete. When a proposed pathway crosses a property, the owner is asked to grant the town an easement. Some object, considering the pathway on their property an invasion of privacy.
Others believe the pathways are a safe connection between neighborhoods and neighbors and a part of the history and value of the town.
Many south Los Altos neighbors got what they wanted when the Los Altos council voted June 9 to deny an appeal by a gas station to continue operating on its non-conforming use permit. The station was built on the corner of Fremont Avenue and Grant Road in 1966 and was later annexed to the city. Los Altos rezoned that land in 1987 to public and community facilities.
Council gave the station 30 days to close, but operators delayed closure until October. The station was bulldozed in December.
Affordable housing wasn't completely forgotten under land use issues. In June, the Los Altos City Council approved a major revision of second living unit ordinances. Under the city's new law, the lot size requirement for any second living unit, that is detached from the main house, is 15,000 square feet. This is a jump from the previous ordinance that allowed affordable units in lots with 10,000 square feet.
Finally the Sherwood Gateway Specific Plan, which calls for improving north Los Altos along San Antonio Road and El Camino Real, was approved by the Los Altos Planning Commission calling for 38 units per acre. Residents on the Sherwood task force want seven units per acre. The council has delayed a decision on the plan until next year.
Crime
Our communities continue to enjoy relatively low crime rates, but auto thefts and vandalism were more than rare occurrences. Also, concerns over sex offenders in our midst prompted at least one neighborhood meeting about a suspect who turned up on a CD-ROM file at the Los Altos Police Department under Megan's Law. The suspect had been charged with peeping in Palo Alto. The law was designed to offer notification of sex offenders upon request. It turned out, in this case, the suspect was convicted on a lesser charge that did not warrant filing under Megan's Law.
Richard McGowen, a longtime Los Altos lawyer and Los Altos Hills resident, resigned from the state bar in January after facing 39 charges, including moral turpitude, misappropriation, altering documents, misleading a judicial officer, dishonesty and corruption. McGowen allegedly mismanaged the estate of Los Altos Hills resident, Julie Eshner.
The Loyola Corners Downey Savings and Loan and branch manager, Mark Asplund, faced allegations of elder fraud in February after a public guardian and public and special administrators of one of the thrift's customers filed suit. Asplund admitted in court that an elderly widow closed her Downey account of $294,000 and put Asplund and his wife's name on it.
Flames engulfed a Los Altos Hills home on Wildflower Lane in February and burned it nearly to the ground, killing the owners' 18-year-old cat, Puma. A chief investigator with the Santa Clara County Fire Department said it was arson. There was loss in excess of $1 million, he said.
Parks
Two major park developments progressed considerably in 1998. In February, Los Altos City Council members approved a $163,780 park plan that included lawn, paths, benches, gentle berms and lights for the corner of San Antonio Road and Edith Avenue. Construction started in November. Residents had been clamoring for years for park use at what was a longtime weed patch at the .75-acre, city-owned site.
At the 401 Rosita site, the council approved a $480,000 plan calling for demolition of the former St. William school and convent, and grading and seeding of 3.9 acres for playing fields. The city-owned, 5.5-acre site was also the center of discussions this year with the Los Altos School District, which ultimately passed on the option of a joint-use gymnasium on the neighboring Covington School property. At a May 5 joint city-schools meeting, the school trustees said they would need to re-open Covington as a school and did not want a city facility on an elementary school campus.
However, the city agreed in concept to a plan to renovate existing gyms at Blach and Egan intermediate schools for joint city and school use. The Los Altos School District board is also set to agree to conceptual plans at its first meeting in January.
Milestones
The Veterans Memorial Association of Los Altos & Los Altos Hills dedicated the statue, "Cradle of Liberty," at an elaborate ceremony in Shoup Park on July 4, which drew a crowd of nearly 1,000. Local artist R.J. Truman was selected from a nationwide search to create the statue. She designed a soldier cradling a baby.
The Santa Clara County Library Joint Powers Authority Board voted unanimously to install Internet filters to block pornography for the children's room computers at the Los Altos libraries as well as the nine other county libraries in April. The decision came after a long and controversial debate among residents and officials.
Measure H, the $94.7 million bond measure to renovate and build new facilities in the Los Altos School District, passed with a whopping 75.4 percent of the vote in the Nov. 3 election. The voter response seemed to reaffirm residents' commitment to education and the supporters' message that good schools translate to strong communities.
The Los Altos Community Foundation, formerly Los Altos Tomorrow, reached a milestone this year when members announced the foundation had reached the $1 million mark in assets managed. The Los Altos-headquartered Packard Foundation, situated in offices at First Street and San Antonio Road, announced it was going to give away $400 million in 1999.
