With under a week until the deadline for a compliant housing element, and faced with possible fines and other repercussions for falling behind, the Portola Valley town staff announced they won't submit the plan to the state next week.

During a nearly six hour meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 25, council members followed staff direction to not to submit the housing element by Tuesday, Jan. 31, because they said the plans are not ready. Instead, they intend to submit the plan up to 120 days from Jan. 25, likely in early March.

Other Bay Area cities are rushing to submit compliant elements by the deadline next week.

Town Attorney Cara Silver said that there's no definitive answer to when the town could face fines for missing the deadline or the so-called builder's remedy, which allows for residential projects to move forward even if they do not comply with local development standards. She doesn't expect the builder's remedy to come into play until the end of May.

"My sense is they're completely overwhelmed," Silver said of the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD)'s compliance staff. She said they haven't started to impose fees on Southern California cities that are months out of compliance. "We have an assigned reviewer who is wonderful." She said she was hopeful that with Building and Planning Director Laura Russell's relationship with HCD staff and the council's continued engagement, "we will not be targeted."

She also noted that she doesn't think civil lawsuit by developers and housing advocates will occur immediately.

Jeremy Levine, a policy with the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County, said he thinks the town could face lawsuits if it doesn't turn in its plan on time. He has been supportive of the town's housing element plan, which includes a greater mix of housing types than other Bay Area towns.

"Portola Valley is playing with fire," he said. :When cities delay moving forward with their housing elements, they ware putting themselves at risk of penalties."

The town is required to plan for 253 new units that could reasonably be built between 2023 and 2031 as part of the 2023-31 Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA). This is a steep increase from the 64 units required during the last RHNA cycle.

Staff said the delay gives the town time to hear feedback from the Woodside Fire Protection District on the plan at a Feb. 15 Planning Commission meeting. Council member Judith Hasko questioned why the feedback from the fire marshal couldn't come sooner.

"This is real life so it's no one's fault," Hasko noted.

Mayor Jeff Aalfs said he's still worried about the possibility of the builder's remedy.

In a Friday, Jan. 27, note, Aalfs told residents the delay is not anyone's fault.

"Dozens of people, professional and volunteer, have worked extremely hard over the past two years trying to meet the deadline, but the various details and last-minute concerns have simply been too much," he said. "The previous council pushed hard to meet the deadline (which is mandated by state law) and the new council has also committed to finishing the process as quickly as we can. While being late does create some risks, we feel that we can manage those risks effectively."

Vice Mayor Sarah Wernikoff told The Almanac on Thursday, Jan. 26, that she's been working on the housing element for nearly 18 months, and can say without a doubt there's nothing obstructionist about the delay but the issue is "there's a lot of work to do and it's really about getting the work done."

"Our intent is to get this done as soon as possible," she said.

Council member Craig Taylor told The Almanac on Friday, Jan. 27, that the main holdup is that the town needs to complete general plan amendments and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) work before turning in the plan. He noted that the town needed to be realistic about when it could submit the plan and that it only has so many staff members to sift through the resident feedback to CEQA work.

"I believe these are decisions of the council," he said. "We've been working pretty hard to get something in that they're (the state) going to accept."

On staff guidance, the council opted to bifurcate the process by separating the zoning code amendments required in the housing element with the housing element adoption to speed up the process. Still, the town now expects the plan to come back to the council in late February.

HCD sent feedback to the town on its initial housing element draft in early November.

Neighboring Woodside and Atherton plan to adopt their housing element plans at meetings on Jan. 31.

Resident feedback

Some residents were supportive of the town holding off on submitting the plan to HCD, while others thought the town should get the process rolling faster.

"The five of you could approve the housing element this minute," said resident Dave Cardinal. "I understand why you're not, but it's not for lack of the staff working. You can keep kicking the can down the road. We can just pretend we live in a make believe world. If we keep making up new issues every month, then we'll be here a year from now."

Resident Caroline Vertongen said the town should not rush into approving a housing element before it has a safety element in place. The town has continued to ignore the need for the safety element to be done first, she said.

"There's so much unknown," she said. "We have a reason to object and raise comments."

Residents also brought up concerns with the housing element not being consistent with the town's general plan.

Resident Jon Silver said he was annoyed with the "constant factual attacks" on town volunteers.

Site owner asks town to remove his property from the element

Earlier this week, Jim White, who owns the lot at 4394 Alpine Road, asked to pull the site from the housing element site inventory. The town had included 23 units of low-housing on the property if it's upzoned.

This is a separate property from 4388 Alpine Road, which he plans to develop as the Willow Commons, housing for adults with disabilities. His fee waiver for this site was not approved by the Town Council, town staff shared on Wednesday.

"The purchase of 4394 Alpine occurred almost a half year after deciding to go forward with the Willow Commons project as a supportive housing community for individuals with intellectual and developmental delays (IDD)," Jim and Patty White said in a Jan. 27 email to The Almanac. "It was purchased with a defensive intent, specifically to have an influence on what would be developed next to the Willow Commons' permanent housing for a vulnerable population."

"As seen in the draft Portola Valley housing element, Willow Commons is a crucial pipeline project for the upcoming RHNA 6 cycle. It is Portola Valley's first deed-restricted, affordable multi-family housing and the first permanent supportive housing project to support adults with IDD. Willow Commons will provide roughly 25% of Portola Valley's total RHNA 6 low-income units for the coming eight-year RHNA cycle. We expect that the 4394 Alpine Road property will ultimately have a role to play as well, and anticipate that decisions around it will take a similar team effort including a partnership with a nonprofit development group and a timeline that may not align with the town's for its upcoming housing element certification filing. Our decision and timeline are motivated by our commitment to identifying the right solution for a population that has increasingly fewer housing options in our area."

Watch the Jan. 25 council meeting here.