Portola Valley open-space committee urges town to secure legal counsel, flags Midpen parking plans at Hawthorne

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif. — Portola Valley’s Open Space Committee on Tuesday moved to ask the town council to obtain outside legal counsel and consider using open-space acquisition funds to engage with Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen) over its Hawthorne area plan.

Betsy Morgan, who introduced the agenda item, said the draft committee letter before members reflects “a three-year journey” and urged the committee to advise the council now so the town is positioned before Midpen advances environmental review. “Tonight's agenda is the result of and builds on the open space committee meeting of April the 2nd,” Morgan said.

The draft letter, read to the committee by a presenting member, lays out a timeline the committee says could move Midpen toward an environmental review process starting in July 2026 with public comment on the environmental document expected in spring 2027. The letter recommends that the town secure legal counsel quickly to represent town interests and also to explore the possibility of acquiring the Hawthorne property.

Why it matters: Committee members and residents said the two parking configurations under consideration (referred to during the meeting as options 9 and 10) place roughly half of a proposed 50-car lot in the property’s “unimproved”…