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Portola Valley commission continues Priory event hearing, asks applicant to remove night lighting
Summary
After extended questioning about lumens, noise and municipal code conflicts, the commission voted to continue the Woodside Priory occasional-event hearing to Aug. 19 and asked the applicant to submit a revised application that omits temporary night lighting and includes detailed noise analysis.
The Portola Valley Planning Commission continued a public hearing on an application from Woodside Priory School for a one-night community celebration and instructed the applicant to resubmit the proposal without temporary night lighting and with additional noise analysis. The commission set a date-certain continuance for August 19 and said staff should include any revised materials in the packet.
Senior planner Nick Martel told the commission the proposal calls for a Friday-evening event (proposed Oct. 9) with middle- and high-school football games, local vendors and family activities. He recommended conditions related to fire, traffic and parking but said the lighting portion of the application conflicted with town rules: “Our staff finding is that the lighting proposal is not compliant with town code related to lighting prohibitions and lumen limitations,” he said, and recommended “remove the proposed lighting or revise it to comply with town code as a condition of approval.”
Commissioners repeatedly discussed legal limits in the town code and the conditional use permit (CUP). Multiple members said they lacked a clear legal basis to permit night athletic-field lighting under the CUP’s current language. The commission’s chair summarized that the body was willing to accommodate the applicant’s event if the Priory chose to proceed without lighting and provide a date and noise analysis for the packet; the motion to continue to Aug. 19 carried unanimously.
The commission did not vote to approve or deny the application. Staff and the applicant were given instructions to produce a revised application packet with a lighting-free alternative, a specified alternate date (daytime option), and a noise monitoring/analysis plan before the August 19 meeting.
