Los Altos Hills enacts protections
for Town-owned open space
New open space committee being formed
by Nancy Couperus

The history of open space owned by the Town of Los Altos Hills is a story that includes personal generosity, public risk-taking, and enthusiastic support and hard work by citizens. The latest chapter in this story involves a core of dedicated residents led by Nancy Couperus, who describes here a recent success and new efforts to protect the Town's open space. - Editor

Byrne Preserve established through private generosity and public foresight
Back in the mid-sixties, Dr. Albert Byrne generously donated a beautiful and scenic 55-acre parcel of open grassland in the town of Los Altos Hills to The Nature Conservancy.

This land was eventually dedicated as permanent open space thanks to an extraordinary partnership between the Town of Los Altos Hills and the Committee for Green Foothills. Led by forward-looking Councilmember Mary Davey and Town Manager Lowell Morse, the Town negotiated to purchase from the Nature Conservancy this land - now known as the Albert Byrne Preserve. The cost to the Town was $99,500, to be paid over a period of several years, and the land was dedicated as permanent open space.


After working to help bring Burne Preserve into public open space in the late 1960's, CGF Founding President Wallace Stegner said, "This corridor will be of inestimable value to the whole community, for it will provide open space, erosion control, walking and horse trails, and that intangible but indispensable benefit we call 'visual amenity' -- the pure pleasure of seen beauty." Today, that value is seen clearly in this aerial photograph, in which the upper part of Byrne Preserve appears, center, surrounded by development.

After an extraordinary fundraising effort and generous contributions from local residents Lucille Packard, Jack Melchor, and others, the Town was also able to purchase a portion of the Byrne corridor, linking the Preserve to Hidden Villa, thus protecting the Preserve's edge and providing important connections between these areas. Thanks to this foresight, Byrne Preserve today comprises nearly 90 acres of beautiful grassland and thick woodlands.

Open space legacy threatened by potential sale of lands
Over the next 35 years, residents enjoyed the natural beauty of this preserve with its quiet glens and scenic views. But in early 2002, residents in Los Altos Hills began hearing rumors about Town-owned properties being considered for possible sale. Mayor Toni Casey had requested an inventory of properties to evaluate whether they were being put to their "highest and best use."

Two properties were singled out initially - the O'Keefe Property, an eight-acre parcel of open space originally acquired as a result of Highway 280 construction, and Westwind Barn, a 14-acre parcel also owned by the town and adjacent to Byrne Preserve. Discussion by certain members of the Town Council suggesting that Westwind Barn be relocated to Byrne Preserve to enable sale of the land on which it sat, galvanized the community into organizing a grassroots movement - Los Altos Hills Open Space.

Citizens develop initiative to protect lands
Town residents met with others concerned about open space, and we quickly agreed that we should try to protect the Town's open spaces by means of an initiative. The initiative would prevent the sale of Town-owned properties without a vote of the residents, and would define appropriate land-use designations for these properties - also subject to change only by a vote of the residents.

With the November elections also looming, the open space initiative became a central issue in the campaigns for two seats on the Town Council. Two candidates positioned themselves squarely behind the Citizens' Initiative, while two opposing candidates refused to endorse it - while nevertheless claiming to spearhead the movement to preserve the open space.

Thanks to the hard work of many working on the campaign and to the generosity of over 125 individuals who contributed financially to the campaign, we had the initiative finalized and officially filed by the end of October 2002. The enormous outpouring of community support surprised everyone, and told us we were on the right track.

Competing initiative designed to confuse voters
Within three days of the Citizens' Initiative being filed, however, three members of the Council, led by Toni Casey, offered up their own competing initiative. The latter, it was claimed was simpler to understand - mainly because it covered all 168 acres of Town-owned properties rather than the 157 specified in the Citizens' Initiative. Less apparent to the casual reader was that this Council-sponsored Initiative locked into place incorrect land-use designations (i.e. residential instead of open space) on a number of the properties, because the Land Use Map hadn't been updated since its adoption in 1975. The Citizens' Initiative, by contrast, had carefully examined each land use designation - changing incorrect designations to open space or public recreation to reflect current use.

Public education campaign helped defuse political maneuvers
This attempt to co-opt the Citizens' Initiative could have achieved its objective of confusing the voters, except that help was at hand to educate the public. The Committee for Green Foothills, in association with the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, offered to send out a town-wide mailer explaining the differences between the Citizens' Initiative and the Council-sponsored Initiative. This mailer, along with local publicity, informed residents about the two initiatives and clarified the differences.


Los Altos Hills Town Clerk Karen Jost accepts petitions signed by more than 1,200 Town residents in support of the Citizen's Initiative for Open Space. Handed in by residents (L to R) Elaine Nelson, Jean Mordo, Barbara Mordo, and Nancy Couperous, these petitions led the new Town Council to adopt the Initiative in December.

Nearly twenty-five open space coffees were held during the Council campaign, which gave the organizers an opportunity to further clarify the initiative and clear up misinformation that was being spread by the opposition. A website - which is still in operation (www.LAHOpenSpace.com) - and an e-mail bulletin list further helped to keep residents abreast of events and the war of words as they unfolded. The internet was extremely important in this effort - not only by helping to counter opposition mailers almost immediately and at minimal expense, but also as the vehicle by which funds were raised to pay the legal fees.

Election brings in open space candidates - Citizen's Initiative adopted!
The good news - the November election brought about a change in Council direction with the two open space candidates winning in a landslide! This win assured that once the required numbers of signatures were gathered for the Citizen's Open Space Initiative, the new majority would be able to adopt the initiative directly, thereby saving the cost of an expensive special election.

Within 30 days of our having presented the initiative to residents, it had already qualified for a ballot by receiving 1240 signatures - over 50% more than the 822 signatures required to be collected within 180 days, an overwhelming and gratifying show of community support.
On December 19, 2002, the new Council voted to adopt the Citizens' Open Space Initiative directly, and at the following meeting the new Council also voted unanimously to rescind the former Council-sponsored Initiative.

Next steps: Citizens form open space committee
Does this win signal the culmination of work to protect open space in Los Altos Hills? No - it merely marks the transition from one phase to the next. Now that the Town-owned properties are legally secure, there remain many more issues to consider.

Residents are now hard at work defining the objectives of a permanent Los Altos Hills Open Space Committee, similar to that just created in the Town of Woodside. We expect this committee to take on environmental aspects (erosion, infestation by noxious weeds, etc.), public awareness (where lands are and how best to enjoy them), potential avenues for enhancement (tax benefits that encourage donation of open space through conservation easements) and similar issues. This is an exciting venture, and we hope to involve as many residents as possible and foster a sense of ownership of these priceless public assets.

The fight for Los Altos Hills Open Space awakened residents to the value they place on open space and public recreation lands. In time, people will forget the battle to save these valuable resources. However, our hope is that they will nevertheless understand their responsibility as stewards of these lands for future generations. As Huey Johnson so eloquently stated: "We must defend the integrity of place."

Nancy Couperus is a Board Member and Founding Member of the Friends of Westwind, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that helps operate Westwind Community Barn in Los Altos Hills.