Portola Valley considered dissolving itself after struggling to meet state housing mandates.
Two-thirds of town government workers quit last year. | Source:Jungho Kim for The Standard
By Kevin V. Nguyen Nov. 14, 2024 • 5:00am
https://sfstandard.com/2024/11/14/portola-valley-and-the-perils-of-housing-mandates/
Residents like LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and legendary Silicon Valley developer John Arrillaga have earned Portola Valley the reputation of being a “billionaire’s town.”
But the conflict rocking the sleepy Peninsula community, tucked amid redwood trees in the Santa Cruz Mountains, is familiar for local governments across California.
Change is coming for the local population in the form of new housing, which the state is demanding after years of a worsening affordability crisis. Residents are being given the choice to hop on board, get out of the way, or risk getting run over.