Note: This is an evolving story. This page will be updated as more information becomes available.
Portola Valley considers ordinance changes to reconcile with state laws regarding ADU construction, but not wildfire safety measures
May 2, 2021. Portola Valley’s Planning Department presented its proposal to resolve discrepancies between State law and local ordinances to the Planning Commission on April 21, 2021. The proposal included a number of changes that should concern local residents. For example, with few exceptions, every property would be entitled to construct an ADU with ministerial (non-public, non-discretionary) review and the required setback from the property line would be decreased to 4’ regardless of what is specified in existing ordinances (typically 10-20’).
Perhaps the most alarming aspect of the proposal was the Planning Department’s decision to exclude consideration of Portola Valley's unique wildfire hazards in the changes. Where State law conflicts with Portola Valley’s ordinances addressing seismic safety, the Planning Department proposes that Portola Valley’s seismic safety ordinances be retained. It also recommends retaining ordinances addressing access for fire equipment on lots smaller than one acre. However, it would allow ADUs in all zoning districts without provisions to limit additional structures in the highest risk areas. Indeed, the Town has yet to provide a formal location-based assessment of hazard and risk, despite a 2008 study it commissioned identifying 19 highest risk areas, and a 2012 state law mandating such an assessment along with policies and ordinances to mitigate the risk.
The separation distance between residential homes and neighboring structures, including sheds, barns, ADUs and other residences, contributes significantly to the vulnerability of homes to structure-to-structure ignition in wildland landscapes such as Portola Valley. In communities like Portola Valley, the National Fire Protection Association, the nation’s leading resource on fire hazards, calls for a 30 foot building setback from property lines, a separation distance between structures of at least 15 feet if both structures are protected with automatic sprinkler systems and 30 feet if they are not, and a separation distance of 50 feet if any structure without automatic sprinklers is two stories or greater (NFPA 1141.6.2 and 1144.5.1.3).
What is PVNU’s position?
PVNU believes that wildfire is the gravest, most imminent threat facing our community. As with geologic risk, our Town’s ordinances should be designed to mitigate that risk. Rather than diluting our approach to safety in order to accommodate the concerns of outside entities that have no vested interest in our community or our safety, wildfire risk mitigation should be the starting point. Ordinance changes should mitigate the risk, not exacerbate it.
The proposed ordinance changes highlight the importance of and urgent need for a comprehensive wildfire hazard and risk assessment, an analysis PVNU has long sought, and California law has required since 2012. The absence of the State-mandated wildfire hazard and risk assessment raises important unanswered questions for Portola Valley:
Are there High and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones within town?
If so, where are they and what risks to neighboring populations and infrastructure do they pose?
What areas of our community are at greatest risk?
What enhancements are needed in evacuation routes to ensure residents can successfully escape the vast majority of anticipated wildfire scenarios?
What wildfire scenarios are predicted for our town?
The expertise to address these questions exists. The answers to these pressing questions is required by State law and should inform any change in our ordinances and Housing Element. A comprehensive hazard and risk assessment is long overdue and urgently needed.
What important considerations were ignored during the 4/21/2021 Planning Commission meeting?
According to the proposed ordinance changes, ADUs would be carefully regulated in geologically unsuitable areas, consistent with our existing ordinances. But ADU construction would not be similarly regulated in Very High or High Fire Hazard Severity Zones. Why would Portola Valley allow such construction in dangerous High or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones?
90% of wildfires are caused by human activity. Why would Portola Valley allow new construction in High or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones?
Ordinance changes would allow one ADU and one ‘junior’ ADU for each existing household. This would potentially double or triple the number of households needing evacuation during a disaster. How long would it take to successfully complete a mass evacuation? For what fraction of the wildfire scenarios we face would successful evacuation even be possible?
California’s catastrophic wildfires demonstrate that radiant heat produced by burning structures in Oakland, Santa Rosa, Paradise, Berry Creek and many other communities was a principal cause of widespread neighborhood destruction. This is why our existing ordinances require minimum parcel sizes per residence, minimum setbacks, and limit the total size of structures per parcel based on total lot size (limitations that the proposed changes would exceed). Why is structure-to-structure distance not addressed in the ordinances?
What can you do?
Follow the development of these issues by attending Town Council and Planning Commission meetings, typically on Wednesdays of each week
Make your views known to the Town Council and Planning Commission
Sign our letter asking the Town Council to make wildfire safety its highest priority, expedite the wildfire hazard and risk assessment, and perform a town-wide evacuation to facilitate training and planning