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Published on 03/22/1999 All articles from this issue

Annexation talks subject of Los Altos discussion

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

Los Altos Mayor Lou Becker directed staff and councilmen Francis La Poll and John Moss to meet with San Antonio Hills area homeowners to learn about their interest in annexing to Los Altos Hills.

At its March 9 meeting, the council considered a letter from the homeowner's association in which it asked the city's help in annexing to the Hills.

The residents in San Antonio Hills, an unincorporated area that comes under county zoning, want to keep developers from subdividing lots in their neighborhood.

Los Altos Hills has a minimum lot size of one acre; Los Altos has a minimum lot size of one-quarter acre.

"The issue here - the density issue - that's what drives this," said Ted Brown, a member of the San Antonio Hills Homeowners Association. "We've got serious problems with developers. We face tremendous economic pressure to divide up lots."

And what they want, he said, is to "protect the character of the neighborhood," to preserve what they have.

Currently, there are 690 lots in the San Antonio Hills area, which is primarily around Los Altos Golf & Country Club. It also includes some area on the west side of Highway 280.

Of these 690 lots, 490 are pre-zoned RI-10, quarter acre; 145 are R1-20, half acre; and about 55 are R1-40, one acre, Los Altos Planning Director Larry Tong told the council.

But San Antonio Hills residents fear that annexation to Los Altos would mean a rezoning to quarter-acre lots that would result in what association vice president Henry Rome called "a potential degradation of property values."

Brown told the council that they need "city-type protection for day to day oversight."

The Los Altos general plan identifies the Country Club area as a place for possible annexation to the city. The Local Area Formation Commission puts the Country Club area that is on the east side of 280 in the "sphere of influence" of Los Altos and the area west of 280 as being in the "sphere of influence" of Los Altos Hills.

"There are financial dis-incentives for the city - but there are a lot of good folks out there," said Councilman Francis La Poll. For example, many San Antonio Hills homes are on septic systems and would need to come onto the city sewer system.

Councilman King Lear said annexation might "make it (San Antonio Hills) work a little better."

Mayor Becker agreed. "It's an area that needs to be tidied up a little bit, government-wise," he said.

City Manager Phil Rose told the council that he asked Los Altos Hills if they had a position on this, "and they do not," he said.

So Los Altos officials agreed to talk with San Antonio Hills residents to learn more about their wish to be annexed to Los Altos Hills.