By Bruce Barton
For Bill Kerns, the Los Altos Hills Planning Commission’s approval last week of steps toward subdividing his Francemont Drive property meant leaping yet another hurdle in the difficult process of building his hilltop dream home. For surrounding residents and others, the commission’s approval flew in the face of reason and perhaps the town’s own regulations.
Kerns’ proposal comes at a time when he is running for a seat on the Los Altos Hills City Council and currently sits on the planning commission. Kerns recused himself from voting in last Thursday’s unanimous decision to approve a negative declaration and tentative parcel map, both vital steps toward subdividing his steep-sloped property. The proposed subdivision goes before the city council Oct. 3.
Kerns said he needs to subdivide his property because he has run out of money due to the construction process that has overshot estimates. “I’ve liquidated all of my assets,” Kerns said last Friday. “I don’t have enough money, but I don’t want to sell the property.”
To continue, Kerns must subdivide to create another parcel from which he can draw another bank loan. “I don’t want to sell off the lower lot,” he said, but allowed he might have to. In order to attain the new lot’s required acreage, the proposed subdivision involves a gerrymandering of property lines, with some points as narrow as 50 feet. Kerns wants to subdivide his 21.34-acre parcel into two lots of 7.56 and 13.78 net acres.
Several town residents are crying foul. One of the conditions of the property, first subdivided into three parcels in 1988, was that the lot cannot be subdivded further. However, Kerns pointed out an additional stipulation that future councils could change that condition. “I knew that when I bought the property (in 1996),” he said.
Kerns, who had his plans denied by the town in 1997 and again in 1999, received approval in 2000 under a new council that was more sympathetic to housing developers.
Longtime town planning observer Dorothea Schreiner sees the latest Kerns proposal as major problem and approval could set precedent for other such gerrymandered lots.
Schreiner, who also served on the planning commission, recalled that past commissions and councils had been concerned with the steepness of the lot and “the real disturbance of land.”
“In order for the council to overturn the condition (of no further subdivision), they have to prove that the ordinances and codes will allow this subdivision,” Schreiner said.
She said the proposed lot is on land with close to a 50 percent slope on property prone to landslides and “should not be developed according to land use regulations.”
She added that the council considered a policy in 2000 that would allow property widths from 30-60 feet, but were unclear on the policy. “If it’s 60 feet, he’s in violation,” Schreiner said.
Conservation easements, including one near the Kerns property, also are threatened because homeowners have the option of paying fees to get rid of them, Schreiner said. “Conservation easements are the backbone of open space in town,” she said.
“People have subverted the word of law,” said frustrated neighbor Lysbeth Goodman. “They’ve lost sight of the long term (look of the hills) and property values.”
“What’s happening here is just part of the overall picture of what’s happening in the hills - more development, less control,” Schreiner said.
Some residents have speculated that Kerns was running for council to protect his own interests, but he said that assertion was “absolutely false. The subdivision will be OK’d prior to me taking office,” he said.
Kerns reiterated he is running because he wants to see the progress made by this past council continue, with housing projects approved based on conformance with town regulations, not the subjectivity of town board members.
“I’m worried some candidates will take us back in time,” he said.
