Los Altos City Council – April 2025

April 8

On the consent agenda, the City Council authorized a contract with ACE Parking for parking enforcement services as part of upgraded parking regulations discussed at the March 25 meeting.

The City Council held a public hearing about upgrading city lighting performance standards and bird-safe design. The Planning Commission recommended to improve the lighting standards for residential outdoor lighting to 3000 Kelvin, lowering the heat generated. In addition, blinking, flashing, and rotating lights are proposed to be prohibited on housing as well as searchlights, spotlights, and aerial lasers. The new standards include providing fixtures on streetlamps to focus the lighting downward. The City Council approved the recommendations unanimously. An ordinance will be approved at the April 22 meeting.

Seven residents commented on the need to implement bird safety requirements for new or remodeled housing. A possible requirement offered was glazing on windows for two story buildings that are in the migration path of regional birds. The City Council did not approve the design for bird safety, citing the lack of bird deaths from window-collision in Los Altos.

The City Council approved the next steps for a downtown Performing Arts Center Project. They approved $300,000 to hire a professional fundraiser with the objective of building a 160 seat theater that could be used for the Los Altos Stage Company, including the Children’s Theater project sponsored by LASC during the summer. The complex could also be a place for concerts and speakers. It would be located on Parking Plaza 2. To proceed with the substantial fundraising, a steering committee would be formed by a member from LASC, Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation, and philanthropic residents to find a fundraising professional. Then a “Capital Campaign Cabinet” would be established to raise the $25 million to build the downtown theater.

The comments from residents mainly concerned spending on a project when the city’s focus should be on the economy and safety in the city before entertainment. Other comments supported the project, reminding the council and audience that all large projects are at first deemed risky. When completed nobody can imagine the town without promoting the arts.

April 22

On the consent agenda, the City Council approved the updated lighting performance standards without bird-safe design and allocated $300,000 from the City Manager’s Department Operating Budget to the Los Altos-Mountain View Community Foundation for promoting the downtown Performing Arts Center Project as agreed on April 8.

The City Council reviewed the sponsorship levels of various special events held on city property, last modified in October 2023. Because of court rulings, city staff was directed to compose a resolution that creates clear guidelines for city-sponsorship and mark such sponsored events as “government speech." Such events vary from one-time events, to the weekend-long Art and Wine Festival, to the weekly Farmers Market. Full city-sponsorship means the city bears the full cost of city services; half city-sponsorship means half. The biggest city service cost is shutting down the street for an event, which has been done by the Police Department on a minimum overtime or call-out basis. The resolution to upgrade the guidelines will be presented at the May 13 council meeting.

Claire Noonan, Observer