By Katie Hawks and Seth Freedland

Town Crier Editorial Interns

Debate between the Los Altos Hills City Council and a resident group over plans for a new town hall continues despite apparently meeting the group’s concerns about traffic safety in a revised site plan.

Los Altos Hills Mayor Bob Fenwick said last week that the council has decided to undertake a few new design plans. According to city manager Maureen Cassingham, in the new design, the Council Chambers and staff offices are moved to the south side of the property, to decrease its visibility to neighbors. However, she noted the changes were not in response to the concerns of the resident group, which calls itself LAH Outrage.

Another site plan change is the size and location of the town hall’s parking lots. In the new design the parking will be located to the south of town hall, which has been made to increase flexibility into the building, as well as create more parking space. The new parking lot location will increase the parking lot capacity from 44 to 54 spaces. The original design proposed a parking entrance on Fremont Avenue which, besides being viewed as dangerous to users and bikers, was to be placed directly next to a path frequeently used by children from Bullis-Purissima School.

“I applaud (the city council) for moving forward,” said Mark Breier, a member of LAH Outrage. “This is a strong 50 percent of the way.”

Town officials were close to approving the schematic plan for the proposed $3.5 million building. However, LAH Outrage, which consists mainly of neighbors in the town hall area, found the plans too expensive, the building too large and obtrusive, and the parking lot arrangements inappropriate.

A major concern among town residents was the future of Heritage House. Original plans had a large parking lot planned for the historic building space and the open space around it. But Cassingham has stated that in the new design plans Heritage House and it’s surrounding land will not be moved or destroyed.

However, LAH Outrage members are unhappy a catering kitchen is still in the plans for the facility. Breier said that he is “adamantly opposed” to this facet of the proposal.

“The neighbors want no new nighttime activities - other than the current town hall meetings, new resident gatherings, and occasional art show,” Breier said.

The resident group also is concerned with what members consider a lavish town hall plan, with the new building considerably larger than the current one.

“In a town where our elementary schools are in trailers and we don’t have enough money to retain all of our teachers or pay for toilet paper for our school, why would we build this Taj Mahal?” asked Los Altos Hills resident Steve Kelem on the organization’s website.

However, council members do not consider the plans lavish.

Council members still plan to meet on both July 11 and 18 to further discuss both new and previous plans for Town Hall.