[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