wealthy California suburb declares itself a mountain lion habitat to block affordable housing

[Demovictory9]

The well-heeled Silicon Valley suburb of Woodside has come up with a novel way to block plans that would potentially bring in more affordable housing: Declare itself Cougar Town.

Last week, officials in the enclave of 5,500 people announced that all of Woodside was exempt from a new state housing law that allows for duplex development on single-family home lots. The reason? The entire town is habitat for potentially endangered mountain lions.

Woodside’s decision drew quick scorn as a brazen attempt to evade even minimally denser development in one of California’s most exclusive locales. The bucolic, woodsy town near Stanford University and the heart of Silicon Valley has a median home value of $4.5 million. Among its residents have been the founders of technology giants Intuit, Intel and Symantec as well as Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who reportedly spent $200 million to build a Japanese-style 16th century imperial palace across 23 acres.

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The mountain lion card is not playing well with advocates, who note the jarring irony of enormous mansions inhabited by few juxtaposed against the housing needs of many.

“Right now, you could have five people in a 5,000-square-foot mansion sharing one kitchen and it’s OK,” said Sonja Trauss, executive director of YIMBY Law, a San Francisco group that advocates for local governments to approve more housing. “But once you have two kitchens, it’s suddenly a problem for the mountain lions?

https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2022-02-04/well-heeled-town-affordable-housing-mountain-lions

[I_UndergroundPanther]

1. Hey,cougars

Eat the rich!

[Boomerproud]

2. They've got theirs...

Fill in the rest...

[Hugh_Lebowski]

3. Dick move (nt)

[jimfields33]

10. I'd rather hear from environmentalists who study mountain lions

before going one way or the other. If they are indeed in danger, find another place to build. If not, then break ground. An environmental impact study should have been done at step one. Somebody dropped the ball.

[SaintLouisBlues]

12. Take your own advise

[jimfields33]

13. What?

[SaintLouisBlues]

14. You already took a side

[jimfields33]

15. Yeah. The environmentalist. Your right.

[SaintLouisBlues]

16. Yeah, the rich people. I'm right

Last edited Sat Feb 5, 2022, 06:30 PM - Edit history (1)

[jimfields33]

17. Rich are environmentalists. Hmmm. Ok. That's a first they have that accusation.

[SaintLouisBlues]

18. Follow the money

[chowder66]

4. The old NIMBY's are at it again.

Not In My Back Yard.

This happens all the time all over California. Leaders come up with plans to build housing and the neighborhoods fight like hell about it and typically win. Then they turn around and complain that the leaders aren't doing anything about the homeless because they are still on the street. It pisses me off to no end.

On top of that most people have NO CLUE that this happens all the time. They just get outraged and blame those trying to solve the problem. It's the damn citizens that are making it worse. Very much like how not masking and avoiding vaccines extends Covid restrictions.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

19. Sure, but that never happens in mostly...

... educated liberal communities, right? Helping the poor is a liberal position, so they'd be happy to have low-income housing in their neighborhood.

[chowder66]

20. It happens in all types of communities.

That's kind of my point.
I live in what is considered a liberal neighborhood in Hollywood and they shut down housing proposals for the homeless all the time then freak out because the homeless are still on the streets in the morning. Magical thinking is why we are still dealing with a major homeless issue.

One suggestion that is always bandied about is putting them in the desert or in industrial areas. They can't think beyond their selfishness and consider there are no hospitals, grocery stores, etc in those places. They just want them out of sight as long as it isn't in their back yard.

There are good people fighting for the homeless but businesses back the residents and vice versa.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

21. I know.

My earlier reply was tongue-in-cheek.

There's a very liberal town in my area popular with professors and such, with median home prices about three times the value of surrounding towns despite how the homes are more dilapidated overall (from my observations), but their rationalization against low-income housing is to maintain their "small town charm".

