Portola Valley Update February 20, 2025

This week's update:

• Community Hall Closed to the Public March 3 – 5 for San Mateo County upcoming Special Election
• Portola Valley Rectangular Flashing Beacon Project
• Reminder The Annual Portola Valley Broom Pull Sunday March 2nd
• A Tip from the Wildfire Preparedness Committee - Climate change is increasing Wildfire Activity
• Music Trivia Night – Love Music and Trivia? Get Social!
• New Update to Chipper Program!
• Conservation Committee -What's Blooming Now?
• WFPD Providing information on Hydrants in its Fire District and Redirecting Perspective to more Important Efforts
• Hawthorns Area Plan Upcoming Meeting Schedule
• Upcoming Events

Community Hall Closed to the Public March 3 – 5 for San Mateo County upcoming Special Election

All meetings, classes, and events are not to be scheduled March 3- March 5. The Community Hall and both the Buckeye and Alder room will be closed to the public during this time for the San Mateo County Special Election being held on March 4, 2025. The Community Hall will reopen March 6th.

Portola Valley Rectangular Flashing Beacon Project

The Town of Portola Valley has authorized St. Francis Electric, LLC to begin construction on the above-titled project. The project aims to enhance safety by installing new rectangular flashing beacon systems at two locations in the Town: Portola Road & Brookside Drive and Alpine Road and Golden Oak Drive. Work will be done on and outside the roadway. Pedestrian access will be maintained when feasible, and detours will be used as necessary. The first phase of the work on this project is scheduled to begin on Thursday, February 20, 2025, and be completed by Friday, February, 28th, 2025. The second phase will start on April 1, 2025, and be completed on April 7th, 2025. Work within each intersection will last approximately one week if no delays occur. Working hours will be from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday. Lane closures will occur in phases during construction between 9:00 AM and 3:30 PM.

Starting Thursday 2/20/25 work will be performed at the following locations: Portola Rd & Brookside Dr. and Alpine Rd & Golden Oak Dr.

Orange Construction area signs will alert the public about work operations. Significant work operations may require parking prohibitions. Please look for “No Parking” signs posted on barricades, which will be placed at least 72 hours before these activities and will specify the dates and hours of parking prohibitions. Any cars parked during these periods may be towed. Traffic and pedestrian handling procedures will be used to maintain safe movement in and around the work areas, which may be inconvenient. Therefore, we recommend taking alternate routes where possible, and trying to find parking outside the work areas. Property access will be maintained during construction. Emergency access will always be provided.

Note that your garbage pickup will continue on the regular day; please put your containers out the night before as usual. All postal services will continue as well.

Should you have any further questions, please call the following individuals, from the Town Project Manager to the Superinendent.

Town Project Manager: Paul Krupka, PH: (650) 504-2299

Project Manager: Monica Kint, St. Francis Electric-PH: (510) 725-5185 Superintendent: Peter Grgurevic, St. Francis Electric- PH: (510) 750-8267

Reminder The Annual Portola Valley Broom Pull Sunday March 2nd

SAVE THE DATE

March 2, 2025

9:00 - 12:00

Annual Portola Valley Town Broom Pull

Sponsored by the Portola Valley Conservation Committee

Please join the Portola Valley Conservation Committee and community volunteers removing this invasive and flammable weed from public right-of-ways and lands.

Meet at 9:00 AM at the Historic Schoolhouse

Bring friends, neighbors and kids – it’s a fun way to contribute a little muscle power and tackle this problem as a team; Community service hours are provided for this activity.

Broom does not only grow in the right-of-way. Check your yard and get rid of it now, while the soil is wet and removal is easy. Once the soil is hard, root removal is next to impossible.

Please bring water and gloves and wear long sleeves and close-toed shoes

We will provide tools and refreshments

Did you know that Broom is:

• Highly invasive and flammable
• One mature plant can produce 10,000 seeds per season
• The seeds can germinate even after 60+ years
• Seed pods can burst with enough force to fling seeds many feet away
• Outcompetes and chokes out native vegetation
• Poisonous to large domestic animals and makes pastures impenetrable
• It re-sprouts from the roots (pull it out by the roots, when the soil is wet; a weed wrench might be needed for mature plants.)

When in bloom, the yellow flowers may look and smell pretty, but French Broom is one of our nastiest invasive local shrubs. It spreads quickly, choking out both natives and other desirable plants and it is very flammable. It is especially a problem in our Open Space Preserves as the wind can carry seed pods a long way. For questions email conservation@portolavalley.net

A Tip from the Wildfire Preparedness Committee – Climate change is increasing Wildfire Activity

In Aug-2024, an international network of fire scientists issued their inaugural report on the increase in wildfire activity and risk brought by climate change. The period of Mar-2023 to Feb-2024 saw record-breaking wildfires in Canada, Lahaina, Greece, the Amazon and Chili. The probability of these extreme fire seasons has increased over 3-fold in Canada, and almost 29-fold in Amazonia. The report is titled simply “State of Wildfires 2023-2024”.

