HomeMy WebLinkAboutFebruary 10Next meeting: March 10, 2006
2 PM Town Hall
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Los Altos Hills Open Space Committee
Minutes of February 10, 2006
(Actions Items Printed in Bold)
Present: Roger Spreen, Chair, Patty Ciesla, Mary Davey, Karen Lemes, Barbara Mordo,
Alice Sakamoto, Jean Struthers, Susan Welch
Regrets: Nancy Couperus
Guests: Sheri Lubin, Project Manager for Acterra; Councilman Mike O’Malley
Staff: None
1. Call to Order:
Roger Spreen called the meeting to order at 2 PM. The minutes of the January 13,
2006 meeting were approved.
2. Introductions/Presentations/Guests: Sheri Lubin (Acterra) expected to arrive later.
3. New Business:
Monthly Planning Project Reviews:
28500 Matadero Creek Lane Easement – Back in the 70’s the Town acquired
land which had been previously owned by the Palo Alto School District. The land
(containing a large open space easement) borders Page Mill Road. The Town
developed the property with strict CC&R’s (Covenants, Conditions &
Restrictions). Most properties are 3 to 4 acres in size. Recently neighbors alerted
the Open Space Committee to activity in the conservation easement. A path was
being installed, fill had been brought in, and flags were placed in a number of
different locations in the easement. Steve Garcia, Code Enforcement Officer for
Los Altos Hills, and the sheriff were notified. The unconsolidated pathway seems
to be consistent with our rules for pathways, but the fill is a problem. The owner
claims only to be amending the soil in order to plant wildflowers. The Town
planning staff will keep an eye on the situation. The neighbors will also monitor
what’s going on in the easement.
4. Follow-up actions from previous meeting:
Herbicide Study:
Roger explained that bi-monthly meetings of the Herbicide Reduction Sub-
committee were being held. Committee members are: Karen Lemes, Henry
Louie, Jean Mordo, Susan Mandle, Annemarie Rosengreen, Roger Spreen, and
Jean Struthers
Next meeting: March 10, 2006
2 PM Town Hall
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Naresh Duggal, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Coordinator for Santa Clara
County, attended one of these meetings and provided some excellent information.
He said that a lot of testing has been done in Santa Clara County, and the
conclusion is that herbicide usage can be significantly reduced. It can also be cost
effective. The key thing is to understand what you’re looking for (i.e. erosion
control, native plantings). By using herbicides annually you are just “keeping up”
with the problem. A long-term view is needed. More money may be spent
initially by planting natives, for example, but once established they will replace
the weeds that were the problem. According to Naresh, the Santa Clara County
IPM program has reduced herbicide use by 80% and the use of chemicals from
several hundred down to ten.
The Town of Los Altos Hills contracts with Clark Pest Control to spray 18 miles.
The Subcommittee is recommending a pilot study for a section of Adobe Creek.
There is a tributary of Adobe Creek on Robleda, which is the area that has been
selected for the study. Robleda has a lot of interesting terrain next to the road –
roadside pathways, private lawns, steep slopes, immediate drop-offs, and wood-
land areas. There are 3 main constraints: fire safety, visibility issues and access,
and cost. Roger checked with Melanie Chase of the Fire District on their require-
ments. All weeds and grasses must be no more than 6 inches tall from the road
for a minimum of 10 feet and a maximum of 100 feet depending on the slope.
Although Clark Pest Control answered some questions, the subcommittee did not
feel that it was comprehensive enough, and Clark has been invited to the next
meeting.
Karen announced that there will be an annual conference on IPM on October 8th.
She hopes that members of the Open Space Committee and Town staff will
attend. Karen also reported that she had met with a horticulture professor at
Foothill College for recommendations on types of plants that could be used.
Mike O’Malley thought that there would be Council support and probably money
for this project. Once a project has been decided upon, the Subcommittee will get
back to Naresh with the plan and ask for his advice.
Wildlife Corridor Project
Roger reported that the OSC will be making a presentation to the Council on
Thursday, March 9th. Roger will send out a reminder of the March 9th meeting
to members.
Sue has passed on her maps to Michele Korpos (Live Oak Associates) and
Michele believes that she will have a draft ready for us within a month. The maps
that Sue put together with the data from the survey illustrate the frequency of
sightings of four different animals and are differentiated on the maps by colored
Next meeting: March 10, 2006
2 PM Town Hall
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dots. Some observations gleaned from the data: 80% of respondents on the west
side of 280 see deer daily, while on the east side 16% see deer daily. There is a
greater abundance of wildlife west of 280. However, the number of foxes seen on
both sides of 280 are almost identical.
