Housing — What kind we allow, who it is for, and where it is built — is key to how Portola Valley evolves. There are a Gordian Knot’s worth of interlocking priorities and issues. Many of them have been raised, often in isolation, on this forum.
I’ve just finished reading the Draft Housing Element Document and without a doubt it is the best work to date on the subject. It provides historical context on how San Mateo County and Portola Valley came to be the way they are, how things have changed, and the housing challenges — particularly affordability — that we need to solve, as well as the many geological and environmental constraints we face in solving them.
Within that framework it lays out our obligations under State and Federal law — as well as the reasons for them — and enumerates almost every strategy that has been brought up as a solution. If you have a “What about <favorite easy fix here>?” idea, it is probably analyzed in the document. The Committee’s proposed solution are a thoughtful blend of what is possible, legal, and hews as much as possible to the priorities of those of us who live and work here.
Kudos to the committee of Portola Valley volunteers who were able to pull it together, including incorporating a wide range of public input, and to the urban planning and legal professionals they worked with.
It is not a short read, and would be hard to summarize on a glossy mailer, but for anyone who wants to move the discussion forward as we take the draft and help turn it into a final plan, it should be on your must read list. It’s online at: https://www.portolavalley.net/home/showpublisheddocument/16230/637903032859272689
I look forward to being part of constructive discussions as our Housing Element process progresses. — Dave Cardinal