The Guidelines Subcommittee, made up of Town COWncil members Anne Kasten and Peter Mason, as well as Town notables from the Planning Commission and other boards, has been working for months on the new version of the Guidelines. MooTube covered the Subcommittee meeting on December 14, 2011 and were surprised that the focus seemed to be putting a lot more “teeth into the ‘Guidelines”. See for yourself here on MooTube.

We’ve been watching this effort to overhaul the Guidelines for years now. We support the effort to bring clarity to the approval process, however, we’ve become very cow-ncerned that the Guidelines might actually turn into another barrier to getting a permit for new or remodeled structures approved and built in Woodside.

The purpose of the Guidelines is to inform COWs and contractors of ‘look and feel’ of our Town, how to construct in accordance with our ever-elusive “rural character.” Woodside already as a reputation for its BDP (Byzantine Development Process). The idea of clear Guidelines is to let COWs know up front, what is likely to sail through the ASRB and Planning Commission. Guidelines should mean that applicants are treated the same, as distinct from the current process which is unpredictable and inconsistent. Guidelines should mean there is a less arbitrary process, not dependent on the whims or idiosyncratic biases of the multilayer of gatekeepers. It should not be a substitute ordinance. It should not preclude creative solutions to difficult sites. It should not prevent new ways of doing things or controlling for “taste” in areas which cannot be seen. In theory, the Guidelines should serve COWs well not limit what they can do.

At least some members of the Subcommittee appear to want the Guidelines to become another cudgel with which to beat COWs who want to improve their property. The “problem” was framed this way: contractors will come to the ASRB and say a design is built to Code, without having taken the Design Guidelines into account. Council member Kasen asked if there was a stronger word than ‘Guidelines.’ Outgoing Town Manager Susan George said there is but that this is a policy decision for the COWncil. We know what those words are: ‘rules’, ‘regulations’ ‘mandates’ and ‘laws. Does the COWncil really want to require that projects “shall” follow the “Guidelines” – making them more of a straitjacket than a guide post?

COWncil member Kasten said she worries that “someone with a lot of money and no experience in the Town” will forget the Guidelines and just follow the code – aka the law – in building their home. She said that the new ‘Guidelines’ need to be “something with meat in it” and that everyone who has served on the ASRB and the Planning Commission can describe times where applicants said the equivalent of “I don’t care, you can’t make me.” But it is not true. Under our Code, the Council has the final say. Thalia Lubin of the ASRB also likened the current process to ‘ask grandma not grandpa’ –i.e. trying to steer projects to avoid the ASRB and go straight to the Planning Commission, avoiding the ASRB entirely in some cases. Perhaps people want to avoid the ASRB because it tends to be arbitrary and to impose the whims of its members.

COWncil member Mason said some enforcement of the ‘Guidelines’ could be done easily by enforcement of Sustainability edicts. Kasten, revealingly, wanted the debate framed as the Town requiring things on behalf of the State of California, “not us in eliteness being capricious.” Neither makes much sense. Guidelines show what is clearly acceptable. not what is mandated. Where additional requirements are needed, they should be in the Code.

There was support to use the document as a template for a Commercial Design Guidelines system, “cribbed” from the RDG, a notion that will probably be on the work plan for next year. There was also discussion of the ‘Neighborhood Compatibility Section’ and making the overall document less confusing for laypeople. We agree!

The Subcommittee is planning another meeting. After that the matter will likely go to the COWncil to see if the COWncil as a whole does actually want true guidelines or if they want to impose more rigid mandates without formally adopting ordinances.

As was reported recently, Jamis (together with his friend Ken White, the president of PHS & SPCA) delivered a Doggie Diner head to grace the new facility. The head was put in place just the day before the shelter opened its doors to the public and stands as playful encouragement to all the animals lovers who work and visit there.

The Doggie Diner was a small chain of fast-food restaurants that had giant, somewhat deranged-looking mascots of a dog’s head in a chef hat posted outside each location. When the beloved chain closed in the ‘80s, the heads (reported to weigh 300 pounds each!) scattered to private collectors, save for one designated a city landmark in San Francisco.

