Los Altos Creates a Traffic Commission
November, 2003Bill Crook, LANN Traffic Chair
City Council voted to create a Traffic Commission at its October 14 meeting. The Commission will be comprised of 7 residents, appointed by Council. The members will serve a maximum of two 4 year terms. The initial terms will be staggered to prevent a large loss of experience in eight years.
The Commission is a permanent replacement for the Neighborhood Traffic Advisory Task Force.
The Commission will have a Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Subcommittee that will be comprised of the current Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee members and chaired by a Traffic Commission member.
The Commission will replace the Joint City / Schools Traffic Committee with several work sessions per year, hosted by the Traffic Commission. Those invited to participate will include: epresentatives from all school administrations in the city (public and private); individual school traffic representatives; city police representatives; city engineering staff; council members; school board members and members of the public who wish to attend would be invited. The agenda would be to share information, problems, solutions and lessons learned.
The charge of the Commission will be finalized at the October 28 Council meeting. It appears that the charge will include the following items:
This action is a very significant step for Los Altos, one that has its roots back in the 1997 creation of the Neighborhood Traffic Advisory Task Force. Supporting this Traffic Commission is a very active Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory group, a Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan, a good
Circulation element in an updated General Plan, two motor officers, two funded safe routes to school projects (and two more competing statewide for funding), a Bicycle Transportation Plan, a Joint City/School Traffic Committee Report (a reference document to problems relating to our children’s journey to school), grants for bike trail work on Hetch Hetchy and other path improvements, and a very supportive VTA good practices document. Now, a unanimous council (and unanimous candidate list) all support a Traffic Commission.Congratulations to the City for this very positive action.
The Chicken Man
Leslie Lodestro, LANN Membership Chair
A few weeks ago I took my father-in-law to the Farmer’s market downtown. It was so hot it was hard to stand up straight. We found a parking spot in one of the lots and walked up Third Street to get to the market. There, ahead of us in the heat and haze, stood the back-end of a truck. On the roof of the truck were two large, brown, lumps. To hot to speak, we walked toward it as if approaching a mirage. Our heads were cocked, our brows furrowed, our minds were wondering. Finally I dribbled out my question, "Whaddya think that is, Pa?" "I dunno" he said. Because my brain is wired on a scatological circuit, the lumps looked like poop to me, but I was too hot to say so. As we got closer we saw a line of hopeful looking people stretching down the sidewalk. We swung our course around to the side of truck and through the sweltering temperatures our noses and brains registered "chicken".
One hundred and twenty of them. Dripping, spinning and browning on long skewers.
The chicken truck is the invention of Thomas Odermatt who speaks with an accent that is hard to place, but definitely pronounces his own name "Toe-maas" with a French flair. His company, Roli Rot,i was hatched from a student project he did while working on a certificate in Marketing Management from UC Berkeley. The business plan he developed is definitely sound.
If the truck is his gimmick the chicken is his golden egg. Thomas grew up in Switzerland in a small town outside of Zurich where his family owned a small butcher shop. Theirs was not the only charcuterie in town, and it was a necessary tradition of all purveyors of meat to host competitive tastings on Saturdays. The prize was the customer base, which grew. The family recipe for rotisserie chicken was the Odermatt’s Saturday temptation and it was superb.
Thomas has adapted the Swiss recipe for the take-home market by including a lime with every perfectly browned, Santa Rosa, range chicken. His Berkeley training probably taught him the genius of product distinction, but his instincts for taste drove the decision to include the lime. His instructions are to squeeze the lime over the chicken just before a gentle, 10 minute, at-home re-heating. This small task does two things. First it helps the skin to re-crisp and causes the already wonderful flavor to intensify. But second it gives the host a feeling of ownership with the meal. Many well paid marketing executives have long understood the need for interactivity with products of convenience. Look at cake mixes. The technology exists to provide a cake mix which could be squirted directly from a bag into a pan in the oven. The psychology of that kind of convenience cooking however leaves the baker feeling a little flat and useless. Add the requirement for an egg to be cracked and some oil to be added and one can march to the table and say with sincerity that they "baked" a cake especially for you. Thus the lime. The small squeeze the cook must make over the chicken with the mouth-puckering fruit creates the sense of accomplishment and ownership in the meal.
