Portola Valley's new mayor expects his first month or two on the job to be primarily focused on something that's been all-consuming for residents and staff over the last year and half: the town's housing element.

The mandatory plans for housing over the next eight years are due to the state on Jan. 31. The Planning Commission has met several times since November to try to nail down changes based on feedback from the state housing officials, but staff is still finalizing the report before it makes its way to the Town Council. The number of units the town has to plan for increased significantly from last cycle, a challenge the council had been aware of for about five years, thanks to former Council member Maryann Derwin, who was plugged into the housing conversation in the state, said Mayor Jeff Aalfs.

"We knew it was going to be a game-changer," Aalfs said, noting he and other officials spent more than 50 hours in public meetings alone discussing the housing plans. "We knew the public was watching and we all knew it was going to be a difficult thing going into it, and frankly, it was."

He said he's proud of the work the council did. "We covered a lot of ground, a lot of the public (was) not always happy but we explored a lot of options, made some substantial adjustments in midcourse," he said.

Aalfs, who works in energy and green building consulting, joined the council in 2011 and this is his third time serving as mayor. Breaking from the normal rotation, Vice Mayor Sarah Wernikoff asked not to be nominated to serve as mayor for Portola Valley in 2023, citing family obligations.

Town officials are also eagerly awaiting new fire hazard maps from both the Woodside Fire Protection District, expected to be completed early this year, as well as from Cal Fire in the next few months.

"We'd love to have those maps," Aalfs said. "We've been waiting on them for a long time."

Some residents have implored the town to hold off on finalizing its safety element, which is due at the same time as the housing element, until the new fire maps are available.

The town will need to make adjustments to its safety, evacuation and housing plans based on the new maps, he said. The town's continued fire mitigation work will also be another focus in 2023.

Town Manager Jeremy Dennis doesn't yet know when the Stanford Terrace housing project, formerly called the Stanford Wedge, will come back to the Planning Commission, but Aalfs expects the Town Council will make a final decision on the development plans this year.

"That's going to be contentious and take a lot of our time," Aalfs said.

The town will also need to tackle rising operational costs, he said, as annual budgets are getting harder to balance.

"Things like the housing and safety element are unfunded mandates," he said. "We can't easily raise taxes. We're at the point of thinking about where more revenue would come from."

Fees from large construction projects could be the answer, but it's going to be a community discussion, he said.

Town resiliency center

Aalfs has long wanted to set up a "resiliency center" with solar panels and batteries at Town Center, where residents could go during a prolonged power outage to charge their phones or sit in an air conditioned area.

The idea was shelved in the past because of the steep price of establishing it.

"I would like to revisit it and look at alternatives for financing it," he said. "My interest has long been in sustainability and resilience for energy."

Resident relations

In 2022, tensions were high between residents, town staff and volunteers. Aalfs said he hopes to cut some of that tension.

"In the past I have done my best to explain what we're (the council) doing and why," he said. "During COVID, I got a lot of positive feedback for trying to explain what was going on in a way that people could understand. ... We're trying to get back to communicating regularly with the residents, in person and on the (PV) Forum. I'm not sure (residents) will like everything we have to do."

Aalfs said he finds the massive public records requests and a Brown Act lawsuit against the town troubling.

"It costs up to tens of thousands of dollars to respond to these things," he said. "It's dozens of hours of staff time. I'm hoping those don't continue, but the reality is people will start using them for certain things. Times have changed."

Aalfs plans to hold office hours, where residents can grab coffee and talk with him, at the beginning of each month.

Aalfs, whose term ends in 2024, doesn't plan to run for reelection next year, something he stated when he ran for office in 2020. Before joining the council he served on the town's Architecture and Site Control Commission for three years.

"It's taken me away from my family at times," he said. "My kids don't remember a time when I wasn't volunteering for the town. I've done a lot and I'm ready for a break."