• Red Zone, who specializes in wildfire underwriting, issued a quick highlight here.
• The 85-page report is here.
• UK lead author Dr Matthew Jones has a webpage with interactive tools to visualize the global 2023-2024 wildfire season.

Music Trivia Night – Love Music and Trivia? Get Social!

Join your neighbors of 94028 and enjoy a fun-filled evening of banter and musical information...

Saturday, March 8th from 6:45pm to 9pm ( Trivia Starts PROMPTLY at 7pm) at the Portola Valley Community Hall.

Snacks and Beverages will not be available, please bring your favorite treats to share.

To Register Click Here

New Update to Chipper Program!

New for 2025!

We Need Your Help to make this Service More Successful

To make our Chipper Program more efficient and ensure timely service, we kindly ask you to reserve your pickup in advance. This will help us schedule routes effectively and provide better service to everyone. MAKE A RESERVATION for the Chipping Program to schedule service.

Conservation Committee -What's Blooming Now?

What’s Blooming Now? February

Manzanita

Arctostaphylos spp.

One of the earliest bloomers of the new year is Manzanita, a treasured local native that thrives in the poor soil and low-water conditions of much of our area. Their native range is from southern British Columbia through the West and into much of Mexico, with approximately 100 species and subspecies, many of which have been cultivated. There are Manzanitas that are appropriate for sandy or clay soil, full sun to half shade, and range in size from very low groundcovers to full sized trees.

Manzanita are evergreen and the trunk and limbs have a beautiful reddish/orange bark that peels in an attractive manner and can lend a striking architectural look when pruned well. The bare branches are beautiful as part of arrangements. The wildlife value of this plant is high due to the profusion of flowers in the winter and summer berries which support a number of native birds and other animals.

Some manzanitas can be fire hazards, but with appropriate selection, placement and maintenance others are fire safe. Homeowners should consider defensible space guidelines before planting them near their homes. The Conservation Committee has produced a separate document describing Understory Habitat and Defensible Space, available through the town website.

Check with your local nursery for help finding the appropriate variety for your landscaping needs.

Did you know?

• Manzanita means “little apple” in Spanish?
• The berries are edible and can be eaten by themselves or ground into a meal.
• Native Americans made an herbal tea from the leaves to treat poison oak rash.
• The ‘Dr. Hurd’ manzanita variant was discovered here in Portola Valley and is a very popular tree-sized form that tolerates a wide variety of local conditions.
• Most manzanita do not tolerate summer water once established.
• There is a manzanita appropriate to replace almost all standard landscaping plants and they support a much wider array of insects, the basis of our local biome, which are rapidly becoming critically endangered.

WFPD Providing information on Hydrants in its Fire District and Redirecting Perspective to more Important Efforts

PRESS RELEASE Bureau of Fire Prevention and Life Safety. CONTACT: WFPD (650) 851-1594 info@woodsidefire.org RELEASE DATE: February 5, 2025

Hawthorns Area Plan Upcoming Meeting Schedule

Study Session - Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 5 p.m.

&

Board of Directors Meeting - Wednesday, March 12, 2025, at 7 p.m.

These Midpen board meetings will held both in-person at 5050 El Camino Real, Los Altos, CA  and via Zoom.

Midpen is continuing a multiyear process to develop a plan for resource management and ecologically sensitive public access at the Hawthorns Area of Windy Hill Preserve, located in the Town of Portola Valley.

Midpen is holding two public meetings in the next several weeks pertaining to the Hawthorns Area Plan

1. Study Session on Wednesday, February 26th at 5 p.m. - At this study session, the Midpen Board of Directors will review and consider the Hawthorns Area Public Access Working Group’s (PAWG) recommendations and public feedback.
2. Board of Directors Meeting on Wednesday, March 12th at 7 p.m. - At this board meeting, the Midpen Board of Directors will consider and determine which options to incorporate into the preparation of the Hawthorns Area Plan. The agendas for these meetings will be posted 72 business hours prior to the meetings start times. Another e-mail notification will be sent once the agendas have been posted.

For more information, visit openspace.org/hawthorns.

Staff contacts: Tina Hugg, Senior Planner (thugg@openspace.org) and Ashley Mac, Planner III (amac@openspace.org) or 650-691-1200