By Tim Seyfert

The Los Altos Hills City Council approved a final design for the new town hall structure last week during a public hearing that allowed residents to put their final two-cents in on the revised floor plans.

The structure’s “modified rural” design was first voted on in April by residents, who chose among four proposed style choices. The final design, characterized by large windows, exposed rafters, wide overhangs and low roofs, incorporated residents’ input from ballot surveys, with the majority asking for an inviting, open structure that matched the character of the town, Councilmember Breene Kerr said.

The finalized plan entails a structure just over 8,000 square feet to be built on a budget of around $3.75 million, a 25 percent to 40 percent slash from last year’s originally proposed mission-style structure.

The new building, by architect Peter Duxbury of the Los Altos-based Duxbury Architects, will include three separate meeting rooms, an expandable council chambers via a moveable wall and a 10-kilowatt solar panel to conserve energy.

After more than a year of heated debate concerning the new town hall’s construction, the crowd laughed and clapped in agreement when resident Jitze Couperus said, “I find this whole thing unsatisfactory … I’m dissatisfied because, for once, I unfortunately have nothing to complain about. Everything sounds good.”