This week's update:
- Help Support ADU Outreach, Education, and Town Wide Survey – Apply by Oct 7th
- Election Information
- Kids Movie Night - Oct 14
- Wildfire Preparedness Committee Tip -Preparedness Tips from the IRS
- Tennis/Pickleball Courts Closures for Maintenance
- Register for the Household Hazardous Waste Drop-off Day on Oct 8
- Sheriff’s Contract Update – Share Your Thoughts
- Register for Community Classes
- State Legislation Report
- Next Thursday - In-Person Meeting Featuring Some Candidates for Town Council
- Portola Valley Community Benefits from Peninsula Clean Energy
- How Portola Valley properties could become fire-safe by unearthing wildflowers
- Upcoming Events
Help Support ADU Outreach, Education, and Town Wide Survey – Apply by Oct 7th
The Town is currently accepting applications for up to four ADU Ambassadors to increase outreach on Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and Junior Accessory Dwelling Units (JADUs) and conduct a community survey. This is an opportunity for resident volunteers to build on community participation in the Housing Element Update process and help collect useful information to promote ADUs. Volunteers are encouraged to provide input throughout the process, including the survey and educational materials.
The commitment for ADU Ambassadors is from approximately October 24, 2022 through December 7, 2022. The hours will vary during that period up to about 10 hours per week. The community survey will cover the following: verifying the Town’s existing list of units, gauging community interest in constructing new units, gathering data on unpermitted ADUs/JADUs that could be legalized, and determining the number of owners that may be interested in renting to lower income tenants. The ADU Ambassadors will help get the word out through direct outreach to other residents.
Applications are being accepted through October 7th. Apply today! Additional information and the application form can be found here.
If you are new to this discussion, here’s some background. As part of the Housing Element Update process, the Town’s Ad Hoc Housing Element Committee discussed ADUs and JADUs at length throughout the course of their meetings. Committee Members and residents expressed an interest in expanding ADU/JADU outreach as well as gathering additional information about how ADUs/JADUs could be best used to help satisfy the Town’s obligations under state law. On September 14th, the Town Council approved a new ADU Ambassador Program to implement this idea.
Election Information
On Friday, October 7, 2022, the San Mateo County Elections Division will mail voter ballots to all registered voters in San Mateo County. Also on October 7th, the Elections Division will unlock all ballot boxes in San Mateo County, including the one located outside Town Hall (pictured). Once your ballot is completed, please seal the provided envelope, and drop your ballot in the box.
- Your ballot may be deposited in any ballot drop box or USPS box in San Mateo County
- To register to vote, or to check your registration status, please visit: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/registration-status
- If you lose your ballot or need a new one, please visit: https://www.smcacre.org/elections/request-replacement-ballot
- You may track your ballot by visiting: https://www.smcacre.org/elections/track-your-ballot
Kids Movie Night - Oct 14
Have a fun night with family and friends watching a Movie in the Park. the Portola Valley Cultural Arts Committee Is hosting the movie Coco on October 14, 2022, at 6 PM.
If the weather is nice it will be outside on the Performance Lawn. If it is rainy it will be in the Community Hall. Bring your picnic to share with your friends and family.
Wildfire Preparedness Committee Tip - Preparedness Tips from the IRS
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.
Tennis/Pickleball Courts Closures for Maintenance
The Town Tennis/Pickleball Courts will be closed: Friday. October 7 from 7:00 a..m. to 5:00 p.m. for the Pickleball Line Painting.
If you have reservations and/or plan to drop in on those days, please be advised that you will not be able to play.
Register for the Household Hazardous Waste Drop-off Day on Oct 8
The Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Program is hosting a drop-off event in Portola Valley on Saturday, October 8, 2022, 8:30 am-12:15 pm. Accepted items include cleaning products; fertilizers and garden chemicals; pesticides, herbicides, and rodenticides; solvents; flammable liquids; fluorescent lights (compact and tubes), paint & paint thinner, acids/bases, aerosol cans, and automotive supplies (car batteries, motor oil, oil filters, antifreeze, brake fluid). All waste collected is reused, recycled, or stabilized for proper disposal to achieve zero waste and prevent any items from going to the landfill and contaminating our water and soil. No electronic, radioactive, explosive, or medical waste is accepted. This event is open to all who live in San Mateo County.
To participate, you must schedule an appointment at San Mateo County’s HHW Program: smchealth.org/hhw-appt or by calling (650) 372-6200. The event location is disclosed once your appointment is confirmed. Limit 10 gallons or 50 pounds per appointment (per carload). If you have greater than 10 gallons you must schedule two appointments and make two (2) vehicle trips. No commercial waste is allowed.
