Community Development

New Senior Planner
Steven Golden started his career with the City of Los Altos this past Monday. Steven hails from the City of Morgan Hill where he served as Associate Planner where he worked on numerous long range and current planning projects. Steven also assisted the City of Morgan Hill in its implementation of its permit tracking software – a skill that will be invaluable as Los Altos prepares to implement its new permit tracking system in the near future.

Environmental Consultant Interviews
Interviews were held this week for two on-call environmental/planning consultant groups. Three firms participated in the interviews and shared their experience and skill at preparing the environmental evaluations of projects. In line with the California Environmental Quality Act, all project must undergo environmental review. The levels of environmental review vary greatly among projects and the selected consulting firms will assist the City in the environmental analysis of those that are more complex. Staff is conducting reference checks and anticipates making the final selection in the upcoming week.

4880 El Camino Real
The Planning and Transportation Commission considered a request by the applicant of a multi-family residential project at 4880 El Camino Real to allow an increase in the height of the elevator enclosure at the rooftop from the 11’ approved by the City Council to 16’8” to accommodate the operation equipment of the elevator selected by the applicant. The Commission was to develop a recommendation to the City Council; however, it was not able to arrive at a consensus on a recommendation. Rather, it recommended that the thoughts and ideas from each of the six Commissioners present be forwarded to the City Council for consideration. A common thought amongst most of the Commissioners was an uncertainty about whether all options to address the issue faced by the developer had been explored.

Economic Development

Downtown Green
The Downtown Green’s summer festivities are in full swing! We launched with a community ribbon cutting ceremony and fun filled night in the park with Star Wars Rogue One!

Mark your calendars with these upcoming events headed your way!

July 23rd Barre Align Fitness Class (9:00 a.m.)
B.Y.O. Mat to a fitness class hosted by Alkalign Studios

July 24th Vinyl on the Green (6:00 – 8:00 p.m.)
Why keep your favorite songs to yourself? Come downtown on Mondays for the Vinyl on the Green, and bring your LPs, albums, picnic gear

July 25th The Underground (6:00 – 8:00 p.m.)
Come rock out to local bands, play ping pong and enjoy a place to hang out in Downtown Los Altos

July 26th Community Supper (6:00 – 8:00 p.m.)
Break bread with friends and neighbors in a communal outdoor dining experience. Bring your own dinner or buy from a local restaurant

July 27th Kid’s Day at the Farmer’s Market (5:00 – 7:00 p.m.)
Puppet Show and Kid’s Cooking Class

July 29th Fantastic Beasts (8:00 – 9:30 p.m.)

July 30th Bellydancing Class (2:00 p.m.)

For more information, visit www.downtowngreen2017.com, like us on Facebook or follow us on Instagram @DowntownGreen2017.  

Police

National Night Out Event Registration Deadline Extended
The deadline to register your National Night Out event has been extended to Monday, July 27th. Los Altos Police are looking forward to celebrating another great National Night Out with the Los Altos community on Tuesday, August 1, 2017. Residents are encouraged to join together with neighbors and Los Altos Police for fun neighborhood events such as ice cream socials, BBQ’s or pot lucks. Those who register their neighborhood events will receive a visit from Los Altos Police and/or Santa Clara County Fire. More information and registration information is available online. 

Public Works

  PG&E Streetlight LED Conversion 
The California Public Utility Commission approved a PG&E Program to replace approximate 150,000 PG&E owned High Pressure Sodium (HPS), non-decorative streetlight fixtures with high efficiency LED fixtures which would provide 50,000,000 kWh estimated annual energy saving across PG&E territory. PG&E has been working with Bay Area cities to upgrade the light fixtures and plans to convert over 500 streetlights throughout Los Altos in the upcoming months. While these lights are owned by PG&E, the City is responsible for the energy cost. Converting streetlights to LED fixtures will result in approximately $12,000 per year in direct energy billing savings to the City.

Understanding community concerns regarding changes in light type to the brighter LED fixtures, staff have been working with PG&E on mitigation strategies. PG&E has offered a lower color temperature light fixture (3,000 Kelvin) for streetlights in residential neighborhoods, an option being implemented in Los Gatos. Arterial streets and commercial districts will receive the standard 4,000 Kelvin streetlight fixtures.

City-wide Street Improvement Projects
The city-wide street improvement project will begin next week. Work will be completed in two phases, beginning with repairing potholes and cracked sections of pavement. Phase two will consist of various street treatments including asphalt overlay, rubberized chip seal, and micro surfacing. Each of these treatments is designed to replace, repair or preserve the condition of existing roadway. The Los Altos City Council has made it a priority to improve the overall condition of the City’s pavement system and has programmed an average of $2,000,000 per year over the next 5 years to fund street improvement projects. The funds have allowed us to provide treatment to over 18 miles of street this year. 

The immediate residents and business owners along the street segments that will have work performed will be notified by the contractor 48 hours in advance of any work that is planned to take place. Please understand that due to the nature of this work, the schedules must remain flexible to allow work to proceed and be completed as quickly and efficiently as possible. Temporary “NO PARKING” signs will be posted on barricades throughout the work area. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you in advance for your patience and cooperation. If you have any questions about the project, please contact the City of Los Altos Engineering Division at (650) 947-2780, or check the City website for City Project updates at www.losaltosca.gov.

Floodplain Study – Stakeholder Kickoff
Engineering staff attended a stakeholder kickoff meeting this week at the Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD), which is preparing a floodplain study of the Adobe Creek, Matadero Canal and San Francisquito Creek Watershed. In attendance were representatives from Los Altos, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View, East Palo Alto, Los Altos Hills and Portola Valley. The project will study the improvements made to the creek and channels and revise floodplain maps for various storm frequencies.

Sanitary Sewer Metering Station Upgrade
Engineering staff attending a preconstruction meeting this week with the Cities of Palo Alto and Mountain View which will make upgrades to a sanitary sewer flow metering station located near San Antonio Road and US-101. The meter station collects data from major trunk lines from both Los Altos and Mountain View before entering the City of Palo Alto and the Palo Alto Joint Treatment Plant. 

Orchard Watering
Now that the apricot harvest is over, the orchard is due for irrigation. It is typical that the trees would require a good watering after bearing fruit. Irrigation will take place overnight in various sections and will last approximately one week to cover the entire orchard.