As you may have heard, Los Altos City Council on August 11th approved the ABHOW/Pilgrim Haven mega complex by a vote of 3 to 2. Approval came with some minor additional conditions including a reduction in the lot coverage from 38% to 35%.
Needless to say, this decision is very disappointing to the hundreds of Los Altos residents who oppose this project based on its size and the resulting impact to the neighborhood. In the Town Crier, Pilgrim Haven has pledged to "mend fences" with the neighbors, so we are hopeful that some of our concerns may still be addressed.
The next step is for Pilgrim Haven to present their modified plans to the city and to work with the city and neighborhood representatives to finalize the building and landscaping plans. That is anticipated to happen over the last few months of 2009 or early 2010. We will be watching very closely to ensure that the changes conform to those limits which were imposed by the council and also to ensure that the impact of this project on the neighborhood is minimized wherever possible.
Once new plans are submitted to the city, there is another round of state approval required since Pilgrim Haven contains skilled nursing facilities, so they are not expected to break ground for at least two years. We will send out updates to the mailing list as events warrant, and at the eventual onset of construction will have more information about how to get the inevitable problems and impacts addressed.