Wealthy California town says it can’t build mandated affordable housing. The reason: Mountain lions.

[Boiler 45,930]

The town of Woodside, Calif., was among the areas facing the prospect of building new housing as part of Senate Bill 9, the state’s new split-lot law. The law, which went into effect last month, allows homeowners to divide single-family lots and build up to four residential units in a lot.

But town officials announced in a memo last week that Woodside was putting an indefinite hold on the affordable housing because of a clause in SB 9 prohibiting development in areas recognized as habitats for protected species. They argued that since mountain lions are a protected species and a candidate for the California Endangered Species Act, no split-lot housing could be built in a mansion-heavy community that the U.S. Census Bureau says has a median household income of more than $250,000.

 

Vaguely amusing not surprising.

[TBoneTX 45,887]

Need a link, sir, please.

 

Sounds like winning this fight will take, uh, moving mountains.

[Boiler 45,930]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/05/california-woodside-mountain-lions-development

[Mike E 11,742]

Woodside has 5300 people packed in 11.5 square miles.  
 

Doing the math: 11.5 * 640 / 5300 = 1.4 acres per inhabitant.  
 

Now I can understand that this is an inhumane degree of population density but hear me out. There are just 2000 households so  each home occupies 3.68 acres.  
 

Still you can imagine what would happen if each of the 3.68 mean average ghetto sized plots of land had a second dwelling added.  We’d see servants occupying these second dwellings and imagine the optics there.  
 

Servants belong in Daly City, up the interstate a half hour away. A community of over 100,000 people occupying 7.6 square miles in 32,000 units.  In my anecdotal experience to the 3 person per dwelling ratio is likely closer to 5 people.  
 

My god what hypocrites the elites of California are.  

Edited February 6, 2022 by Mike E

[seekingthetruth 1,248]

5 hours ago, Mike E said:

Woodside has 5300 people packed in 11.5 square miles.  
 

Doing the math: 11.5 * 640 / 5300 = 1.4 acres per inhabitant.  
 

Now I can understand that this is an inhumane degree of population density but hear me out. There are just 2000 households so  each home occupies 3.68 acres.  
 

Still you can imagine what would happen if each of the 3.68 mean average ghetto sized plots of land had a second dwelling added.  We’d see servants occupying these second dwellings and imagine the optics there.  
 

Servants belong in Daly City, up the interstate a half hour away. A community of over 100,000 people occupying 7.6 square miles in 32,000 units.  In my anecdotal experience to the 3 person per dwelling ratio is likely closer to 5 people.  
 

My god what hypocrites the elites of California are.  

Well, to be fair to the rich folks, a lot of Woodside is open space, so maybe the average lot is only 2 acres of expensive California real estate.  And you need a large lot for your helicopter to land safely.

 

You rocked my memory.  I lived in San Carlos for a few years and then in Redwood City near Woodside Road, and back then (1994-2003) I was very into cycling.  Both road and mountain.  Loved those mountains and spent a lot of time there biking and hiking.  My long road ride would take me up to Daly City where it was almost always foggy in the summer.  Our favorite trail ride was Purisima Creek.  In the summer, we could go up there after work, enter the trail on Skyline, do the downhill into the redwoods, and then the long climb back up, before sunset.  We used to go to Crystal Springs a lot too, for walking and running.

 

Oh, the memories!  I see that Larry Ellison still has his Woodside estate.  We use to ride past the entrance when he was building it.  According to this article his 23 acre estate is only worth 70 mil.

 

https://www.curbed.com/2022/02/woodside-california-mountain-lions-adu.html

 

And they are building an 87 million wildlife overpass over 280.  I guess that will help some, but I doubt that the deer will go there.  280 is very dangerous at night due to the deer.  My buddy hit a deer out there twice!  One time, his car was totaled.

 

Google pointed me to his neighbors house for sale.  Only 110 mil.

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/california-home-in-bay-area-tech-enclave-lists-for-110-million-11643899859

 

 

[Dashinka 24,725]

Are cougars an endangered species?

[Boiler 45,930]

Plenty of lady cougars in California 

[TBoneTX 45,887]

13 hours ago, seekingthetruth said:

My buddy hit a deer out there twice!  One time, his car was totaled.

Oh, deer...