A Portola Valley resident's threatened lawsuit against the Town Council and Planning Commission if they don't rescind their votes approving environmental studies for the town's housing and safety plan, has been delayed until at least Sept. 11.

The Town Council voted 3-0 in closed session during its June 27 meeting, with Vice Mayor Sarah Wernikoff absent and Council member Mary Hufty abstaining, to extend a so-called tolling agreement, which establishes a deadline for the parties to negotiate before a plaintiff will file suit to enforce legal rights. The tolling agreement originally lasted into June.

The threatened litigation by PublicSafety4PVNow, a company controlled by Lloyd "Rusty" Day, challenges the council's approval of the environmental review and zoning code amendments and seeks to have a "privileged and confidential" settlement discussion between Day and town officials. The Town Council submitted its latest iteration of the state-mandated housing element in May, around the time the lawsuit was threatened.

The town is required to come up with housing and safety element plans to submit to the state every eight years, which were on due Jan. 31. This latest round includes an obligation to plan for much more new housing than in years past, and San Mateo County municipalities have struggled to submit plans that meet the stricter state requirements. Portola Valley's housing element has yet to be accepted by state housing officials.

Resident Dave Cardinal offered to help donate to a town legal defense fund to "make sure we don't need to cave to bullies," during the June 27 meeting.

In a May 4 letter to the Town Council and town attorney, Day, claimed that the environmental review conducted by the town, called an initial study/mitigated negative declaration, is "deficient in numerous important ways." PublicSafety4PVNow wants the town to undertake a full environmental impact report to assess the significant adverse environmental impacts that changes to municipal code and the elements themselves would have on wildfire risks, geology and transportation, the letter said.

"Given the catastrophic impact in recent years of the fires on the Coffey Park, Paradise, and Marshall communities, as well as countless others, it is essential that the wildfire impacts be thoroughly studied in accordance with CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) to avoid a similar disaster," according to the letter, written by Silicon Valley Law Group on behalf of PublicSafety4PVNow. "We believe that it would be beneficial if the parties had the opportunity to further discuss the issues raised in this letter to avoid any need for litigation to enforce the applicable CEQA requirements."