Residents unable to attend this event can still dispose of household hazardous waste for free at San Mateo County’s permanent HHW facility Thursdays-Saturdays (except major holiday weekends). You must make an appointment at smchealth.org/hhw-appt or call (650) 372-6200. Recycling/safe disposal of paint, fluorescent lights, household batteries, and used motor oil/filters can be done at a local collection center – no appointment needed. Visit smchealth.org/post/hhw-most-wanted for local drop-off sites. For more information, visit smchealth.org/hhw
Sheriff’s Contract Update – Share Your Thoughts
What are your public safety concerns? How would you like to see public safety enhanced in Portola Valley? What public safety efforts in Portola Valley are working well?
The 5-year public safety agreement between the Town of Portola Valley and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office expires in June 2023. The Town needs input from Portola Valley community members as it enters into discussions with the Sheriff’s Office about a new public safety contract.
There are several opportunities for you to provide input on your feelings about public safety. This input will be used to inform discussions about a new contract:
Register for Community Classes
New sessions for community classes are open for registration. Have you always wanted to take an exercise class, learn pickleball or learn in an online class the ins and outs of IOS 16 for the iPhone? You can register now.
State Legislation Report
The Town contracts with Cruz Strategies, a government relations and public affairs consulting firm, to provide state legislative and budget updates for the Town. You can review the current report along with the previous bill reports in the Town Government section of the website
Next Thursday - In-Person Meeting featuring some Candidates for Town Council
The non-profit, Portola Valley Residents, has rented the Community Hall next Thursday, October 13th, is hosting a forum for candidates running for the Portola Valley Town Council.
The event starts at 6:45 with a general meet-and-greet, followed by a moderated open-mic Q&A. See www.portolavalleyresidents.org for details.
Portola Valley Community Benefits from Peninsula Clean Energy
In 2016, Portola Valley joined San Mateo County and all the other cities in the county to form Peninsula Clean Energy. As a public agency, we work with you to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by expanding access to sustainable and affordable energy solutions. Portola Valley has chosen 100% renewable wind and solar to power all its municipal facilities and as the default electricity option for its residents and businesses. You can view the Community benefits Summary here.
How Portola Valley properties could become fire-safe by unearthing wildflowers
by Craig Dremann, owner EcoSeeds
As a boy growing up in the Peninsula hills, I spent many idyllic hours in nature. I recall making tunnels in the six-foot tall mustard plants; coasting down a slope on a cardboard "sled" on the slippery stalks of wild oats on the hillsides.
I also played among the many native wildflowers and butterflies, but over the last 50 years the landscape has become drier, browner, and with fewer wildflowers. Instead, they've been replaced by more of the tall, flammable weed grasses and thistles.
That plant conversion has come with a price. As we all learned in 2020, many of these weeds and tall undergrowth can catch fire. It's become more important each year to mindfully protect our homes and properties from fire threats.
Having restored 800 acres of grasslands since 1992 back to native plants in areas as diverse as the high desert and the coast, I thought that we could restore the tapestry of native plants in a similar fashion, bringing back the wildflowers and low-growing native grasses and reduce fire threats.
Since 2016, I've been working in Woodside with crews from Frank Manocchio and Rook Nolan’s company, Land Escapes, re-establishing the fire-safe native wildflower meadows at Kite Hill, a 14-acre preserve situated in the Woodside Glens neighborhood between Canada Road and I-280.
If you are visiting the preserve, located behind the Jane Drive gate or along the top of Alta Vista, and you hear the sound of Echo string trimmers, you'll find us at work. We're peeling back the layers of weeds to allow the dormant native seeds to sprout and grow into robust plants that are capable of replacing the weeds.
Unearthing these dormant native seeds from the soil began in earnest when I was working on a 70-acre property in La Selva Beach, California. Working with the property owner, we found that with frequent mowing at least monthly in spring at a height of eight inches and no lower, we could unearth the dormant native seed bank, and give the natives a fighting chance against the weeds.
At the beginning, 99% of the plants on the 70-acre La Selva property were flammable weeds. Some were so thick and thorny they could not be waded through without wearing a pair of protective rain pants against the spines. But when we were done, the property was converted to 94% native cover without sowing a single native seed. We estimated the age of the dormant wildflower seedbank on this property was between 100 and 250 years old.
