Every Bay Area city is expected to provide a mix of housing; in fact, each California city is required by law to provide a pre-determined mix of housing. The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) sets the quota requirements for housing for low income, very low income, moderate income and market rate housing. Los Altos has worked hard to develop a Housing Element, which is a document (kept with our city’s General Plan) that maps out how Los Altos will work to respond to the quotas set for our community.

This is a difficult planning task, because Los Altos is a community that is very nearly built out and filled up with housing and businesses. There are very few open pieces of build able land left in our village. Many other cities faced with the same exercise either can’t or won’t respond to the requirement to present a plan to the State for housing quotas. That’s how difficult a task it is. However, according to Community Development Coordinator, James Walgren, "not having an approved Housing Element makes jurisdictions vulnerable to lawsuits from housing and building advocacy groups."

To our credit, the Los Altos Planning Department, Planning Commission, City Council and residents have worked together for the last year to develop a plan that not only satisfies the requirements, but also appears to be achievable. Through a combination of multi-family and mixed use projects in our commercial zoning districts, multi-family projects in our few multi-family zoning districts and second dwelling units in our single family zoning districts Los Altos is able to demonstrate a good faith effort to satisfy the State of California.

With no vacant lots, and little control, other than incentives, it is interesting to see where some of these projects are going. Since 1999 the City has approved several multi-family projects in multi-family districts and along El Camino Real. Most of these are four to twelve unit projects with typically 10% of the units being affordable. About 20 second dwelling units, all of which are required to be affordable have also been approved.

Although Los Altos’ projections fall short when we get to the year 2006, the State is patient as long as there is a plan and commitment among community leaders. The Element is now good for five years and then will need to be updated and reevaluated for effectiveness. There is new State legislation that may be enacted in August that will penalize (with fines) any city that has made no verifiable effort to comply with the housing element law.

We should be proud of our city and the responsible way in which this very difficult requirement has been handled.

In late June LANN leadership was asked to address the seven members of the Planning

Commission of the Los Altos Planning Department. This included Director James Walgren

as well as Associate Planner David Kornfield and Planning Technician Rosalind Rondash.

We were invited to make a presentation to the Commission and members of staff so that they can better understand what LANN’s charter is. It also gave us the opportunity to sow important seeds that will hopefully grow into a mutually beneficial relationship between our two groups. Part of the LANN mission includes a strong focus on housing related issues (as evidenced by this issue of the newsletter) as well as preserving the small town character throughout town. LANN treasurer Dianne Edmonds presented a graph that charted the trends of new construction in Los Altos. A copy of that chart is included in this edition. Housing Chair, Kathy Putman outlined the organization’s housing related goals and projects. All in all, everyone involved felt it was time well spent and LANN is grateful for the opportunity.

Since the inception of the Overlay Ordinance a year ago, several neighborhoods have chosen to take advantage of it. The following is a list of those neighborhoods that have either adopted the Ordinance or are in various stages of the Overlay Ordinance process. For more information about the Overlay Ordinance and how to implement it, you can call the Planning Department at 948-1491.

1. Angela, Galli, Merritt, includes 118 homes and all or portions of 12 separate streets
2. Live Oak Lane includes 11 homes on Live Oak Lane
3. Verano Drive includes 24 homes on Verano Drive

1. Rosewood Court, includes 7 homes
2. Solana Drive and E. Edith Avenue, includes 16 homes
3. Jay Street, includes 24 homes

Kathy Putman, LANN Housing Chair

In case you haven’t noticed, basements are increasingly a part of new construction in Los Altos. This month, three of the applications for new two-story homes include them. It is possible, of course, to add a basement to an existing home as is currently being done at 10 Cielito Dr. Walk your dog by there and take a look. It is a remarkable sight!

1. 02-SC-30 --S. and S. Di Franco --133 Hawthorne Avenue: Consideration of design review for a second story addition. Project Planner: Rondash
2. 02-SC-31 -- R. and C. Lee -- 9 Sylvian Way: Consideration of design review for a new two-story home with a basement. Project Planner: Rondash
3. 02-SC-32--M. Knight and C. Shedlock--317 Silvia Drive: Consideration of design review for a new two-story home with a basement. Project Planner: Rondash
4. 02-SC-33--J. Valadez and R. Au--210 Marvin Avenue: Consideration of design review for a new two-story home with a basement. Project Planner: Connolly
5. 02-SC-34--International Design Group/D. and D. Segers -- 711 University Avenue: Consideration of design review for a new two-story attached garage. Project Planner: Connolly
6. 02-Z-3 for the Jay Street neighborhood: Consideration of a Single-Story Overlay Zone (R1-S) for 24 single-family residential properties located on Jay Street. Approval of the application would limit homes within the defined neighborhood to one-story and 20 feet in height for a minimum of seven years.

During the past 18 months, the trend in Los Altos housing construction evidenced by the applications filed with the city Planning Department is as follows:

• For new construction, there is a greater volume of applications for two-story housing
• For additions to existing houses, the higher volume of applications is for two-story additions
• The first half of 2001 had a far greater volume of both types of applications versus the second half
• The first half of 2002 is greater than the second half of 2001, but below the volume over the same time period of 2001

The Los Altos City Council invites Los Altos residents to apply for vacancies on the following Commissions/Committees:

Contact the City Clerk’s Office at 650-948-1491 x204, or fax 650-941-7419 for more information and applications.

For many of our members it is time to renew. You will know if your subscription is due to run out by the stamped reminders on the front of your newsletter and by the return envelope on the inside of your newsletter. Our goal is 100% renewal.

We encourage all of you to tell your friends about LANN and ask them to join us, to visit our website, to send in comments or editorials for our newsletter, and keep us informed about Los Altos issues that you would like to know about or are interested in or have some concerns about.