By Los Altos

Town Crier Staff Report

The Los Altos City Council last week lifted a yearlong freeze that prohibited residents from improving their street fronts until the city approved a policy regulating paving and landscaping along street shoulders.

Under a draft policy, the council agreed that residents may use concrete asphalt or brick pavers to create a hardscape for parking in areas that lie in the public-right-of-way between unimproved city streets and residential property.

A paved surface may not measure more than 19 feet from the center of the roadway to the edge of the improved shoulder area in order to keep roads narrow and prevent cars from speeding. The city is currently in the process of narrowing certain city streets in order to slow traffic speeds.

The shoulder improvements must also include a 3-foot drainage swale along the roadway and landscaping, which must begin 21 feet from the center of the roadway.

The policy will apply to the city’s approximately 30 miles of unimproved streets, defined as roadways that do not have curbs along their edges, according to a city report. All new projects, as well as upgrades to existing projects along the shoulder areas will fall under the policy, except for improvements along El Monte and Miramonte avenues.

Residents often landscape or pave shoulder areas for off-street parking, city staff said. In the past, the city’s engineering staff has looked at projects on a case-by-case basis and has made recommendations based on the character of a particular street. The policy is intended to put a uniform policy in place and create a similar street front.