Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Adus And Site Reports topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Open Space Committee approves recommendations for ADU at property discussed as 26388, urges retention of drainage swale
Summary
The Los Altos Hills Open Space Committee voted to send a lightly amended site-report recommendation for a proposed detached ADU (property referenced as 26388) to town planning staff, urging the applicant to retain the existing drainage swale and supplying marked-up photos showing a 34-inch oak tree slated for removal.
The Los Altos Hills Open Space Committee voted Wednesday to approve its recommendations on a proposed detached accessory dwelling unit at a property discussed in the meeting as 26388 and to send those recommendations to town planning staff.
The committee’s Chair (identified in the transcript only by role) said the group recommended keeping the existing drainage swale and requested clearer images in the packet so reviewers can see a 34-inch oak tree that appears marked for removal. “We recommend keeping the existing drainage swale,” the Chair said. Committee members also asked for plan visuals or story-pole images showing the oak and the proposed ADU location to make the tree removal clear to staff and the public.
Committee members discussed whether the oak qualifies as a heritage tree, noting the plan lists a 34-inch diameter (the committee observed the tree has two trunks and may have been measured differently). One committee member stated the tree “is bigger than 12 inches” and noted it is not listed as heritage; the committee agreed that applicants must obtain the necessary tree-removal permits if they proceed.
Members flagged that portions of the lot are seasonally wet and that the proposed ADU location sits near the drainage area; several members suggested that civil engineering solutions might address soil and drainage concerns but recommended the existing swale be retained as an ecological and drainage measure.
The Chair moved to accept the edited recommendations “as now amended,” and the motion was seconded. The committee approved the recommendations and instructed staff to forward the compiled comments and the updated photos to planning staff (Tim McBurney was named in the discussion as the planner to receive the materials; Jonathan was also noted as an interested planner). The transcript does not record individual votes or a roll-call tally.
Next steps: committee members will clean up and caption the selected site photos to show the oak and drainage features; staff will send the finalized comment paragraph and images to town planning staff for inclusion in the project file.
