By Hank Lessing and Anna Weldon
In September 1973, the Los Altos Town Crier cover showed a photo taken at the corner of Campbell Avenue and Covington Road. The impressive pepper trees that line the mostly one acre lots of Covington (between Campbell and El Monte) were Los Altos landmarks, but also served as a gateway into what is known as Costello Acres.
In 1916, Francis Costello initiated the original subdivision and had lots deed-restricted to 40,000 square feet. In 1973, the restrictions expired and Los Altos developers wanted to subdivide the lots into R1-10 (quarter-acre) lots. Landowners fought to preserve these lots and the neighborhood’s special rural character. Through the enthusiastic support of large numbers of townspeople, the city council was petitioned to change the zoning in the area to R1-20 (half-acre), and to set the lot widths greater than Los Altos standards, ensuring that the lots would never be split. The council agreed; the result was the preservation of a rare city asset, an entire residential subdivision of near-acre lots.
That was 32 years ago. Residents came together to preserve the very principles on which Los Altos was founded: low density, low traffic, quiet residential neighborhoods close to, but not deteriorated by, commercial enterprises.
Today, Costello Acres is saturated, serving Covington School, a child-care center, St. William’s, the two existing Pinewood School campuses with 320-plus students and staff, and soon the proposed Rosita Pool complex. Pinewood is by all accounts a good school providing quality education. It’s also a private, non-profit commercial enterprise. By Pinewood’s own choice, they have located in the middle of a residential neighborhood with limited access to arterial streets: nearly every student must be driven to school, generating four neighborhood trips per day each. With more than 60 percent of the campus population from outside Los Altos, any growth means more traffic on already overloaded streets.
Costello Acres is again in serious danger with Pinewood’s latest proposal to expand its lower campus onto residential property at 450 Covington Road, and beyond that, further residential land acquisition for potential school growth between the lower and middle campuses on Fremont. Pinewood has proposed a new use permit with a 65 percent increase in enrollment over the currently approved 108. Even at current use-permit levels, the traffic generated by the two Fremont campuses exceeds the traffic density which would have been generated by all the possible subdivisions of Costello Acres which residents voted to eliminate 32 years ago.
Residents now see this issue as a battle between overly permissive zoning guidelines that allow a Public Community Facility (PCF) on any one-acre lot and a neighborhood that has continuously fought to save itself from subdivision and development. How should Costello Acres residents protect themselves from developers who acquire a neighbor’s one-acre lot and then ask the city for the same treatment?
To date, the planning commission and city staff have wavered. Other neighborhoods have controlled their future by voting for no two-story overlays. Pinewood’s existing lower-campus property could easily support the world-class school they desire for a campus of 108 students, and create a smoother traffic flow as well. Only because they want to grow further, do they want this expansion. Will the city council deny this project and grant Costello Acres the same self-destiny with a no-PCF overlay? Or will entire blocks of this rare Los Altos asset succumb to nonresidential development? We believe approval of this project will set a significant negative precedent moving forward for all Los Altos neighborhoods, and encourage concerned residents to express their opinions to the city council on May 10.
Hank Lessing and Anna Weldon are long-time Costello Acres residents.
04/28/2005
