Looming state housing mandates, needed infrastructure improvements and climate change are some of the most pressing issues for the four candidates running for three open seats on the Atherton City Council this fall.
Mayor Rick DeGolia and Vice Mayor Bill Widmer are seeking reelection, facing two challengers, former candidate Greg Conlon and Environmental Programs Committee Chair Stacy Miles Holland.
In August, the town submitted its draft housing element, a road map for accommodating future development over the next eight years, which included a major jump in the number of units it needs to plan for. The town expects to get comments back from the state by early November. The town's plan relied heavily on homeowners building backyard accessory dwelling units and lot splits.
The Almanac interviewed the four candidates via questionnaire, asking them about issues ranging from state housing mandates, their goals if elected and what they think about the national attention from Atherton residents and CEOs denouncing building multifamily housing in town. Candidates also shared their plans about combating climate change.
Greg Conlon
Greg Conlon, 89, is a CPA who has lived in Atherton for over four decades, served on town committees, like the Audit and Finance Committee along with the Rail Committee, for over 10 years.
His primary reason for seeking a council seat is to help tackle the town's state-mandated housing element, Conlon said.
Conlon, who holds a bachelor's degree in business from University of Utah and law degree from University of San Francisco, also served on the California Public Utilities Commission. In that role, he worked with the California legislature to gain its support, which he said may help in trying to make future changes to housing legislation.
"I believe strongly that the town should not have to destroy the character of the town as a bedroom community, which it has been for almost 100 years," he said. He is in favor of hiring outside specialists if needed to assist in the town's responses to the state.
If necessary, he said the town could look into building multifamily units in the parking lot by the rail station fence. Holbrook-Palmer Parker is another last resort option for new housing, but only in the northern part of the park where the temporary staff office was located during construction of the civic center.
Conlon said he would support a statewide initiative to make clear that the state does not have jurisdiction to change town and city zoning of land use. There is such a proposal being drafted to be put before the state voters in 2024, which he supports.
Aside from housing, Conlon said he wants changes in the police department to reduce the number of burglaries in town. He is also concerned about the increase in school shootings in recent years in the U.S., and he has concerns about how prepared the town is for such events.
Conlon said he supports the idea of the town securing funds to underground some of its power lines to improve fire safety.
Rick DeGolia
Atherton Mayor Rick DeGolia, 72, a retired attorney and software executive, joined the City Council in 2013. He has served as mayor three times since joining the council and lived in town for 22 years.
"I respond to every email and phone call that I receive, and I work hard to engage residents in the issues before the City Council," he said.
To him, the biggest current issue is the state's requirements for new housing.
With regard to the recent attention the town has received because of CEOs and Atherton residents like Marc Andreessen opposing multifamily housing in town, DeGolia said that "Atherton will always be a target for national press because Atherton has the highest property values of any ZIP code in America, so there is nothing that can be done about the likelihood of obtaining national attention."
"The concern is mislabeled as concern with multifamily housing," he said. "There is multifamily housing at several schools in Atherton and at every Atherton address that has an ADU. The concern is how to address the affordable housing needs of those who work and/or live in Atherton. That can best be done by providing more, not less, multifamily housing at our schools and creating a program to help Atherton residents rent ADUs to those who need them."
He said the easiest way to meet the state housing goals is with ADUs, which spreads the new development throughout Atherton, rather than focusing on a limited number of denser properties.
DeGolia, who holds a bachelor's degree from University of California at Berkeley and a law degree from Harvard Law School, said the town needs to do a better job of reaching out to all Atherton residents with information and questions.
The greatest change that Atherton could make to combat climate change would be to install solar panels on its public buildings, to replace the diesel generator at the town center with a battery-based microgrid and to support the transition from fossil fuel use to clean electricity produced from solar panels or Peninsula Clean Energy wherever it makes economic sense, he said. DeGolia has served on the Peninsula Clean Energy Board of Directors for seven years.
"We have just experienced the greatest heat waves in the known history of California," he said. "This is the result of humans emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and it is likely only going to get worse in our lifetimes."
Stacy Miles Holland
Stacy Miles Holland, 38, is newer to town than the other candidates. Four years ago, she and her husband moved to Atherton, where they are raising their toddler. Miles Holland runs her own communications consulting firm.
"I would bring a fresh perspective to the council. I am a young mother fighting to preserve and enhance Atherton's quality of life for decades to come," said Miles Holland, who is chair of the Environmental Programs Committee and holds a bachelor's degree in French and psychology from University of California at Los Angeles. She'd like to bring her communications skills to the council to help residents feel more involved in town decisions.
Miles Holland said the three biggest issues facing the town are:
• Climate change: Atherton is not on pace to hit its state-mandated 2030 emission reduction target, she said. Nearly 90% of Atherton's emissions come from gas-burning cars, home appliances and gardening equipment, she said.
