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Published on 06/09/1999 All articles from this issue

LAH council OKs fast-track process for new housing

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By Bruce Barton / Town Crier Staff Writer

In what Mayor Bob Johnson called "the most significant government action in the last 10 years," the Los Altos Hills City Council last Thursday approved overhauls to the town process for new housing construction and remodels.

The five-member council put the finishing touches on a "fast-track" review and enhancements to the town's site-review process during a packed house at the town hall.

The ordinance, due for a first reading at the next town council meeting on June 17, limits the scope of planning commission review by excluding consideration of design and architectural features. This addresses an oft-heard complaint that the town planning commission is nitpicking over such items as chimneys and skylights, and subjects prospective homeowners to members' architectural tastes.

The new law also requires findings of staff, commission members, or council whenever housing height, development area or floor area are reduced below code maximums, or when setbacks are increased above code minimums. Finally, an application meeting all town codes, policies and guidelines which received no neighborhood opposition, gets "fast-tracked" to the council for approval, bypassing planning commission review.

The ordinance comes from a Jan. 14 study session, when prospective and current homeowners directed much of their frustration at the town planning commission. Commissioners often painstakingly review the details of each housing application. Some see the town's rules as too fuzzy, allowing for subjectivity.

Others see a need for commission input, another level of checks and balances in the application process. Critics of this ordinance argue it hands too much power to the town's planning director, Curtis Williams. His determination to fast-track a project is final under the new ordinance.

"I'm pleased," said Johnson on Friday, "because as you can appreciate from the Jan. 14 meeting, there are two schools of thought on this procedure, and it was no small task to bring this together. Both sides have been generous in their compromises.

"By both sides coming together, we have removed a major source of stress."

That stress was apparent at last Thursday's meeting, when council members reviewed 17 recommended "revisions" to the ordinance proposed by the planning commission at its May 26 meeting. A few of the suggestions, such as referring all projects back to the commission for three months if the planning director leaves, had Councilman Steve Finn accusing the commission of "watering it down to the point where, what's the difference?"

Commissioner Dot Schreiner said she thought the commission should be allowed input on such items as chimneys and skylights, but "be required to make findings based on fact."

The council voted 3-2 to approve the ordinance with the revisionsscheduling a first reading at its next meeting. Johnson, Finn and Casey approved with council members Elayne Dauber and Bill Siegel dissenting.