A year ago Thomas was invited to sell his whirling chickens at the grand opening of Santana Row in San Jose. A great opportunity for a new business for sure. A week before the event his chicken truck was stolen. It is a little hard to hide a truck with a giant, roasted chicken bolted to the roof and so the truck was recovered just hours before the opening. The thieves must have become frustrated by their own stupidity in stealing such a high profile vehicle because they heavily vandalized the truck. The rotisserie components still worked, but the engine did not. Undaunted and incredibly optimistic by nature, Thomas and his helper pulled the Roli Roti truck, with a rope, into position. The inconvenience became a publicity opportunity, and Thomas says he had the longest line of customers he can remember that fateful day.
The Chicken Man, Con’t.
Since that time, Thomas has tripled his business. He now has three trucks operating up and down the Peninsula. The charm that he personally dishes out with the chicken and limes has earned him a loyal customer base. His face lights up often with recognition as he sees his many repeat clients. Thomas charges $10.00 for a chicken, including the lime. You can buy a Roli Roti chicken at Di Martini’s on San Antonio Road on Thursdays where Thomas rolls up about 4:00 and is ready for business by 4:30. If you get a hankering for his birds earlier in the week you can find him at the Milk Pail market on California St. on Mondays at the same time.
For a complete listing of dates and locations for the Roli Roti fleet please visit their website.
www.roliroti.comEl Camino Real: Growing Pains
The El Camino Real residential neighbors have suffered a lot of growing pains over the years trying to maintain their Los Altos quality of life and property values while commercial properties located on El Camino were earmarked to provide city tax dollars plus the city's required affordable housing units. Recent developments along El Camino (north of San Antonio Road,) have made significant negative impacts on adjacent neighborhoods as a result of development incentives allowing taller and denser commercial buildings than what is allowed in the zoning codes (e.g. Rambus and the Residence Inn.) The City Council hopes these mistakes won't be repeated but more "pain" is anticipated by the proposed 56+ unit condo project at the former site of El Torito restaurant (directly to the left of Rambus.)
What kind of neighborhoods are these developments impacting? Well-kept, high-priced, 1/4-acre minimum, owner-occupied properties. Residents are primarily professional, many with young families planning to expand and upgrade their homes - a few old-timers here and there. They enjoy frequent block parties and are interested in keeping the small town neighborhood atmosphere of Los Altos alive and kicking. That's why they keep active and involved in city affairs including input on overly-intensive, under-buffered commercial developments. They feel that maintaining the quality of life and their property values not only benefits them but enhances the property values of all of Los Altos.
Impacts from the Rambus Building and the Residence Inn
Anyone who drives past Ray Avenue at night knows that light glows all night from the Residence Inn for hotel security purposes. One family on Rilma Lane (a street parallel and similar to Ray Avenue) living next to the Residence Inn’s Gatehouse, deals with direct light into their main living areas and bedrooms. Noise from ground level air conditioners and kitchen fan noise and smells waft into their yard and house. Second floor windows overlook their entire property. There is significant large landscape screening on the residential property but the commercial landscaping is skimpy. Consequently it is the responsibility of residential property owners to screen the commercial projects. One neighbor on Ray Avenue can see the entire Rambus/Residence Inn project from their patio and rear bedroom area (even with tall landscaping at the property lines). All this intrusion occurs even with a 12 foot stucco wall at the commercial property line.
What Next?
Residential property owners have now turned their attention to the proposed 56-unit housing project at the former El Torito restaurant site. The developer is the same developer who built the Rambus and Residence Inn. In addition to the condos, the developer plans to excavate for half-underground parking closer than 25 feet to the rear property line. This would require removal of all existing commercial landscaping including large screen trees and would stress the many large screen trees maintained on the residential side. The remaining space would be inadequate for sufficient screen plantings to survive and would take many years for even minimal screening.
Residents of Rilma Lane now anticipate more negative impacts beyond those from Rambus and the Residence Inn, due to the 3 story condo building slated for the El Torito site. The possibility of reducing the rear setback is an incentive the council is likely to give this developer and in doing so the council could place a vastly disproportionate impact burden on this neighborhood. Moreover the land slope in this area magnifies the sight, noise, and light impacts.
But There is Hope...
The City Council recently did not approve the requested 4 story/48 foot height for the proposed condo building on the El Torito property. Council is requiring that the project be built with only three stories, as outlined in the code. However council did state that the setback from the third story could be 70 feet instead of the 100ft. required by code. This is the incentive given to the developer for providing 10% affordable units in the project. Residents hope this taller building will be adequately buffered and not overshadow the residential atmosphere of the entire neighborhood. The partially submerged garage which would raise the first floor height 4-6 feet and require extensive excavation remains a worrisome issue.
