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f. The Town topography consists of ridgelines, rolling foothills and deeply wooded canyons that contain highly combustible dry grass, weeds, and brush. These hilly and open space areas are present throughout the Town and adjacent to residential developments. Because of these geographic characteristics, the Town is uniquely concerned about fire risks and associated hazards such as providing sufficient entry space for emergency responders and citizen evacuations. Likewise, the risks of associated power outages, property damages and life injuries resulting from such fire hazards are significantly higher in Los Altos Hills in comparison to other municipalities because of the characteristics of this community. The Town's zoning and development requirements, for example, include various regulations mandating required driveway width and fire access rules for developers undertaking residential projects. The Town thus has a legitimate and substantial interest in protecting against such fire risks and associated hazards by regulating and ensuring the continued, orderly development of residential projects. g. The Town's geologic and topographic characteristics also increase the likelihood of landslide and other hillside grading hazards. The Town currently implements grading policies and annual grading moratoria (October 1 to April 30) to protect public and private roads and residential neighborhoods against sloped conditions, preserve site landforms, and protects against landslides or related hazards resulting from weather conditions. The orderly development of residential projects and related tasks are crucial in maintaining these protections in place. h. The Town is located in a uniquely semi -rural surrounding with vast open space areas and wildlife corridors. Parcels within Los Altos Hills are also often subject to conservation easements that restrict development in order to maintain the scenic, natural, open space, and other natural characteristics of the land. The Town has imposed various development regulations to preserve these characteristics and comply with the restrictive nature of these covenants. In addition, the goal of these development regulations are aimed to preserve neighborhood privacy and protect against intrusions such as noise and trespass. The Town has a legitimate and substantial interest in abiding by restrictive covenants and maintaining its semi -rural characteristics by ensuring the orderly development of residential projects. i. In sum, the Town's natural beauty including the hills and views of the Bay, and significant residential communities is a uniquely valuable public resource. A significant number of parcels within the Town are also within high fire hazard severity zones, earthquake fault zones and/or covered by conservation easements. These areas are exposed to significant fire risks, power outage issues, property damage hazards, and potential injuries to persons. The Town has substantial interests in protecting the community against these hazards and restrictions while promoting development projects. The reasonably regulated and orderly development of single family residential construction and subdivision projects as permitted by SB 9 is desirable, and unregulated or disorderly development represents an ever-increasing and true threat to the health, welfare and safety of the community. j. The default standards contained in the new state law include no objective zoning, subdivision, and design standards, including those contained in the Town's Zoning Ordinance such as, for example, floor area, height, fencing regulations, subdivision and site development standards and regulations that require development projects including accessory dwelling units be designed to protect against natural hazards, being consistent with restrictive covenants, and respect the visual Ordinance 599 Page 2