"It's up to the council to educate residents, and institute rules and incentives to hasten the transition. If elected, my goal would be to adopt policies requiring all-electric appliances in new builds and renovations (reach codes). I would also evaluate local incentive and education programs to make it easier to replace gas devices when they expire with modern electric alternatives. I do not support fines or penalties. My goal is to support electrification (to) where it becomes the obvious choice."
She said she wants to see Atherton achieve net zero carbon emissions for its operations. Both the civic center and library are already carbon neutral buildings. Decarbonizing the park facilities and fleet of town vehicles are all that remain, she said.
• Housing: "Convincing the state that the town's plan is feasible is a tall order," she said. "It will require proactive community outreach, attention to detail and creative problem solving. In my time on the Environmental Programs Committee, I have overhauled the town's outreach around climate initiatives and public health: I am up for the challenge housing plans present on building town consensus."
• Bike and pedestrian safety: Many of the town's busier streets are unsafe for pedestrians and bicyclists, particularly for children or the disabled, she said. The town created the bike and pedestrian master plan in 2014, but much of that work was sidelined while the town center and library project was underway, she said.
With regard to Marc Andreessen's letter stating that there shouldn't be multifamily housing in Atherton, Miles Holland said that the town is unusually interesting to the national media given its concentration of famous and wealthy people.
"As a communications expert, I can definitively say that there is nothing the City Council can do to avoid national media scrutiny, especially for sensitive topics like housing," she said. "With that in mind, town staff should be more cognizant of the potential for national attention for our public comment. They should be more explicit in notifying residents of the public nature of their comments, and redact addresses and contact info of all residents automatically."
"Atherton's newfound housing notoriety could paint a target on the town's back for outside groups looking to make headlines. This puts more pressure on the town to work with the state to have a compliant housing element. Without a compliant housing element, our general plan is invalidated," she said.
Website/social media: votestacy.com; and @votestacy on Twitter and Instagram
Bill Widmer
Bill Widmer, 67, an executive consultant and former adjunct professor at Menlo College, said his 12 years of experience on the City Council make him a good candidate.
"I have served on almost every town committee with many different residents and have served on several county boards and worked with many other county and neighboring city elected officials and staff members," said Widmer, who's lived in Atherton for 27 years and holds a bachelor's degree in computer science and an MBA in statistics and management from Texas Christian University.
Among his accomplishments on the council are getting Caltrans' attention on the need for protected crosswalks on El Camino Real; developing the bike and pedestrian master plan; and starting to help pay down some of the town's long-term liabilities.
The most pressing issues the town faces is to gain approval on an achievable housing element plan, he said. He said he wants to push the town to examine best practices and set a course to better inform and engage residents.
"Our work on the housing element was not communicated well enough to get timely resident attention," he said. "I know we can do better."
During his terms on the council, Widmer said the town has substantially improved its outreach to residents through the use of technology, including social media and revamping its website.
"While mailers and emails do go out to residents regularly, they do not seem to gain the attention of our residents so they can be both informed and involved, if they so choose," he said.
Widmer said it's important to remember the housing element covers housing needs for all levels of income. He said he helped Menlo College students who were living in their cars because they couldn't afford rent and find housing.
"With Menlo College and Stanford (University) in our area, there is a need for more affordable housing, and this does not even address the need of new teachers and first responders," he said. "This whole area, and not just Atherton, is not really affordable. As a father, it is discouraging that my children cannot afford to find a way to housing ownership in this area due to the costs. Without funding assistance such as grants, building affordable housing is not achievable due to the high cost of the land-which is $6 to 8 million per acre."
It is difficult to develop low-cost housing in the area, which is why the council designated a large part of its housing element response on ADUs, he said.
"The reasoning for this is that property owners do not need to acquire land and only need to finance the construction cost and the recurring property tax impact, which I believe should be exempted or implemented on a delay basis," he said. "Then the ADU could be rented at very affordable rates. Similarly, large property owners, such as the schools and the water district could build affordable, more dense housing for their staff and faculty."
If, however, large grants were available to cover a substantial amount of the initial costs to build new housing, then more affordable housing could be achieved, he said.
He said that although Atherton has not been successful in winning grants over the years, the schools and water company, which have properties included in the housing element for development, may be able to secure housing grants.
In regard to Senate Bill 9, which allows homeowners to build duplexes on single-family lots, Widmer does not support the state directing local zoning for housing, but since it is law, Atherton must abide by it, he said.
He would like to improve safety in town. The council has approved license plate readers in an efffort to catch burglars. Streets have become more and more dangerous due to speeding cut-through traffic coupled with more bikes and pedestrians, he said.
Atherton needs more bike lanes and the town needs to make an effort to make streets safer for pedestrians, he said. As a council member, he said he has pushed for more funding for traffic mitigations measures which will soon start rolling out, as well as funding for safer bikeways, especially on routes to school, he said.
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