There is no doubt that both the residents and the council have a better understanding today of just how intrusive and annoying impacts can be from intense commercial developments. With this understanding the city will probably apply more effective conditions to commercial developments such that residents are protected. And residents are going to be that much more vigilant and vocal to insure that happens. After all, what are the residents protecting here? It’s Los Altos’ most valuable and sought after resource; single family homes and the neighborhoods. If we don’t preserve these things as we know and love them today, then we’ll lose what is Los Altos.
New Applications for Housing
Kathy Putnam, LANN Housing Chair
It’s a quiet month......
1. 03-SC-46----Union Presbyterian Church of Los Altos--858 E. University Avenue: Consideration of design review for a new 2,503 square foot two-story home. Project Planner: Kornfield
2. 03-V-30 and 03-SC-47--T. Sloan/G. and R. Sahl--1674 Fallen Leaf Lane: Consideration of a floor area variance for a second story addition.
Protecting Your Property Interests
Tom Anderson, LANN Advisor
Good advice never wears out. This article which was written by Tom Anderson ten years ago has stood the test of time. Tom's thoughts and guidance continue to be true and valuable.
Is your neighbor planning a modification to his home that will interfere with your privacy or peace of mind? Are you planning a remodel that may affect your neighbors? If so, you need to fully understand the process that all citizens of Los Altos must go through to obtain city approval to proceed with any construction. One reason that these procedures have been established is to help ensure that construction is safe and does not interfere with the rights of nearby property owners. Very little can be done to your property without a building permit. Internal changes can usually be made without a permit if they do not involve electrical, plumbing, sewers, or load bearing structure.
Permits are issued at the counter in city hall. Some can be issued on the spot without a lengthy review process. The depth of the review and the amount of fee will depend upon the extent of the project contemplated by the applicant. City staff, a good resource for information, will help you, provide you with materials to make an application for a permit, and show you what will be required of you to obtain it. It is the responsibility of the owner to see that a permit is obtained when required. Permits cost a lot more than we would like, but they can keep you out of trouble and they repay the city for the cost of issuing the permit and subsequent inspection. Did you know that you need a permit to get a contractor to fix a slat in your fence? If a contractor wants to do a job for you without a permit, check with the planning department before you allow him to go ahead. Make sure that your contractor has a valid license to operate in Los Altos.
For more extensive projects, the first line city decision makers for building permits are the Board of Adjustments which hears applications involving variances to city code, and the Architecture and Site Control committee which hears other applications for building permits. Each is staffed by Planning Commissioners appointed by the Chair of the Planning Commission. They hold regular hearings on applications for building permits. The staff will provide a report of their findings and recommendations. Applicants are allowed to speak for their project and others are allowed to speak for or against the project. The City Council is the ultimate decision maker in case an appeal from the first decision is filed. The League (the now defunct, Homeowner’s League) receives many questions from homeowners about these issues, usually late in the process making it difficult to help. We decided to give some advice that may help with your problem:
#1 - Inform all of your neighbors about your project and your intentions, so that they will understand your position. This applies whether your are planning a remodel or defending against an unwanted intrusion. Neighborhood support probably carries the most weight at city hall.
#2 - Try to reach a compromise with an offending party or with a neighbor who objects to your plans. Try to keep contentious problems out of city hall if possible. If you don’t try to find a solution before you go in, you put an extra burden upon the decision makers. Look for alternatives for both sides and consider mediation for a seemingly intractable problem.
#3 - Make certain that you have all of the facts concerning the particulars of the project, and the application of relevant city codes to the situation. Books of city codes are available for reading at the library and at city hall.
#4 - When you have done all of the above, ask your neighbors to write letters of support to the decision makers at the appropriate level. Ask them also to appear at the public meeting to speak and/or support you with their presence.
#5 - Prepare and deliver a written argument with all of your facts to the decision makers prior to the hearing. At the hearing, deliver an oral argument that describes your situation and states the logical reasons why you should prevail. In this talk, do not make any remarks which question the motives or the sincerity of any opponent, staff member, council or commission member. Maintain a calm, pleasant demeanor and show a willingness to consider alternatives if any are available.
Lann Board Members
Co-President Mike Abrams
Co-President Dianne Edmonds
Vice President Ken Lorell
Treasurer Dianne Edmonds
Secretary Kathy Wright
Editor Vickie Clements
Housing Chair Kathy Putman
Membership Chair Leslie Lodestro
Traffic Chair Bill Crook
Contributor Karen Greguras
Webmaster Jerry Wright
Advisors Tom Anderson
Lou Becker
David Casas
Kate Disney