Traffic/Development

Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier
A city notice posted at 4898 El Camino Real – current home of seven businesses, including The Futon Shop – notifies residents that multifamily housing may occupy the lot in the future. A preliminary application filed by developer Mircea Voskerician outlines plans for a five-story, 23-unit building.

Looking to avoid a replay of last year’s drawn-out planning process for the mixed-use Altos One project along the El Camino Real corridor, developer Mircea Voskerician offered assurances to nearby residents who aired concerns about another proposed complex at the Los Altos Planning Commission meeting Feb. 21.

Voskerician’s new Altos Two project – the only item on the commission’s agenda – drew complaints from neighbors, who contended that residential buildings along El Camino are decreasing the commercial aspect of the area’s thoroughfare zoning.

Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier

Funds allocated through Measure B will be used to improve congested stretches of Foothill Expressway, affecting traffic flow in intersections like the one with San Antonio Road, above.

The recent release of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority funding from Measure B’s half-cent sales tax could mean more than $1.5 million over two years headed to Los Altos for city road repairs and maintenance. Additional funds will go toward improvements along Interstate 280 and Foothill Expressway in Los Altos.

Affordable housing doesn’t have to look bulky, ugly or out of place. Multifamily units can even fit in alongside single-family homes.

That seemed to be the takeaway advocates wanted to impress on attendees at the Jan. 31 forum “Affordable Housing: Ideas for Los Altos,” held at the Los Altos main library. Sponsored by several sympathetic local nonprofit organizations, the event pushed the theme that even an entrenched bedroom community like Los Altos has options – if the will is there.

Increasing the availability of affordable housing in Los Altos doesn’t mean building tenements or attracting riffraff who will ruin the community. Conversely, supporters claim it will enhance quality of life by providing workers a place to live and decreasing job turnover, commutes and traffic.

Local advocates hope to drive the point home at a forum titled “Affordable Housing: Ideas for Los Altos,” scheduled 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Los Altos main library, 13 S. San Antonio Road.

The California Supreme Court Jan. 23 denied an appeal aimed at blocking Santa Clara County’s Measure B traffic relief and transit improvement initiative, clearing the way for $6.3 billion in projects to proceed – including improvements to congested Foothill Expressway in Los Altos.

Measure B, a 30-year, half-cent sales tax, was approved by nearly 72 percent of Santa Clara County voters in November 2016. The state Supreme Court was the last of three courts that ruled in favor of enacting Measure B, enabling the Valley Transportation Authority to disburse funds for transit improvements.

Skinner

District 9 State Sen. Nancy Skinner used the social media platform Twitter to “fact check” Los Altos Mayor Lynette Lee Eng, who last week said a bill Skinner helped draft forces small cities to become urban centers comparable to New York City’s Manhattan borough.