Los Altos council moves ahead with objective design standards – but tweaks remain losaltosonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from losaltosonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Los Altos preparing for fall community center opening Written by Bruce Barton
Construction on the new Los Altos Community Center is scheduled to wrap as soon as June 10, but the new facilities won’t be open to the public until the fall, city council members learned last week.
Donna Legge, the city’s recreation and community services director, told the council April 13 that staff members would be moving in to the 24,500-square-foot facility and undergoing training over the summer in preparation for public, in-person use. The X-factor in the plans, she indicated, is when and to what extent COVID-related public health restrictions would be lifted.
Divided council opts to regulate, rather than ban, boardinghouses Written by Bruce Barton
The Los Altos City Council capped a two-hour-plus discussion March 9 over a proposed boardinghouse ordinance by rejecting an outright prohibition in favor of a regulatory one. The council majority directed city staff to work on several tweaks to the proposed regulations over the objections of two members who favored a ban.
The discussion was fraught with myriad and complex legal questions regarding the extent to which the city could require and enforce rules about such housing arrangements.
“Boardinghouses” are loosely defined as maximizing use of homes with the intent of bringing in more than two long-term tenants for income. City staff noted that such arrangements can result in overcrowding, excessive noise, traffic congestion and illegal parking, undermining the quality of residential neighborhoods.