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[0:04]
So, we'll call to order. I don't think
[0:07]
we need a formal roll call visual
[0:08]
confirmation. All five present. Um,
[0:11]
we'll move right on to communications.
[0:13]
Are there any members of the public or
[0:15]
otherwise that would like to make a
[0:16]
comment during public communications?
[0:19]
>> I have any comments.
[0:20]
>> Ah, okay. Thank you. Just for the
[0:22]
record, um I'll indicate that council
[0:25]
member Gold has indicated to me that he
[0:26]
will be recusing as you move into close
[0:29]
session is a real uh property interest
[0:32]
conflict which is recognizing.
[0:35]
>> Great.
[0:36]
>> Thank you.
[0:37]
>> I am I'm going to mention that right at
[0:38]
the top here. Uh so tonight, thank you.
[0:40]
I am speaking as a private citizen
[0:43]
tonight because I'm recusing myself from
[0:44]
the close session. Um, I'm here to talk
[0:47]
about the parcel that runs along the
[0:50]
east side of Interstate 280 that you're
[0:52]
going to be discussing in a few minutes.
[0:53]
Sadly, this public comment session will
[0:56]
be the only opportunity that I or any
[0:58]
other interested party doesn't look like
[0:59]
there are any, um, will have to provide
[1:03]
input to our elected officials. So, my
[1:05]
first question for you is where did this
[1:08]
issue even come from? When you sit on
[1:11]
that side of the room, you're supposed
[1:12]
to know pretty much everything that's
[1:13]
going on in the town.
[1:15]
Um, but I never heard of this possible
[1:17]
land deal before I got an email from the
[1:19]
town just 4 days ago. Who authorized
[1:21]
this? What's behind this? And why is
[1:24]
this discussion being held behind closed
[1:26]
doors? This could have been done at our
[1:27]
regular town council meeting. It's not
[1:30]
like tonight's agenda is so jam-packed
[1:32]
that we couldn't have squeezed this in,
[1:35]
mayor.
[1:37]
Um, but shouldn't our citizens know that
[1:40]
we're contemplating such a consequential
[1:41]
act? This is a big deal. Uh, but my
[1:44]
larger point is why are we doing this at
[1:46]
all? Who wants this? From what I can
[1:49]
tell, there's just one person in our
[1:51]
entire town who's interested in doing
[1:53]
that, and that's Chris Shaw. And he's
[1:56]
not an elected official. People voted
[1:58]
for you. They didn't vote for him. You
[2:01]
set the agenda, not him. And the reason
[2:04]
I took the time to put this little
[2:06]
speech together, which by the way runs 3
[2:08]
minutes and 40 seconds if I do it right,
[2:10]
um, is that the four of you are about to
[2:12]
open up Pandora's box
[2:15]
because once you start discussing the
[2:17]
terms and the price of a parcel, the
[2:19]
last chapter of this story is going to
[2:22]
be a painful repetition of the
[2:24]
contentious housing element hearings we
[2:26]
had in this very room a little over a
[2:28]
year ago. I'm sure you all remember
[2:30]
that. You're going to be forced by the
[2:32]
state to build a bunch of apartment
[2:35]
buildings on a 22acre parcel. That's not
[2:38]
a secret. That's the plan. Chris Shaw
[2:42]
said so in the San Francisco Chronicle
[2:44]
that's sitting in front of you right
[2:45]
now. This article that I had sent to you
[2:48]
this afternoon.
[2:50]
It starts by talking price and terms and
[2:53]
the dominoes then start to fall. It's
[2:56]
going to be a bargain price now that
[2:58]
Calrans has been strong armed by Senator
[3:00]
Becker, who did so, by the way, without
[3:03]
any of us asking him to. So, be prepared
[3:06]
to be peppered with endless
[3:07]
uncomfortable questions. How can you
[3:10]
possibly pass up this bargain? Closing
[3:13]
that Pandora's box is not going to be so
[3:15]
easy. This is a blunder, I think, of
[3:18]
epic proportions with major consequences
[3:20]
for our town. I know I'm prone to
[3:22]
hyperbole. I don't think I'm
[3:24]
exaggerating here.
[3:26]
If we learned anything from the last
[3:28]
housing cycle, it's that the only
[3:30]
leverage HC has over us is forcing us to
[3:34]
build on parcels that we own and we
[3:37]
control. That's the lesson we learned.
[3:39]
If we own parcels, Raundo and High Road
[3:42]
and anything else, they can force us to
[3:44]
do stuff. In this case, what how many
[3:48]
times did I hear people say Sacramento
[3:50]
is holding a gun to our heads?
[3:53]
You probably all said that. I know. I
[3:55]
heard Chris say that many times. Our
[3:57]
town's one saving grace is that we own
[3:59]
so few parcels, most of them are
[4:01]
unbuildable. Do you really want to give
[4:03]
HCD an additional 22 acres to use
[4:07]
against us? And owning this parcel is
[4:09]
hardly going to be free. Right now, we
[4:11]
get 100% of the recreational and scenic
[4:13]
benefits of this parcel for zero cost
[4:17]
and zero liability. It's all on CALR.
