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Al’s Nursery in Portola Valley sold to ‘angel buyer’ ■Windmill preschool had been negotiating to buy property. By Dave Boyce Almanac Staff Writer
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o it’s goodbye to Al’s Nursery, which closed on March 16 after 51 years of serving the town of Portola Valley at 900 Portola Road, and it’s hello to ... well, that isn’t clear. It’s up to the “angel buyer� who bought the place to decide what to do with it, said former nursery coowner John Wu. The doors were supposed to reopen as the new home of Windmill preschool, another Portola Valley institution and one that’s been looking for a permanent home. The school’s purchase of the nursery was just days away in early March, Mr. Wu told the Almanac, when Windmill asked for a sixmonth extension. “They dropped a bombshell on us,� he said, speaking for himself and his wife and co-owner Karin Wu. “For us, it was
appreciation of nature, and a sense of community. like sitting on pins and needles for a lease basis. “We have expressed “Windmill’s Capital Campaign the next five days.� to Windmill that this buyer would is thrilled with the opportunity to To be a school, the property certainly entertain the idea of secure this critical asset for families would need a zoning change from Windmill coming in,� Mr. Wu in our community, and continresidential-commercial to straight said. ues to be prepared to acquire the commercial, Mr. Wu said. Such a Monika Cheney, president of the property, pending a needed zoning change was not likely to be problem- school’s board of directors, said in a adjustment.� atic, he addThe town ed, but spechad offered ulated that ‘We have expressed to Windmill (preschool) that this buyer to buy the the school’s would certainly entertain the idea of Windmill coming in.’ place about donors and a year and negotiators a half back, FORMER NURSERY CO - OWNER JOHN WU may have but that went gotten cold feet at the prospect of March 24 statement that Windmill nowhere, Mr. Wu said. The town’s dealing with the surprise of a zon- “has been and continues to be very offer was, “to our liking, way too ing change in addition to a condi- interested in purchasing Al’s Nurs- low,� given the appraised value, he tional use permit. ery in order to provide the children said. As for the future of 900 Portola and youth of our community with There’s been no word from the Road, the “angel buyer� stepped in both a preschool and family educa- town since, Mr. Wu said, though at the last minute. “We were stuck tion center. the Town Council met in an in a really bad place,� Mr. Wu said. “The beautiful grounds of Al’s emergency closed session about “We were very fortunate.� Nursery would provide an ideal the property on March 23. The It could still be the new home of setting for instilling in our children council took no action, Mayor Windmill School, but perhaps on a life-time love of learning, an Ted Driscoll said.
Planner envisions alternative future for Bay Area rail travel By Dave Boyce Almanac Staff Writer
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here are rumors of electric trains coming to San Mateo County. If high-speed trains someday travel between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and if their route includes the Peninsula, and if the Caltrain tracks are then electrified, then electric trains will run through Atherton and Menlo Park. A consultant to the town of Portola Valley is proposing an alternative plan to bring electric and high-speed trains to the Bay Area, including Atherton and Menlo Park. Electric trains could have been here long ago. In the late 1950s, San Mateo County was one of five counties in the San Francisco Bay Area Transit District. The district
could assess taxes and issue bonds and had a round-the-Bay light-rail system planned, according to a history at the website of Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). The plan derailed, according to the BART account, because San Mateo County supervisors were “cool to the plan.� They chose to exit the district in December 1961, citing the proposed system’s “high costs� and the “adequate service� from Southern Pacific commuter trains, now Caltrain. George Mader, who retired in 2010 after 45 years as Portola Valley’s town planner, has another angle. The “cool to the plan� characters were two men of influence, he said in a March 11 letter to Portola Valley Mayor Ted Driscoll. The “major problems,� Mr. Mader said, were T. Louis Chess,
who chaired the county Board of Supervisors and worked for Southern Pacific Railway, and David D. Bohannon, a “major player� in the county and the developer of the then-new Hillsdale Shopping Center. BART would take shoppers away from Hillsdale and into San Francisco, “where shopping was rather good at the time,� Mr. Mader said. For his part, Mr. Chess was protecting Southern Pacific. And the county voters would have had to decide on whether to join BART. “These short-sighted and selfish people did not let the residents vote,� Mr. Mader said. “A travesty!� As for high-speed rail today, Mr. Mader suggests “a much better solution� to the route controversy: Stop it at San Jose and extend BART around the Bay using the money that would have been spent on the South Bay and Peninsula sections of a high-speed rail line. A
Framing
By Dave Boyce Almanac Staff Writer
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regulation is in the works in Portola Valley that would establish criteria to determine when a professional such as a tennis instructor will need to obtain an agreement with the town to teach at public recreational facilities such as the tennis courts at Town Center. In a nutshell, occasional oneon-one lessons arranged by residents will not need town scrutiny, but an agreement and insurance will likely be necessary for instructors whose sessions have the tendency to displace residents. The Town Council, at its March 23 meeting, agreed to consider three factors governing
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6 N The Almanac N March 30, 2011
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Town may regulate commercial use of tennis/sports courts
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The private preschool was founded, according to its website, in the 1950s on Portola Road near the large windmill from which it took its name. It has had several homes since. Windmill had proposed in 2004 to relocate to the new Town Center. At the time, plans for the Town Center had not yet coalesced. A brainstorming session produced seven or eight layouts for the complex. The Town Council, while not opposed to the school’s renting space in the two generic classrooms planned for the community hall, declined to dedicate space for it. Opponents of having the school at Town Center cited traffic impacts eight times a day, the likelihood of two-story buildings in a town with “rural character,� and the prospect of involving the town in education. Advocates for the school at Town Center spoke of a greater sense of community that a preschool could help create.
the need for a permit: frequency of use, intensity of use, and the number of students who are from out of town. Staff is working on ordinance language. No residents have complained, said Assistant Town Manager Janet McDougall. But because the town does have a formal relationship with a tennis pro who has an agreement and has paid for insurance, an instructor on a nearby court without such an agreement would have an unfair advantage, she said. “Parity and liability are the issues,� she said. The council split initially on whether to craft a regulation that covers all scenarios. Councilman and attorney Steve Toben imagined an example of an aerobics class on the central lawn at Town Center in which students are asked to jump on to and off the low wall there. One of them might fall, and the town could be liable. He questioned whether the regulation should be broad enough to cover that. The suggested alternative has the ordinance aiming at the tennis courts and all-sport/basketball court at Town Center with the option to broaden it later if necessary. Since the soccer and baseball fields are already well regulated, Councilwoman Ann Wengert suggested that the ordinance, for now, be directed at the Town Center courts. A