Just where Mr. MacNiven acquired a Doggie Diner head is a mystery to us, but it is no surprise to anyone who has visited Buck’s that he can get his hands on some pretty interesting memorabilia!

The new shelter, officially named the Tom and Annette Lantos Center for Compassion, is located at 1450 Rollins Road in Burlingame. The space is already very successful, placing roughly double the number of animals per day that the old space at Coyote Point used to, according to their website. The PHS runs a program that accepts 100% of animals and promises to place all the healthy, adoptable pets it receives with new guardians. The Society runs lots of other good programs out of the new space as well.

If you want to take a look at the Doggie Diner head or if you’d love to add a furry addition to your family, the Center is open 11 am to 7 pm Monday through Friday and 11 am to 6 pm on weekends.

And next time your at Bucks check out their menu to see the Doggie Diner Dog, and remember Jamis’ wonderful gift to the Humane Society!

The questions of what is paved area and how much is allowed are of critical importance to each and every Woodside property. We think the regulation of paved area is of such importance that we have prepared this Special Report on the topic. We urge all COWs to view it here OR here you have trouble with the first and tell your friends and neighbors about the issue. You can read our past stories about the issue here, here and here.

The COWncil will soon be considering the priority of this issue for our new Town Manager’s work plan. We cow-nsider it to be one of the most important issues that the Council will consider in 2012 and hope they will make it a very high priority and adopt reasonable regulations as quickly as possible.

Have a Happy and Safe New Year!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Alfred Hitchcock’s San Francisco | A Walking Tour
This unique tour begins at 11:00 am and is free. Hitchcock used San Francisco as the background for several of his movies. From Nob Hill to Union Square, you’ll see some of the hotels, clubs, retail stores and other locations featured in Vertigo and other Hitchcock classics and learn about their history, architecture, and the stories they tell about the San Francisco of fifty years ago. Meet at the fountain in Huntington Park, off Sacramento Street between Taylor and Mason. Tour ends in Union Square and includes a steep downhill walk.

SF Chamber Orchestra Plays Beethoven
The SF Chamber Orchestra rings in the New Year with music of Ludwig van Beethoven at the Herbst Theater. The music starts at 8:00 pm but Maestro Ben Simon gives an informative onstage-talk 30 minutes before each concert. Concerts are two hours in length. The concert is free but reservations are needed.

Saturday December 31st.

Radio Disney “Noon Year’s Eve”
Event is held at The Children’s Discovery Museum on Woz Way in San Jose. This annual event for kids and families at the Children’s Discovery Museum, has a lot of glitter with hourly ball drops, rainbows of confetti, sparkly art projects and all kinds of activities. Ball drops are on the hour from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

San Jose’s Christmas in the Park
Around the corner is San Jose’s Christmas in the Park which has for 32 years delighted kids with more than 60 animated displays, thousands of glittering lights and the gigantic Community Giving Tree. Christmas music is played throughout the Plaza De Cesar Chavez Park located at Park and Market Streets across from the Tech Museum. There is also a winter wonderland of rides.

Sunday January 1, 2012

SF Chamber Orchestra Plays Beethoven
The Beethoven concert is repeated on Sunday, January 1 at 3:00 pm | St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. Maestro Ben Simon will also be hosting a talk 45 minutes before the concert, so make sure to reserve your tickets in advance start the New Year with Beethoven.

We wish you and yours a Happy and safe New Year.

First up, if you’re looking for a theater performance to take out-of-town relatives to, what could be better than ACT’s A Christmas Carol? The classic holiday tale of redemption lives again under the direction of Domenique Lozano. No humbugs here – just the joy of great theater.

Another unforgettable holiday performance is the Nutcracker Ballet. There’s several versions of this going on around the Bay, but San Francisco Ballet’s interpretation is special. Running through the 27th, the Ballet’s Nutcracker has a unique vision set in San Francisco during the 1915 World’s Fair.

