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E-Mail Bulletin #4 - 10 August 2002
- Open Space Initiative Endorsements
- Planning Commission Statement
- Fundraising
- To poll or not to poll?
- LAH website
- E-mail distribution list
LAH Open Space Initiative Endorsements:
Town Crier - August 7, 2002 - Staff Report
Los Altos Hills City Council candidates, Dean Warshawsky and Breene Kerr added their names last week to the list of those endorsing the Los Altos Hills Open Space Initiative.
The initiative is intended to protect six key open space and recreation properties in Los Altos Hills from being sold and subdivided without a public vote.
Open space advocates say the initiative is necessary to prevent the current city council from selling the land. Advocates allege the council has been pushing hard to remove public use restrictions from various city lands over recent months in order to sell the properties.
Planning Commission Statement:
At the August 8th meeting of the Planning Commission, this body went on record supporting a recommendation to advise the Council "to take action to prevent the sale or change of use designation of any town- owned property without the support of the majority of residents."If the Town Council adopted the substance of our initiative by simple resolution, the citizen vote requirement would be in effect, but a later Council could remove it, again by simple resolution. A citizen's initiative (in contrast to a Town Council resolution) however, cannot be removed by a lesser governmental body like the Town Council and can only be amended by the citizens themselves.
Our plan therefore will be to proceed with the initiative, even if the Town Council adopts a resolution. Our attorney has informed us, however, that once the initiative is drafted, the signatures gathered and the initiative filed, the Council could adopt the initiative, and it would then be binding on all future Councils.
Fundraising:
Over one hundred individuals have donated to our Open Space Initiative. Almost $15,000 has been raised todate. We have achieved our goal for Phase 1. We will be meeting with our attorney this week and should be able to get an idea of the cost of drafting the initiative. Originally, we were told that the initiative would cost between $10,000 and $30,000 depending upon how complicated it is.
To poll or not to poll?
In the interest of moving ahead with the initiative, we have decided to do some "informal" polling rather than hire a professional polling company. The drafting of the initiative by our attorney will begin shortly.The key elements will be the designation of properties as either public recreation or open space preserve. The "public recreation" designation will be adopted for Westwind Barn and Edith Park. It will be readopt- ed for the Little League Fields.
The "open space preserve" designation will be readopted for Byrne Preserve and the O'Keefe Open Space. Juan Prado Mesa Preserve and Rhus Ridge properties will be officially designated as "Open Space Preserve." Although the latter two properties are both shown on the pathway map of 1994 as Open Space Preserve, they need to be adopted under this designation to ensure that they remain in this category.
LAH Website:
OurThis means that the Town Council could take action to sell this open space any time it wishes and milk it as a cash bonanza. Neighbors of this open space area are outraged that the land they have considered permanent open space could be developed.
E-mail distribution list:
If you have friends or neighbors in Los Altos Hills who would like to be placed on this e-mail information list, please have them contact either Nancy Couperus at couperus@mindspring.com or Val Metcalfe at metcalfes@worldnet.att.net