There is a ticking time bomb in the current Los Altos Hills Housing Element.  Specifically, if the Town proceeds to rezone 15 acres of property for high density multi family housing as currently stated in the Housing Element, it will create an entitlement which an aggressive developer can use to require the Town to approve a housing development of 500 units or more along the narrow, two lane traffic and emergency evacuation corridor of Arastradero Road.  Such a development would not only create a traffic nightmare and emergency evacuation hazard, it would drastically alter the character of Los Altos Hills by replacing our wildlife friendly open spaces and hillsides with a dense urban style development.

The Town Council originally approved the Housing Element based upon the representation (by the consultants who prepared the Housing Element under the Town Manager's supervision) that the "projected capacity" of the 15 acre "Twin Oaks" site was only 92 housing units. The 92 units is all that is needed from the Twin Oaks area to meet the Town's RHNA allocation according to the Housing Element.  Based on this representation about the "projected capacity" of 92 units, the Council accepted the Housing Element's provision stating that the entire 15 acre Twin Oaks area would be rezoned for high density multi family housing.

Despite their previous representation that the "projected capacity" of the Twin Oaks 15 acres is only 92 units, these same consultants recently presented conceptual housing development scenarios showing more than 300 units could be built on the 15 acre Twin Oaks area.  In fact, under the California bonus density laws, if the Town were to rezone all 15 acres for high density housing, a developer could push the development along the Arastradero Road traffic and emergency evacuation corridor to 500 units or more!  Whether the consultants' 92 unit "projected capacity" representation was intentionally fraudulent and the result of some kind of corruption, or just negligent incompetence, is not known.

Fortunately, we have the ability to defuse the bomb by fixing the Housing Element to provide that instead of rezoning 15 acres of the Twin Oaks area, only a smaller portion of that property will be rezoned for high density housing.  By rezoning only a portion of the 15 acres, the Town can facilitate construction of the 92 units needed from the Twin Oaks area to meet its RHNA allocation (thereby retaining HCD certification of its Housing Element) without creating an entitlement for a developer to build a nightmare multi-story complex of many hundreds of units along Arastradero Road.

Please sign this petition immediately, so we can show the Town Council that while LAH residents recognize the need for the Town to take reasonable steps to facilitate construction of multi-family housing in Los Altos Hills, we also need to protect the Town and its residents from a nightmare housing development of several hundred new dwelling units along the narrow Arastradero Road traffic and emergency evacuation corridor.