If you’re a Disney nut (and who isn’t?), the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio is showing twice-daily screenings of ‘Christmas with Walt’ through the end of the month. Just short of an hour, the documentary is narrated by Diane Disney Miller – Walt’s daughter - and has scenes from many of his movies, music from Disney’s Dixieland band, and clips of Disney family home movies.

If the holidays are getting just a little too sweet for you, David Sedaris’ tale of working as the department store elf Crumpet has a way of cutting through the sugar. David Sinaiko performs ‘The Santaland Diaries’ at the Eureka Theater through the 28th.

Rounding out our list of live performances, may we recommend that your heart grow three sizes by going to see ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’? The Golden Gate Theater is putting on the musical through the end of the year.

If outdoor events are more your thing, we’ve got some suggestions for you:

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (which used to be Marine World) has its Holiday in the Park event running through the 31st. Animal shows, an artificial-snow ski slope, music and a holiday buffet are just some of the attractions this year!

Also fun for those who love animals is the SF Zoo’s holiday events. Along with Zoo Camp to keep children entertained and learning the week after Christmas, the Zoo also has educational programs and a skating rink during the holidays.

The merchants at Fisherman’s Wharf would love to have you visit this holiday season, with their ‘Holiday Lights and Sights’ program. http://www.visitfishermanswharf.com/fishermans-wharf/holiday-lights-sights-at-the-wharf

If you find your way to San Jose, be sure to check out San Jose Christmas in the Park at Plaza de César Chávez. Featuring a fair-like atmosphere of food and diversions, the annual event also plays host to dozens of lit-up Christmas tree and the wonderful Downtown Ice outdoor skating rink and rides for the kids!

After all that, you might just want to slow down and take in the view of some beautiful lights. We’ve got two suggestions for you: The Fantasy of Lights, a mile and a half of outdoor wonderment in Los Gatos. Their website describes it as, “The mostly animated larger-than-life displays, the special sounds of holiday music piped through your own car radio and the sights and sounds of an erupting Volcano in the dangerously fun Dinosaur Den, Santa Shooting Hoops, a pen of playful penguins, blazing cannons, Tunnels of lights, and a 90 ft winking, twinkling tree will have you “oohing and aahing” throughout the ride.”

There is also the Bay Area tradition of ‘Christmas Tree Lane’ – Fulton Street in Palo Alto - a whole street of intricately decorated homes that have been wowing us since 1940!

Of course, it is also traditional to settle down in front of the TV on Christmas Eve or Christmas day and watch ‘A Christmas Story’ on TBS.

What ever you do, we wish all COWs a happy and safe holiday!!

The meeting kicked off with members of the Town’s Trail Committee thanking retiring COWncil member Sue Boynton for all her hard work over the years. After that the Town COWncil certified the results of the November election and swore in the new and returning COWncil members (Members Mason, Romines, Burow, and new District 3 COWncil member Thomas Shanahan). Outgoing Mayor Ron Romines then honored Ms. Boynton’s years of service with a proclamation, noting she has been a member of the COWncil since “Gosh, last century!” – 1999. Ms. Boynton’s 35 years in Woodside, her activism in the PTA and the Woodside Community Theater, her work with the Trails and History Committee, her two stints as Mayor in 2003 and 2007 – and her 615 hours, 39 minutes sitting in COWncil meetings – were all recognized by the proclamation.

The assembled members of the Town applauded Ms. Boynton, and she also received a plaque with a map of the Town’s original trail system and a proclamation from the State Assembly and state politicians Rich Gordon and Jerry Hill thanking her for her work. Ms. Boynton spoke briefly, saying that in a small Town it’s easy to get involved and find your niche, encouraging others to do the same. She said that she is going to miss it and her colleagues, but that her “gut says it’s time to go.” Boynton said she is looking forward to “harassing the trails committee from the other side.” As they left, Boynton’s husband said to the COWncil, “Thanks for giving me my wife back!”

