Woodside can’t skirt housing laws by being mountain lion sanctuary

According to public documents posted on Woodside’s Planning Department website, the town believes that because the state Fish and Game Commission lists mountain lions as an endangered species, no parcel in the town is eligible for a Senate Bill 9 project, which starting Jan. 1 made it legal for property owners to split single family lots into smaller sizes. Woodside said those lot sizes, at 1,200 square feet each, would be smaller than the minimum lot size required by the Town’s zoning rules.

In a press release, the Attorney General’s office said the mountain lion habitat claim is contrary to the law and contrary to efforts to alleviate the state’s affordable housing issues.

In Woodside small homes are currently listed for sale on Zillow at $1 million and up; a 1-bedroom apartment rent is about $2,500 a month.

“My message to Woodside is simple: Act in good faith, follow the law, and do your part to increase the housing supply,” Bonta said. “If you don’t, my office won’t stand idly by.”

Specifically, the letter states:

There is no valid basis to claim that the entire town of Woodside is a habitat for mountain lions. Habitat is land that has the capacity to support a specific species, including providing food and shelter. Land that is already developed — with, for example a single-family home — is not, by definition, habitat; and

Any exemption under SB9 requires the town to examine the attributes of an individual parcel of land. An entire town cannot be declared habitat for a protected species, and the exemption of a specific lot would have to be based on substantial evidence.