Strange but true
Residents were open-mouthed over the freak tornado that raged through the city, behind Los Altos High School, about 4:30 p.m. on May 4.
Trees crashed into houses, fences flew apart. And high school athletic director Monica Lodge was tossed into the air and thrown 20-30 feet.
"I've never been through anything like that in my life," she said.
Los Altos Hills residents mourned the loss of Rudolph, a popular tree that was shaped like the famed reindeer. The tree was chopped into an unrecognizable stump sometime early in July. Rudolph had become an unofficial landmark of sorts, as neighbors took turns dressing him up to match the season and waved to him as they drove by.
People were seeing spots on Camellia Way after one homeowner had her house painted July 31 to resemble a Dalmatian, complete with black polka-dots covering the white stucco walls.
"I thought it'd be cute," the owner said. Ditto, her 5-year-old Dalmatian, had just celebrated his birthday.
Camellia Way has been the site of some hotly contested design issues regarding two-story additions.
And, did you know that with all the talk over gas-powered leafblowers over the years, Los Altos was still lacking an ordinance addressing weed abatement? Not anymore. Council adopted such a law in September, calling for property owners to pay up if the city was forced to clean their weeds for them.
Traffic, public safety
The Los Altos Neighborhood Traffic Advisory Task Force presented their recommendations to the city council to add four police officers dedicated to traffic enforcement. A state grant funded two motorcycle patrol officers, with a third on the way next year, funded by the city. The two motorcycle cops will begin patrols in January.
Back in June, the task force made its case favoring enforcement over education as the best way to deal with traffic issues.
As of May 26 all three local fire stations have had a paramedic on duty 24 hours a day with an average response time of two to four minutes, said Harry Franklin, a Santa Clara County Fire Department firefighter/paramedic.
Comings and goings
Town Crier Staff Report
Tear-downs, large homes on small lots, one story vs. two stories. It seemed land use issues were all over the local news landscape in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills for 1998. And, while nowhere near the intensity of the circus in Washington, D.C., this has nonetheless, been a busy year for our communities. The year 1998 was marked by several important milestones - the dedication of a veterans' memorial at Shoup Park, the passage of a $94.7 million bond measure for the Los Altos School District among them. And we said hello and goodbye to several of our community's key players.
The big change in Los Altos occurred at the city manager position, in which Phil Rose succeeded Dianne Gershuny. Rose, 49, began June 3. He came to Los Altos from Placerville where he had been city manager for three years.
For 18 years, until 1989, he worked in city hall in Mountain View, working his way up to deputy city manager.
Los Altos Police Officer Craig W. Penley and his canine partner Disco resigned early in February. Penley had been with the department for 10 years, Disco arrived in January, 1996.
John Korges and his canine partner, Garry, were named the new canine team in April.
Sherry Lambach died of a heart attack at her desk in city hall, July 17. She was 54. The award-winning city finance director had been with Los Altos for more than 30 years, working her way up from payroll clerk.
She became finance director in 1990. Under her direction, the city won at least one award for each budget she prepared. The award went to the city, "but Lambach gets the credit," said Dianne Gershuny, her close friend and former city manager.
Hundreds attended her memorial service as city flags flew at half-staff.
Carol Tefft retired from her position as head librarian at the Los Altos Main Library after 37 years at the library. She was succeeded by Catharine Fouts. Madelyn Crawford became the first full-time director at the Los Altos History House Museum.
Toni Casey was re-elected to the Los Altos Town Council, along with newcomer Steve Finn in the Nov. 3 election. The two promised more resident-friendly town government. Finn succeeded outgoing councilman Sid Hubbard, who decided not to seek another term. Hubbard was honored this year for his efforts at the YMCA, receiving the organization's Red Triangle Award.
No new faces showed up on the Los Altos City Council this year, but mayoral roles did change, with Lou Becker succeeding Kris Casto.
Dick Henning, who retired from Foothill College as dean of community services, was honored this year for his founding of the Celebrity Forum speaker series, a series that has brought newsmakers from all over the world to the Los Altos area.
The Rev. John Dodson presided at his last services on Christmas Eve at the United Methodist Church of Los Altos. The beloved pastor's influence was evident in a retirement party given in his honor in December, at which more than 900 people attended.
World-renown author Janet Lewis, who called Los Altos her home, died this year at 99. And Ellen Shaw, the Town Crier's longtime contributor of "Pages of the Past," died in November. She was honored in a loving tribute at Christ Episcopal Church in Los Altos.