When Los Altos Hills council members appointed Charles Wong to the town planning commission in July, some were unaware that Wong was allegedly violating town building regulations by working on projects without permits.
The controversy came to a head at the Sept. 2 council meeting, at which Wong supporters paraded before the council to attest to the commissioner's character. Despite an unusually strong recommendation from planning director Curtis Williams that Wong be removed from the commission, the council instead took no action.
"It is entirely unacceptable to allow a community member who has repeatedly violated the town's rules to sit in judgment of others who must request permit approvals," Williams wrote in an Aug. 11 memo to council. "To allow Mr. Wong to otherwise continue to sit on the commission would, in my estimation, be a poor reflection on the city council, planning commission, staff and all the many residents of the town who go to great lengths to comply with the town's rules."
Wong said issues such as runoff onto a neighbor's property, have been resolved and allegations against him have been "blown out of proportion."
Neighbor Mildred Gallo wrote that as late as July 22, after Wong had been appointed to the commission, he had no building permit and a "stop work order" had been put on his project.
The Sept. 2 meeting, which ran to the early morning hours of Sept. 3, was packed with Wong supporters, which perhaps influenced the council's inaction, said Mayor Elayne Dauber. She called the failure to remove the commissioner "a new low" for the council.
Wong said in an Aug. 27 e-mail to town officials that he "never knowingly violated any town code and has agreed to all requests to bring his property into total compliance."
In an Aug. 12 memo from interim city manager William Norton, Wong responded that he had his contractor put "something" up to see whether the planned structure would block his view, then left on vacation. When he returned, he found the stop-work order, and added the contractor did clean-up work to insure safety.
A town building official reinspected the site and did not find "any appreciable work" done after the order.
Wong also criticized Williams for writing his letter, claiming he did not have all the facts.
"The (town) should not act on an allegation without due process," Wong said. He said Williams did not seek out his side of the story before writing for his removal.
Williams could not be reached for comment Friday.
But Dauber said the council's failure to dismiss Wong was "a mistake," and his situation became a political issue.
"The consensus was, planning commissioners should be squeaky clean, but there were not enough votes to take action," Dauber said.