Frequent mowing is one component of the restoration process, but a very important one. The purpose of frequent mowing is to never allow weeds to make any additional mature seeds. Most homeowners in Portola Valley mow once a year for fire protection, after the weeds turn brown. But the ripe seeds have already fallen, only creating a new crops of seeds that will sprout the next year, perpetuating the cycle of weed growth.
Frequent mowing helps disrupt this cycle. The seeds of the weedy wild oats and ryegrass, for example, are fairly short-lived in the soil. If the plants are not allowed to make new seeds, the plants will be reduced in number and can eventually be eliminated altogether as their seed bank in the soil is depleted.
The dormant native seeds, having less competition from the weeds, can have a chance to sprout again. When they sprout densely, they take up the spaces to prevent recolonization by the weeds. As a general rule, the dormant native plant seeds can sprout at the rate of five to 10 seeds per square inch when they don't have weeds interfering with their growth.
Cutting weeds frequently also helps to reduce the amount of mowed weed straw on the ground producing fuel for fires, since the weed plants don't get a chance to grow to their full potential. Weed thatch of some nonnative grasses when only mowed once a year produce between one and three tons of fire fuel per acre -- all available and ready to burn at any time until December rains (if we get any).
A simple training for the mowing crews, plus more frequent mowing and starting the mowing earlier in the spring in February -- and mowing at the right height -- increases the chance of permanently getting rid of flammable weeds and replace them with native plants.
Converting weedy areas back to native plants has a huge benefit for homeowners and wildlife alike. Native plants produce much less fire fuel than many nonnative species. With time and patience, a homeowner can permanently eliminate 98% of the fire fuels that weeds produce each year. In addition, the native plants provide food and nectar for many dwindling native species of pollinating insects, including the native bumblebees and butterflies.
Nearly every property in Portola Valley has at least one native plant species with potentially still-dormant seeds underneath the weeds.
I have worked on three Portola Valley properties, where proper mowing started unearthing acres of the dormant native seeds in only one year.
This is the beginning of a similar pattern to what I've seen at Woodside's Kite Hill. With frequent mowing efforts, the wildflowers I remembered as a boy in Woodside are returning. Each year we are seeing successive species of native plants coming back in layers: first, the tidy tips; then owl’s clover, yarrow, and lotus. A couple of years later, native grasses started appearing, such as the purple needlegrass -- our state grass -- the same one seen on the California flag below the grizzly bear's feet.
California poppies are increasing every year, and despite the drought, are among the most prolific.
The weeds, in turn, are slowly receding over time. Eventually, the weeds should all be replaced by the natives.
The cost of unearthing these native seeds through the more frequent mowing is balanced out by the savings from not needing to purchase native seeds or native plants. We are opening an ancient dormant-seed time-capsule and releasing those seeds to bloom again after centuries of slumber, to help Portola Valley become a “Maximum-Fire-Safe Community.
More information is in the PowerPoint at https://www.ecoseeds.com/firesafe.pdf
Upcoming Town Events
October 8, 2022 - Household Hazardous Waste Drop-Off Event
San Mateo County Health will be hosting a drop-off event for Hazardous Waste. You can make an appointment for this event or others around the county here.
October 14, 2022, 6 PM- Kids Movie Night in the Park
The Cultural Arts Committee will be hosting the movie Coco for a Family Movie in the Park night. If the weather is nice it will be outside on the Performace Lawn. If it is rainy it will be in the Community Hall. Bring your picnic to share with your friends and family.
Credits:
Created with images by coralimages - "Amazing guest house in the back yard." ;Jennifer - "Close up of a Pickleball Court and Net. " ; Dmitry Naumov - "Used batteries toxic waste recycling and ecology issues concept background" ; kite_rin - "Young woman using smartphone at home. Student girl texting on mobile phone in her room. Communication, home work or study, connection, mobile apps, technology, lifestyle concept" ; Ron Alvey - "A woman hits a dink shot while playing pickleball." ; Leonid Andronov - "California State Capitol in Sacramento" ; Kari Chinn "Historic Schoolhouse", "Redwood Grove", "Town Center"; Craig Dremann “Kite Hill Preserve in Woodside, where we starting mowing with a thick cover of flammable weed grasses along Alta Mesa.”, “Ending with weed grasses gone, replaced with a solid stand of poppies, without sowing any poppy seeds.”; Melissa Thurman “Portola Valley Town Hall Ballot Box”: Sharon Humphreys “Portola Valley Rainbow”; Disney Pixar “ Coco”