Attachment 9 Steve Padovan From: Sent: To: Subject: Deborah Padovan Tuesday, September 05, 2017 4:41 PM Steve Padovan FW: From: jim basiji [mailto:jimbasiji@gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2017 3:54 PM To: Gary C. Waldeck <gcwaldeck@gmail.com>; Courtenay C. Corrigan <cccorrigan@yahoo.com>; John Radford <jradford2011@yahoo.com>; Roger Spreen <lah.spreen@gmail.com>; Michelle Wu <mwu@losaltoshills.ca.gov> Cc: Deborah Padovan <dpadovan@losaltoshills.ca.gov>; Suzanne Avila <savila@losaltoshills.ca.gov> Subject: Dear Council members; I am writing to you in regards to the construction of the "native" path on the granted easement at 27333 Ursula Lane. I understand that the homeowners has petitioned to the Council asking to vacate their obligation for building this path. Based on my thorough investigation, both before and after the last Planning Co~ssion meeting in which we reviewed and voted unanimously to build this path, After a far deeper look, I now feel compelled by the facts that have come to light to voice my opposition to this path, and asking you to do the same. As a commission member, my investigation started with the customary site visit at this residence prior to our August 3rd PC review, taking along my strong bias for building this path with me. I walked about 60% of the path length but, due to massive overgrowth of bramble and poison oak, I was not able to walk the full length. This exercise convinced me that the original proposed 11-B path would be completely impractical to build and maintain. I voice my strong opposition to the JIB path in the PC meeting, which I believe influenced our ultimate resolution to build a "native" Path instead of the 11-B. Still having major suspicion about the feasibility of building and maintaining this path, I went back to the site the following day (August 4) for further inspection. This visit strongly influenced my misgivings. However, just to be thorough with fact of this issue, I asked the foreman (Butch) if he would be willing to clear about 6-7 feet wide strip along the full length of the easement for a more complete and realistic assessment. He agreed. After the clearing work was completed, I went back on August 17 and did "in fact" walk the full length of the easement with a native path for equestrians and walkers in mind. This inspection convinced me that due to steep and complex slopes along and on the west side of the easement, two massive natural earth gaps on the path, strong surface and subterranean water run off from the hill on the east side, this path would be very difficult to build, quite damaging to the sensitive surrounding conservation areas, extremely hard to maintain, and definitely poses serious risk to the equestrian users after a couple of years of use (This is due to the unavoidable erosion from the runoff that will undoubtedly create visible and invisible holes and subsidence all along the path). I would like to offer a couple observations that were relevant to our PC vote, including mine, in favor of this path. It starts out with a strong "paths-are-us" mindset in all of us, which is a good thing, but sometimes masks the real facts of a particular case, as it did here. This case was made even more complex due to the fact that none of the commissioners saw or appreciated the full picture of serious obstacles along and around this easement, even escaping those of us that made a serious attempts to visit the place before the meeting. The severity of issues came to light only after the clearing work was 1
done by the crew allowing a factual inspection. There is also a very passionate equestrian community in the Hills (including my wife), that passionately fights for every pathway, sometimes sight unseen or on the basis of scant and inaccurate information. We saw plenty of this advocacy in plain view during PC review of this case. There are other undesirable issues and impacts this path will impose on the immediate environment, and on the health and water quality ofmatadero Creek, given that the OSE designated areas which this path will meander through is a major headwater source for the Matadero Creek. Contrary to our assumption, this path is not a "simple pick and shovel job" that avoids damage to the beautiful OSE designated areas it will have to meander through. In fact, this pass will require significant cuts and fills around precious trees and bushes surrounding the creek feeder bed, including one hard-to-replace specimen oak tree that may be seriously damaged by th~ construction of this path. I conclude by asking you to please visit this site before the Council Meeting on your own and walk the full length of this easement all the way down to the Edgerton Road boundary. This will give you the requisite appreciation for this challenge. I strongly urge you to consider all the factors including the potential damages to the surroundings, and to our beloved Matadero creek before you cast your vote. Regards; JimBasiji 2
RECEIVED Dear Town Council, SEP -1> 2017 TOWN OF LOS ALTOS HILLS As residents of Ursula Lane (or residents of Los Altos Hills), we are writing you to ask for yoursupport for the completion of the pathway link from Ursula Lane to Edgerton Road to the Wallace Stegner path. It is a critical link connecting the existi_ng WaUace Stegner Pathway to the safest and most direct route to Black Mountain and Westwind Barn. A natural pathway has existed on this swath of land for decades; property at 27333 Ursula Lane has been built blocki ng the native pathway and as a condition of building, the. prop erty owners are aware of their choic~ to:~kee~:) the existing pathway or to construct a :new pathway at their expense. We have come to verify that the pathway h.as indeed been pa;rfofth e master pathway plan for over 20 ye~rs~ We have all ' ~.. '
used it in the recent and distant past, but it is now inaccessible because it has been blocked by construction and fencing. The completion of this pathway is part of the original conditions for development of the property where residence 27333 Ursula Lane is currently in final construction. The property owners of 27333 Ursula Lane were given the choice of where to site the existing pathway on the property- NOT the choice to abolish it. As the construction project nears completion, now is too late to renegotiate original terms of. the proposed construction of a new pathway or lament that it is too steep or has too much poison oak or cannot be built. It may have to be constructed by manual labor and it is entirely feasible. It may be simpler for the owners to skip building the pathway, however, to abolish the existence of an existing pathway is a bad precedent and harms the entire Town s residents
I. that use and enjoy the pathway. Without this pathway, we are forced to climb Edgerton on pavement (horrible for horse owners by the way), traverse Black Mountain on pavement and rejoin the dirt path on Black Mountain at Ursula Lane (about 1/8 mile on street pavement). Please require that the pathway be completed as a condition of occupancy of the new residence. Sincerely,