When the Portola Valley Town Council meets in person for the first time in over two years on Wednesday, April 27, the agenda includes a potential lawsuit over the town's accessory dwelling unit (ADU) exemptions for wildfire prone areas and making changes to a turbulent town committee.

California's Accountability and Enforcement Division of the Housing and Community Development Department sent the town a letter on April 19 that alleges a fire safety exemption in the town's ADU ordinance violates state law, according to a staff report. The exemption, established last year, prohibits ADUs on parcels smaller than an acre when direct vehicle access is from the road has a single point of egress and a width of less than 18 feet.

"The CalFire maps that establish High Fire Hazard Zones may impact building design standards (such as required building materials) and have no impact on areas where ADUs may be permitted," the letter states. "If the town of Portola Valley has an ADU ordinance that restricts ADU development by another means on the grounds of fire safety, it may be in violation of state statute and would require our review."

The letter points out that, in the midst of a housing crisis recognized by the state legislature, promoting ADUs would allow necessary housing to be built in previously exclusive areas and significantly contribute toward the town's Regional Housing Needs Allocation obligations, also known as its RHNA number.

The letter will be discussed in closed session with legal counsel.

The council will consider adopting a charter change for the Wildfire Preparedness Committee to reduce its size from nine to seven members to make sure the committee can form a quorum for meetings. The committee's April meeting was canceled when it didn't have enough members present. The town recently ousted the committee's vice chair. Five other members of the committee have resigned since November 2021.

"Unfortunately, the committee has suffered from a number of resignations and loss of committee members, including the former council liaison," said Mayor Craig Hughes in a memo. "As the alternate liaison, I recommend the following actions to strengthen the committee's ability to meet regularly, as determined by a future chair: amend the committee's charter to reduce its membership from nine to seven."

Hughes said in his memo that having a seven-member committee means it can meet with its current membership of four as the town begins recruiting for new members. He also suggested removing the council liaison as a voting member of the committee.

The council will also consider a staff recommendation for the Town Council, Architectural and Site Control Commission and Planning Commission to discontinue the production of detailed meeting minutes, but continue to make available Zoom meeting recordings and transcription services.

"While useful, the need to produce such detailed minutes has been supplanted by the use of Zoom and YouTube, where Town Council meetings are uploaded for public viewing," staff wrote. "Additionally, Zoom has a feature that produces a highly accurate transcript of each meeting."

At the start of many meetings, residents request changes to correct sometimes intricate details of the draft minutes, according to the staff report, which is challenging, because the town's consultant and/or its staff do not re-review the meeting recording to confirm whether the offered edits are accurate.

Also on the agenda is a closed session performance evaluation for Town Manager Jeremy Dennis.

The meeting will be held at the historic school house, 765 Portola Road, in Portola Valley at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. To join the meeting on Zoom, go here.

The Town Council will also host a special meeting on Thursday, April 28, at 6 p.m. to share the latest updates on its ongoing wildfire mitigation and adaptation programs. For more information, go here.