Moving on to COWncil business, David Tanner was nominated and confirmed as the new Mayor, and Anne Kasten was made the new Mayor Pro Tempore, and then outgoing Mayor Romines was also honored for his service this past year as Mayor. The COWncil then went over the Consent Calendar, with COWncil member Dave Burow noting an item that promoted Town Engineer Paul Nagengast to Deputy Town Manager. He said he heartily approved, of the appointment but wanted to make sure Paul got applauded for his promotion.

There was some discussion about the Town finances, and some COWncil displeasure over how the Library building renovation project had gone over budget and become stalled.

Next there were two big and somewhat contentious items. the evening were the public hearing over the Mounted Patrol’s long-delayed appeal of a Planning Commission decision regarding their Patrol Grounds (for details of this issue, please see our article here).

The Mounted Patrol issue had some last-minute drama. The MP’s neighbors and the Patrol had held a meeting with the Town to iron out their differences and drafted more than 30 criteria that the Mounted Patrol would follow to secure their permits and to keep their neighbors happy. But at this meeting, the Mounted Patrol wanted to change one of the criteria – specifically, they wanted the freedom allow people to sleep overnight in trailers several times a year before heading out to rides offsite.

Deborah Gordon, acting as a neighbor and not as a COWncil member (both she and new COWncil member Shanahan had to recuse themselves due to their connection to the matter) said that that was a deal-breaker, as that’s not what the neighbors had agreed to, and she couldn’t speak for the rest of the neighbors. Finally the Mounted Patrol leadership backed down after some tense moments, and the deal went ahead although it sounds as if the Mounted Patrol will be attempting to talk to neighbors about this issue and see if they can get an agreement on this modification in the future.

It struck us and appeared to concern a couple of COWncil members that the decision as to what is required was completely deferred to the neighbors. It is critical that impacts on neighbors be addressed but the ultimate decision must remain in the hands of the persons elected to make these decisions.

Next an appeal of to count an engineered riding arena as paved area coverage at a citizen’s home. The Planning Commission felt its hands were tied and had reluctantly followed the staff determination that gravel and other permeable materials count 100% as paved area. We have written about this important issue before. It has been a year since staff was directed to bring back recommendations. We hope our new Town Manager understands the importance of this issue and takes a more nuanced approach than his predecessor. At any rate, the COWncil did the right thing and approved the project but they stated all kinds of reasons why this was an exception. This issue is critically important to all COWs since counting gravel and other modern materials as paved area makes many homes legal nonconforming.

Following those items, the COWncil covered resolved the issue of certain zonings being inconsistent with the General Plan. It then wordsmithed the Open Space policy about Recreational Uses in the Open Space element of the new General Plan. This wordsmithing from the dais is a dangerous practice. The Town COWncil then adjourned for the year.

Rather than the static image of the Town government center that greeted visitors for so many years, the new site has a changing panorama of images from around our Town, giving a better impression of our Town. Key information is front and center on the new site as well – the next three events on the Town calendar are shown, along with links to the full calendar. Additionally, links to the Town COWncil’s agendas and minutes are prominently displayed, although when we looked in mid-November, the special Town Meeting set for December 5th that was announced in the Town Manager’s report of October 25th wasn’t listed on the calendar.

Also on the front page is useful snippets of Town news, accompanied with easy access to all 32 Town forms and permit requests from the Alarm Permit Application to Private Wastewater Disposal (Septic) System Application through to the Volunteer Committee Application.

Along the top of the site, there are five expanding menus ( Residents, Business, Visitors, Town Hall, and ‘How Do I’) . The Residents menu covers community services, recreation, emergency preparedness, and the like, while Business has information on permits and starting and running a business in Town. Town Hall covers the Town government including the COWncil, boards and commissions, building, public works, and emergency services. Under Visitors, there is information on jobs with the Town as well as our Town demographics and history. The ‘How Do I’ section links you to information you may be searching for.

