Los Altos city staff will largely restart their work on the Miramonte Avenue path project after the city council last week voted 3-2 to release the Valley Transportation Authority grant it had secured last year so that city officials could further incorporate residents’ input.
After the council in July directed staff to consult with the VTA on whether revising the plans would make the city ineligible for the $1 million grant, transportation manager Aruna Bodduna reported back Nov. 13 that modifying elements residents had objected to, including raised sidewalks, would mean a complete redesign of the project.
A new design would require restarting the Caltrans environmental review process, Bodduna said, which could take up to six months. The delay would impact project deadlines and cause the city to fail to comply with the policy of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the agency that oversees transportation planning and financing for the entire Bay Area.
City staff recommended that the council authorize them to move forward with the original design.
The response from Miramonte neighborhood residents was overwhelming – more than 20 comment cards were turned in to address the council on the project, largely centered on one question: What is the point of securing a grant for a project if it does not reflect the needs or wants of the people who will be affected years after construction is completed?
Many residents thanked Bodduna and fellow staff for acknowledging the concerns they had voiced at previous meetings, such as the aesthetics of a wider road, elimination of parking, worsening traffic and the incompatibility of sidewalks with the Miramonte neighborhood. Residents did not understand, however, how city staff could recognize that residents opposed the project and still recommend approval.
“I have several concerns about the project, but (mainly) that 95 percent of residents do not want it,” said Blaine Garst, a longtime Eastwood Drive homeowner. “We all want to sit down with the Planning Commission and work out something that works for us.”
Resident Ed Saadi questioned the big-picture plan for Miramonte Avenue in light of the previous decision to close off the arterial streets of Carmel Terrace and Eastwood Drive on a trial basis. That was 10 years ago, and it has led to increased traffic at the intersection of Miramonte and Covington Road.
“The whole approval process has kind of been a joke,” Saadi said. “We’re not for making Miramonte a thoroughfare for Google and Facebook, we’re not for changing the character of Los Altos, we’re not for losing the ability to park in front of our own houses in a suburban neighborhood and we are not for ‘Shut up, take the money and screw the residents.’”
Katherine “Trina” Weller of Loma Prieta Court and four other residents met with the VTA to defeat the narrative – promoted by the council and city staff, including Public Works Director Susanna Chan and VTA and MTC board member and Councilwoman Jeannie Bruins – that rejecting a grant for one project would negatively influence the ability to secure grants in the future.
Weller showed the VTA’s agenda for its next meeting, which includes an action item recommending that the board of directors redirect the city of Los Altos’ grant for the Miramonte project to another project if the original design scope is not followed by Jan. 31 and what would happen if Los Altos did not proceed.
“It says, ‘In that case, the city can apply and qualify for a revised scope in a future funding round without prejudice,’” Weller read. “(We) met with our North County VTA representative, who is a seated, voting member of the board, who confirmed that this means without negative ramifications.”
After hearing out the speakers, councilwomen Lynette Lee Eng and Jan Pepper and Mayor Jean Mordo voted to revise the Miramonte plans and begin again. Bruins and Councilwoman Mary Prochnow dissented.City AffairsLos Altos to seek new grant for revised Miramonte project plansResidents question staff priorities, collectively call for changeCourtesy of susanna chan The Valley Transportation Authority approved the original Miramonte Avenue path design, above, as the city of Los Altos secured a grant to fund the project. Scrapping the design, as residents want, would mean sacrificing the grant and starting over.
