By Elizabeth Cloutman

LAH council postpones deeding easements to water district

Santa Clara Valley Water District officials say a 10-year Adobe Creek Watershed project construction along West Edith Avenue could be delayed by as much as a year because the Los Altos Hills City Council postponed whether to deed two storm drain easements to the district until Jan. 17.

The council’s hesitation to deed storm drain easements along a Fremont Road property and at the rear of West Edith Park were the result of an alteration of the water district’s original plans, which were approved in 1999. During field work, engineers discovered that due to specific physical constraints, the proposed channel needed to be slightly deeper and wider. After meeting with affected town residents, district officials came up with a new design.

The water district held public hearings and in January, the residents endorsed the design. According to district officials, the new plans and construction specifications are 80 percent complete.

The request for a 90-day postponement , starting Oct. 2, came from a town resident who feared he would lose several old-growth redwood trees on his Fremont Road property if the water district carried out its proposed design. Didier Rogez said the San Francisco hydrology firm he hired to develop an alternative design would need that time to prepare plans.

“We’ve spent many years and we’ve had many public meetings on this plan,” Jennie Micko, the water district’s assistant operating officer said of the plans approved in 1999. She said the 90-day postponement could delay the project, scheduled to begin next year, until 2003.

The council also delayed a decision on granting a second, related easement over a rear portion of West Edith (De Anza) Park, where the watercourse runs. A report prepared by town planner Carl Cahill noted that while the planning commission had recommended granting the easement, a majority were opposed to the 3-foot, split-rail fence the water district wants to construct to protect new creekside plantings that will be put into place once the watershed project is completed. A majority of the commissioners indicated they didn’t want any portion of the park, including the creek to be permanently cordoned off from resident access.