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Committee debates scope of green-sheet codification, SB 9 and lot-size protections
Summary
Committee members reviewed what elements of the council's green-sheet proposal should be codified, debating protections on commercial uses, keeping animals, net vs. gross acreage, and whether state law (SB 9) could undercut local lot-size safeguards.
Members of the Los Altos Hills planning subcommittee spent the meeting weighing which parts of the council's proposed "green sheets" should be codified and protected by voter approval.
Committee members said council redrafts presently retain two headline items'a prohibition on commercial activities and rules on keeping animals'but that other elements from the town's 1950s green sheets had been pared back. One member said many residents who spoke at recent hearings urged restoring the pathway system and other protections.
The group also discussed lot-size accounting (net acreage vs. gross acreage and how easements and slope exclusions are treated). One committee member warned that state lot-splitting law SB 9 could undermine local rules: "the s b 9 unit is only at 2,000, they can't have an s b 9 unit more than 2,000 square feet," the member said, noting that while SB 9 allows subdivision in many places, unit size limits may provide some safeguards.
Members asked staff to cross-check council materials and the original green-sheet provisions so the subcommittee could propose coherent language. Several members urged focusing on the few most important protections that would make sense to put before voters rather than trying to place every detailed restriction on the ballot.
No formal council-level ordinance was adopted during the subcommittee meeting; the discussion produced recommended focus areas and a request that planning staff prepare clearer background materials to support drafting precise codified language for future votes.