Although respondents were not specifically asked about the smaller mammals,
many offered information on their surveys. Alice mapped these as well. There
were sightings of 78 rabbits, 53 raccoons, 50 skunks, and 21 opossums. Some
people mentioned snakes as well - 13 rattlesnakes. The smaller animals seemed
to be distributed fairly evenly on both sides of the freeway.
Patty would like to identify the major corridors to help staff make decisions about
fencing requests and where signs should be placed on roads where wildlife cross.
Mike O’Malley suggested that many pathway easements exist which will never
become pathways. They nevertheless could become wildlife corridors. Mike
believes that the Council would probably support this.
The Committee concluded that we need to know the following: (1) the legal way
of keeping corridors open (2) where the main thoroughfares are, and (3) where to
place signs for wildlife crossings
There were 380 survey respondents to the wildlife survey and of these 98 wanted
to be kept informed of the results and ways they could be helpful to the study.
Meeting with Council Members
Mary had suggested that the Committee have a one-on-one meeting with the
Mayor. She felt that such a meeting would open up more communication with
the Council and help the Council understand what we’re up to. Mike O’Malley
offered that in his opinion it would be better to make a presentation before the
entire Council rather than just the Mayor. The OSC could ask Council for its
input, especially if it submitted a report ahead of time that could be included in
the Council packet.
There was some discussion about open space (conservation) easements since
there still exists some confusion about what they are. Mary reminded the group
that Art Lachenbruch had suggested hiring a consultant to help us come up with
a good definition of an open space easement. She thought that this might be a
very good idea. Roger suggested that we come up with a list of subjects related
to open space easements – what we can do, what problems we’ve encountered
but do not have the expertise to advise on, etc. Roger brought up the issue of
vineyards which also impacts open space easements. He passed out copies of the
article that Ray Collins brought to the last meeting on vineyards and how they
can coexist with wildlife. The OSC has not yet addressed this issue. Roger said
that he would put vineyards on the agenda of the next meeting.
Next meeting: March 10, 2006
2 PM Town Hall
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Byrne Preserve Master Plan
Patty Ciesla believes that the Town needs a long-term vision – a master plan for
Byrne Preserve. There are a number of problems, including invasive weeds,
erosion, trash, impact of horses, etc. The OSC concurred that an environmental
planning firm should be hired to develop a master plan. Mary explained how the
Regional Open Space District does this. The problems first need to be identified.
According to Mary, community-based planning is an essential part of land
stewardship. A five-year plan could be put together that would contain specific
recommendations. The plan could be carried out incrementally. Roger requested
that Patty put together a presentation for the Council. Mike recommended that it
not just be a laundry list of problems. He emphasized the importance of a positive
approach. Patty agreed to put together a presentation.
Sheri Lubin of Acterra passed out a proposal for re-vegetating the gully area in
the pasture area of Byrne Preserve. Sheri has visited the area twice and is concen-
trating on the culvert and storm drain area. The OSC acknowledged that this is a
short-term fix because the Town is not prepared to re-engineer the entire area at
this time. That would be Plan #3 – developing a plan to address the long-term
management of the restoration area. Plan #1 is the preferred plan of the Open
Space Committee, though fencing and watering are issues that will need to be
solved in order to carry out the plan. There are a few fencing options, but these
would need to be approved by Friends of Westwind who are managing the pasture
for the Town. Three fencing types are proposed: wooden posts and wire (similar
to the current fencing around the pasture); steel T-posts with wire; and a solar-
powered electric fence.
The $3500 that the Committee had allocated toward this project would cover
materials (the native plants and trees) and staff oversight. Acterra would act as
the project managers - $30/hour. Sheri said that 5 years is a good time period
for doing a restoration project like this and is needed for successful monitoring.
There was some discussion about when the project could be started. The stop
date for planting is March. A number of questions need to be answered before
proceeding. Roger said that he would contact Carl to find out Town
requirements – whether or not we need to go through the Planning Commission
for approval. Mary asked Sheri to come up with a new proposal within two
weeks. It was suggested that Nancy or Mike be asked about Westwind’s position
on the fencing and providing water during the dry months. If the project can not
be done now, it could be postponed to late fall – early winter. A subcommittee
was formed to work on this project – Patty, Jean, Roger, Sue and Mary.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 PM.
Minutes generated from tape recording: Nancy Couperus
Next meeting: March 10, 2006
2 PM Town Hall
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