The Town’s first website went live in 2002, featuring a cute but crude drawing of Town Hall. That site stayed up for more than a year, and then by June 2003 the recently-replaced website was put up - and remained substantially unchanged for eight years! We clap our hooves for the Town’s much improved new site. We can’t help thinking in a Town populated by so many Silicon Valley leaders, our site needs to be something to kick up our heels about. The site still needs streaming video of all Town meetings. As long as donations keep coming in, we will keep doing what we can by MooTube LINK until the Town COWncil recognizes the value that this level of access and transparency provides.

The preserve has been immensely valuable to science, with hundreds of studies and papers referencing research done at Jasper Ridge, as well as being important for wildlife conservation.

A large portion of the ongoing story of Jasper Ridge was long hidden from scientists. Until recently, its nightlife has remained a mystery. Tracking movements of animals at night had been left to the age-old difficult art of examining paw prints and spoor. This has been left a void, since many of the most interesting creatures at the biological preserve are nocturnal. Luckily, a new project has changed all that and generated amazing photographs of our nighttime neighbors.

As described in the University’s Stanford Report, in September 2009, a network of more than 20 motion-activated infrared cameras was put in place under the direction of Trevor Hebet, the data manager at the preserve. Within a short time, they hit the jackpot with dozens of images of elusive mountain lions, previously rarely seen within the preserve. The cameras take pictures in color during the day and in ghostly-looking black and white at night.

The incredible still images of the nightlife (and their daytime cousins) at Jasper Ridge can be seen here, and videos of bobcats, deer, mountain lions, and that great horned owl can be viewed here.

A consulting team of five graduate students and postdocs was put into place to study the habits of the mountain lions at Jasper Ridge and determine the risk of humans meeting lions in the preserve. They found that lions are active in the preserve about a quarter of the day, but that “there are likely at most only one male, one female and possibly several cubs whose territory includes the preserve.” They downplayed the risk of any attack, saying “”Based on historical statewide data, the annual risk of being attacked by a mountain lion in Jasper Ridge is 1 in 10 million.” The full report is posted on line here.

Jasper Ridge is an amazing, beautiful place, and we’re lucky to have it so close to our Town. While self-guided hiking is forbidden, during the school year (October 1st through May 31st), the Preserve holds tours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. More details on tours are available here at the Preserve’s website here.

The Plovers are six-inch-long brown, black and white local shorebirds. They lay their eggs at several local beaches, including Half Moon Bay State Beach, in the summertime. To help protect the dwindling numbers of these plucky birds, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, a group called the Half Moon Bay State Beach Plover Watch holds training sessions for volunteers, who help protect nesting sites and count the Plovers twice a year. On Saturday, from 9 am to 2 pm Plover Watch will train volunteers at the State Beach office (95 Kelly Avenue, Half Moon Bay).

Plover nests have well-camouflaged eggs laid in a depression in the sand. Volunteers help find the nests and in help to build a wire protection to prevent predators such as ravens and gulls from taking the eggs. The eggs hatch about four weeks later. The chicks are cared for by the male for almost a month until they can fly. The chicks are particularly vulnerable during the weeks before they fledge.

Volunteers are expected to spend at least four hours per month monitoring on the beach or helping with specific projects. Volunteers also help survey beaches up and down the county during the West Coast snowy plover survey that occurs twice each year. The next survey of Plover numbers will be in January. Throughout the year, volunteers track banded snowy plovers to learn their migration patterns and nesting results. Volunteers also monitor the beach to make sure that people don’t disrupt the Plover nesting sites, but also to educate students and other beach-goers about the lives of these critters and the role they play in the ecosystem.

So if you’ve been looking for a worthy project and love our feathered friends, get yourself over to the Coast this weekend and help protect a key piece of California’s ecosystem.

To register for the free workshop or for more information, call Ranger Nelle Lyons or Paul Langan at 726-8804 (if voicemail press 7 #) or email hmbplovers@hotmail.com