[4:20]
Why would we want to change that? So,
[4:22]
what I'm asking you to do is hit the
[4:24]
pause button and first determine if
[4:27]
Woodside should be acquiring any surplus
[4:30]
lands before we go off halfcock
[4:32]
negotiating price and terms before this
[4:35]
Kines's out of control. And if our
[4:37]
citizens don't want it, we should tell
[4:39]
Calrans, "Thanks, but we're not buyers
[4:41]
at this time." That's the right answer.
[4:44]
A little caution costs you absolutely
[4:46]
nothing, but it will spare everyone a
[4:48]
lot of turmoil and stress. But if this
[4:50]
discussion about acquiring this parcel
[4:52]
goes any further, the dominoes are
[4:54]
surely going to start to fall. And don't
[4:56]
be surprised when you find yourself
[4:58]
forced to go out against our citizens
[5:00]
and put a bunch of apartment buildings
[5:02]
there. I'm sure you'll complain that
[5:04]
Sacramento is holding a gun to our head
[5:06]
again, but the unfortunate truth is that
[5:09]
you gave them 22 acres of ammunition.
[5:12]
Good governance and transparency. Two
[5:15]
things Woodside prides itself on is
[5:17]
first finding out if our citizens want
[5:20]
or need additional lands and the
[5:22]
consequences of those. Thank you and
[5:24]
thank you for the accommodation on time.
[5:26]
>> Of course. Thank you, Mr. Gold. Any
[5:28]
other public comments? Mr. Burrow.
[5:32]
>> Uh David Burrow, 135 Sheridan Way. Uh
[5:36]
thank you. I would I'm here really to I
[5:38]
uh when I found out about the uh topic
[5:41]
for this meeting, I was quite surprised.
[5:44]
Uh again, as Paul, I had not aware of
[5:47]
any prior discussions about the town's
[5:49]
interest in acquiring land. And um I'm
[5:52]
not aware of any pressure that
[5:54]
Sacramento is putting on us to do
[5:56]
something that would cause us to want to
[5:58]
do this. And uh if we want to do this
[6:01]
just in case, that's not a very good
[6:03]
reason. And I think the one thing you
[6:05]
should think about is as Paul mentioned
[6:07]
is that when you see and and and maybe
[6:10]
there's a legal reason why it's reads
[6:12]
out the way it does in the agenda, but
[6:14]
when it looks like you're negotiating,
[6:16]
it looks like the decisions already been
[6:18]
taken that we're interested in buying
[6:20]
land. And again, I think you you you
[6:22]
know, this has the risk of, you know,
[6:25]
losing a lot of trust that I think the
[6:27]
town has in the in the council, in the town staff and in the processes
[6:32]
that we followed in the past. I can't
[6:34]
think of another issue in, you know, in
[6:37]
my time where something caused me to
[6:40]
wonder, you know, what is really going
[6:42]
on? Can we is this really a transparent
[6:44]
organization that is going to seek input
[6:46]
before it takes action? And so whether
[6:49]
or not that it you know is it was really
[6:51]
what you maybe you were just trying to
[6:52]
find out what the price was and there
[6:53]
was no other way to do it. But if that
[6:56]
was if it was anything more than that
[6:57]
then you you're really you know starting
[6:59]
to break the bonds of trust with uh with the town residents and and I and I think that's a a sad thing if that
[7:07]
happens. And I would certainly encourage
[7:09]
you to think hard about uh how you're
[7:11]
presenting how this looks and whether
[7:14]
you meant it to look that way or not I
[7:16]
don't know. Uh but it does look that way
[7:19]
and you should be aware of that and uh
[7:22]
maybe maybe we'll find out someday soon
[7:25]
why that was worth it for you to take
[7:27]
that step or maybe you were just awkward
[7:30]
and not doing it in a proper way. I
[7:32]
don't know what the cause was but um but
[7:34]
anyway I just wanted to add that to the
[7:36]
to Paul's comments. Thank you very much.
[7:39]
>> Thank you Mr. Burrow. Any other Yes.
[7:42]
>> Have one hand raised in Zoom. Thomas,
[7:45]
I'm going to allow you to talk.
[7:52]
» Yes. Good evening. I um share Paul's and
[7:59]
view that this is really happening too
[8:01]
quick without any real discussion or
[8:04]
prior information to the rest of the
[8:06]
public of the town of Woodside. I don't
[8:10]
understand why this is on the agenda.
[8:13]
um it's very confusing and a little
[8:15]
unnerving considering the the costs of
[8:19]
considering something of this scale. So
[8:22]
I strongly advise
[8:25]
the council to terminate this and not to
[8:29]
go forward without
[8:31]
more discussion and involving the
[8:34]
community that you serve. Thank you very
[8:37]
much.
[8:39]
>> Thank you Thomas.
[8:41]
Jen, anything else? Okay, thank you all.
[8:44]
We're going to close uh communications
[8:47]
and move into the close session. So,
[8:50]
we'll just give it a