Portola Valley Weekly Update October 20, 2022

This week's update:

• Draft Safety Element Available for Review
• Stepped-up pressure to complete Housing Element by January 31, 2023
• Wildfire Preparedness Committee Tip -Wildfire Causes and PG&E System Hardening
• Rain Garden Rebates: Are You Eligible?
• Green Foothills Leadership Program
• Flows to the Bay Webinar - Drought-Proof Your Garden Now for Spring and Summer

Draft Safety Element Available for Review

The Public Review Draft of the Safety Element is now available for review and public comment. The Town’s technical team, including staff and consultants, have developed this draft based on the content of the existing Safety Element, State law, guidance from the State and regional agencies, and best practices. This draft was guided by preliminary comments received from the Sustainability Committee, Geologic Safety Committee, and Emergency Preparedness Committee on early memos prepared by the technical team.

Town Committee Review of Draft Safety Element

The next step in the process is for the relevant Town Committees (Sustainability, Geologic Safety, Wildfire Preparedness, and Emergency Preparedness) to conduct their review, provide comments, and provide information on local context. The technical team will present the Draft Safety Element at a joint meeting of the Sustainability Committee, Wildfire Preparedness Committee, and Geologic Safety Committee on Wednesday, October 26th at 2:00 pm (the Emergency Preparedness Committee may also be able to join). These four committees will have opportunities to further discuss the Draft Safety Element at their individual committee meetings.

Opportunities to Provide Input on the Draft Safety Element

There are several opportunities for members of the public to provide input on the draft Safety Element:

Submit written comments

• Submit electronic comments using the form on the Town’s website at www.portolavalley.net/safetyelement.
• E-mail comments to safetyelement@portolavalley.net

Provide input at public meetings.

• October 26 at 2 pm Joint Committee meeting with the Wildfire Preparedness, Emergency Preparedness, Sustainability, and Geologic Safety Committees
• TBD Emergency Preparedness Committee meeting
• TBD Geologic Safety Committee meeting
• TBD Sustainability Committee meeting
• TBD Wildfire Preparedness Committee meeting

Members of the public are encouraged to engage in these committee meetings and provide feedback at any stage in the process. Comments on the Draft Safety Element are requested by January 13, 2023.

In addition to the committee meetings, the Planning Commission and Town Council will review the Draft Safety Element on dates to be determined. These meetings will provide additional opportunities for community members to provide input on the Draft Safety Element. Dates for these meetings will be added to the Safety Element webpage when available.

To receive updates on meetings and other Safety Element matters, you may sign up for eNotifications on the Town’s website by going to the “Community” page, navigating to “Stay Informed,” then “Subscribe to Town eNotices” and selecting Safety Element. You may directly access the “Subscribe to Town eNotices" page here.

Stepped-up pressure to complete Housing Element by January 31, 2023

Southern California has seen an uptick in “builder’s remedy” applications in cities that adopted their Housing Element after the deadline. This little-used state remedy requires towns to approve multi-family housing applications without regard to existing general plan and zoning restrictions if a town fails to submit a compliant Housing Element to the State for approval. Bay Area towns hoping to avoid similar application of the “builder’s remedy” are stepping up efforts to complete their Housing Elements by the State required deadline of January 1, 2023. The Town Attorney has released a memo explaining this new “builder’s remedy” and its possible application in Portola Valley.

Wildfire Preparedness Committee Tip -Wildfire Causes and PG&E System Hardening

The Wildfire Preparedness Committee has created a series of tips to help the community prepare for wildfire season. You can see the current tip and download any past tips on the website.

Rain Garden Rebates: Are You Eligible?

Did you know that urban areas generate 20x more runoff than natural landscapes? Without barriers, nothing keeps runoff from traveling to storm drains. But have no fear, a natural solution is here: rain gardens! By installing a rain garden, you can plant native vegetation that absorbs and collects runoff that would otherwise enter our storm drains and pollute our waterways.

Other benefits include

• Increasing biodiversity (especially for friendly pollinators);
• Redirecting moisture from your home; and
• Reducing localized flooding and other standing-water issues.

Read more about rain barrels and rebate programs

Green Foothills Leadership Program

Green Foothills Leadership Program is accepting applications to its Leadership Program. Scholarships are available! The application deadline is October 31st. Are you a passionate changemaker living in, working in, or serving Santa Clara County, San Mateo County, or San Benito County? The Leadership Program is an 8-month training program that hosts 20-25 local community members of all backgrounds to build up their leadership skills together and learn concrete steps to make their environmental advocacy more effective and equitable. More information: https://www.greenfoothills.org/leadership-program/

Flows to Bay Webinar - Drought-Proof Your Garden Now for Spring and Summer

Regardless of what amount of rain we might get this winter, gardening in California now means contending with the risk of drought conditions. Join Flows To Bay’s free webinar to learn how we can bolster the health of our gardens to be able to withstand long dry periods. The webinar will take place online on Saturday, October 22, 2022, from 10 - 11:30 am with a Q&A session at the end. More information about the webinar can be found here.

All San Mateo County residents who take a short 3-minute survey after the webinar will be entered into our raffle for a $100 gift card to your choice of either Hassett Ace Hardware, Home Depot, or Lyngso Garden Materials to assist with your fall gardening!

Register Here