By Only two-thirds majority vote needed for overlay, council says

Town Crier Staff Report

Los Altos residents don’t need a super majority vote anymore to ban two-story homes from their neighborhoods. The Los Altos City Council last week revamped the city’s one-story overlay ordinance to make the process smoother for those applying for the zoning change.

Neighborhoods need only a two-thirds majority vote rather than a super majority under the changed ordinance. The city will only include actual votes cast rather than including all non votes as a “no” as previously done.

If a neighborhood cannot get the vote needed to pass the overlay zone, it is ineligible to vote for the zoning for seven years.

Neighborhoods told the council that including non votes as no votes and getting a super majority was difficult since neighbors who choose to be neutral and not vote could greatly effect the outcome.

Jay Street resident Leslie Lodestro, who was a major force in pushing such an ordinance through city hall, said her neighborhood stopped its application because two houses went on the market.

Even though all of the neighbors supported the overlay zone, neighbors would not have been able to achieve the super majority needed if the city counted the two vacant houses’ non votes as no votes, she said.

The council adopted the overlay ordinance in May 2000 to provide residents the opportunity to temporarily prohibit the construction of two-story homes or additions in their neighborhoods through secret ballot.

The council decided to fine tune the ordinance this fall after the zoning law hit a snag regarding the establishment of neighborhood boundaries during one of the application processes.

“We tried to craft a perfect (ordinance), and in practice, all of its absurdities were exposed,” said Councilman Francis La Poll.

Under the ordinance changes, the overlay will no longer expire after seven years. It will stay in place indefinitely until a two-thirds of the neighborhood vote to remove the zoning. Neighborhoods must complete the confidential ballot process within a four-week time period.

The council left the boundary guidelines unchanged, saying applicants should determine whether they desire backyard privacy or a cohesive streetfront.

Voting

Two-thirds majority needed to pass overlay

Only votes cast count

Renewal

Automatic renewal unless a two-thirds majority votes to reverse the overlay

Time

All secret ballot voting must be completed within four weeks