07/03/1991 (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Thank you. I'm going to miss all of you. I have a couple of words to say, if you'll bear with me. Sid, I'll remind you that I was really a big help to you when I taught you in Sunday School. Actually I only substituted for the teacher a couple of times. What I wanted to say is my farewell to the Planning Commission. And as I leave the Planning Commission, I want to share some of my memories and thoughts of my twenty-six years working with the Town. We moved to Los Altos Hills in 1958, two years after the town was incorporated. In order to focus on what I want to share with you, I'm going to read an excerpt from the Articles of Incorporation, the Green Sheet. To understand what Los Altos Hills is all about, you must understand the reasons for incorporation. When the Town was beginning to form its policies and laws, what they had to work with was the input from the residents and the Green Sheet. So I quote, "The Los Altos Hills Foothills provide one of the most beautiful residential sections in all of California and one of the most desirable and one of the most threatened. Since the war, our region has undergone a vast change. In five years, 20% of Santa Clara County orchard lands have been taken over by housing and industry. Our neighboring cities and even Stanford University are bending a re-effort to bring still more development. The pressure for exploitation of our foothills are enormous." I remind you this quote comes from the Incorporation Papers of 1956. And yet the pressures for exploitation are even greater today than they were then. Los Altos Hills has always harbored the sleeping giants, the residents. They continue to tell us not to give into the pressures. The residents seem to rally when threatened, makes you see the two Bellucci initiatives and our last election served as the most recent reminders of how they react when their laws and subsequent way of life are challenged. So you see, when people say the times have changed, the heart of Los Altos Hills has never changed. When we are elected or appointed representatives of the Town, we take an oath to uphold and maintain the laws of the Town, and to ensure that new development, not only conforms to our ordinances but reflects their purpose. When new representatives ignore or do not learn these laws, it is impossible to have a true concept of the objectives and the problems. In the beginning it was easy because we all worked together as a family - the Council, the Planning Commission, committees and staff with one goal. Some of the great thinkers of our time in our town helped guide us and teach us how we could be fair but protective. The residents knew that in order to preserve the special qualities of Los Altos Hills, there were things they did not want. They did not want urban amenities that would intrude on the rural atmosphere. Because of the unique qualities of Los Altos Hills, the residents said they did not want to become another Hillsborough or Atherton with July 3, 1991 Regular Meeting 2