Portola Valley City Council
March 18, 2024

 




  


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3/14/2024
Dear Town Council,
In your upcoming goals setting workshop please prioritize sustainability with concrete goals. I have three to recommend:

1. Hire a replacement for Brandi de Garmeaux. PV sustainability initiatives are languishing since her departure.

2. We adopted an all-electric ordinance in 2021, but since then such ordinances have been overturned by a court ruling. Other communities such as Palo Alto are mitigating the impact by pursuing alternative “One Margin” reach codes, and we should do the same.

Refer to:
a. Palo Alto stops enforcing all-electric building requirement b. San Mateo County halts all-electric mandate

3. We were working on a Climate Action Plan in 2022, but the effort has seemingly been abandoned. Most communities in San Mateo County already have a CAP, for example:

Woodside.

Regards,
Ronny Krashinsky
 




  



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#)*66 UL?<J@8GmnJMN8@MLGJ8A8NJLOJWOJM=NJDD:@?> To the Portola Town Council.

I listened to last night’s presentation by the Fire Marshall to the Woodside Town Council of the WFPD’s proposed Ordinance 24-01. The Fire Marshall and the Ordinance rely heavily on two California statutes, much more limited in scope than the proposed Ordinance.

By applying the proposed Ordinance to “all” properties in the fire district, it goes well beyond the categories of at risk properties identified in both Public Resources Code Section 4291 and Government Code Section 51182 and what those State codes “require”. Any suggestion that either of these code sections “require” the fire district to go this far should be rejected.

In the case of Section 4291, it identifies properties with a “building or structure in, upon, or adjoining a mountain area, forest-covered lands, shrub-covered lands, grass-covered lands, or land that is covered with flammable material, which area or land is within a state responsibility area…” Particular attention should be given to the repetitious use of the qualifying term “covered” in this code section, suggesting by “covered”, the legislature intended it to mean that very dense, carpet-like coverage of forest, shrubs, grass, and flammable material must be present in immediate proximity to a building or structure for it to be considered as at risk by this code section. Many, if not the majority, of buildings or structures in Portola Valley do not adjoin a mountain area and do not fall within any of the other categories listed. By nevertheless expanding the application of the proposed ordinance to every parcel in Portola Valley and the fire district, this ordinance should be considered as originating from the Fire District Board and its staff, and not merely carrying out state law mandate.

The same is true of Section 51182 similarly cited by the Fire Marshall as a mandate for its proposed actions here. It is adds further limiting qualifiers that the land on which an occupied dwelling or occupied structure musr be located in an “area or land … within a very high fire hazard severity zoned designated by the local agency pursuant to Government Code Section 51179.” By comparison, it is evident that the categories of properties listed in Section 51179 are even more limited than those in section 4291. Also, most of the parcels in Portola Valley are not located in a “very high fire hazard severity zone” as designated by our Town Council under Section 51179.

The point here is to emphasize that our Fire District is presenting an Ordinance in scope not required by state law and well beyond the applicable coverage of state law. Additionally, it is a redlined derivation form a state wide one size fits all “model defensible space program…made available for use by local agencies”, drafted by staff at the State Marshall’s office, but not blessed by any legislative body. It is certainly not what state law requires our Fire District to enact. In short, our Fire District is all on its own here as the originator of this proposed Ordinance. Its actions should be viewed in that light, with emphasis on its duty to thoroughly expose all aspects of this Ordinance to the entire Fire District community before enacting it. Every indication seems to be that otherwise this will be a complete surprise to the vast majority of property owners in the district who will bear the significant burdens as this Ordinance is enforced.

There are other significant concerns I am sure you will hear about regarding the discordant effect this will have on neighbor to neighbor and Town interactions; the chilling effect this could have on development of ADU’s with 4 foot setbacks and meeting RHNA numbers; extensive new disclosures and escrow closing delays and failures when selling property not meeting Ordinance requirements; extensive costs of compliance not yet even estimated by the Fire District; the plethora of applications and appeals to be expected for modifications of Ordinance requirements by upset homeowners; and of utmost concern, the radical effect implementation of this Ordinance may have on the rural character of the Town and the district area which so many have worked so hard for so long to protect and preserve.

I urge the Council to use whatever influence and persuasion it can muster to delay the second reading and adoption of this Ordinance now calendared for the Fire District’s next meeting.

Kent Mitchell