[Sympthsical]

24. Right?

My area of town is building two apartment complexes, and my neighbors are screaming bloody murder about the whole affair. There is a lot of available land here (North Bay Area), and with housing prices everywhere else in S.F. completely unmanageable, North Bay is getting more developed. That's the reason we bought here - housing prices were way cheaper than closer to the city or South Bay. (I say "were," because our valuation has gone up 32% in 2 years).

But newp. Neighbors do not want. They're not even really close to us. They're like a mile and a half away, off a road. The traffic generated wouldn't even come through our enclaves.

But dear god, the salt.

The city council are entirely in the pockets of developers, so it's all going ahead anyway. Still, the Bay Area needs more housing that's vaguely affordable. Gotta happen somewhere.

And yep. We're a heavily blue area.

[Mr.Bill]

5. A 1500 sq ft house built in that area

would probably sell for over two million dollars. I hardly think they need to be worried about any riff-raff moving in.

[NickB79]

6. Sounds like a great place to release a dozen cougars to establish a breeding population

Wait, you absolutely don't want that?

Too fucking bad, Cougar Town.

[cinematicdiversions]

23. I have a feeling there are already plenty of cougars

Roaming the streets of that town.

[Farmer-Rick]

7. Yeah, aren't they worried

Problem mountain lions could be relocated to their town.
A wildlife habitat means more than just controlling housing density. They are frequently used to relocate wild animals having problems in other habits.

Think of the poor mountain lions having to put up with those filthy rich idiots.

[vanlassie]

8. Think of all the little purebred kitties and doggies.

[DFW]

25. Look on the positive side

Now all those fancy gates can serve a real purpose. They might have to be made a little taller, though. I hear pumas can jump pretty high.

[Farmer-Rick]

26. Good point

I saw a video of a mountain lion jumping well,... in the mountains. Damn they certainly are sure footed. Yeah those fancy decorative gates won't keep them out.

And I never thought about those poor overbred pets the rich carry around with them either. They are prime prey for a mountain lion.

So, they better think this idea through. At least gates keep most people out. Sorta of, kind of.

[Zorro]

9. I think Joan Baez lives there

Wonder what her opinion is on the issue.

As an aside, I had a mountain lion in my yard twice this past year.

[shanti]

11. Neil Young too

or he used to.

[Xolodno]

22. Well, when mountain lions have to be rehomed...

...I think we know where to drop them off.

[Johnny2X2X]

27. Property values

This happens all over right now and it’s what’s causing a lot of the housing price surge. People want to block affordable housing for many reasons, not the least of which is they worry it will drop the value of their own homes.

The rich think they can buy everything. In Hawaii Zuckerberg got all bent out of shape because they wouldn’t let him restrict beach access near his property. In Hawaii the coast and beaches are something the people own, all of the people own, they don’t let some billionaire buy up their state’s natural wonder and block everyone else from enjoying it.

This is the extreme wealthy there in CA, but I get it too. I own a home in a cul de sac in MI, there was once an extensive woodland at the end of it that was home to a lot of deer and other wild life. The apartments that are on the far side of the woods bought this land and wanted to build cheap apartments there and make our cul de sac an entrance so that traffic would be non stop. We battled for years, and because it was adjacent to a protected wetland a compromise was made. First, the cul de sac stayed. Next they didn’t build cheap apartments, but larger condos that were more sparse. They also repopulated some of the trees and built a path for people to walk on through some of the woods and around a picturesque pond. People want to protect their dreams. Turning our road into an entrance to a 350 unit apartment complex would have ruined it as a quiet and safe place for kids to play.

Next there’s about 13 acres of field and wetland down a hill in back of my house that is owned by a church who has been trying to sell it to developers for a decade. The residents here got the EPA to come in and stipulate what would have to be done to protect the wetlands if they wanted to develop. And then they got the city to designate it for only detached single family housing, so no apartments or condos. I think the neighbors basically made it too costly to buy and develop. So our little corner of the city, that has some of the last green space is protected. There’s a park with a board walk through a marsh behind my home. Not a high priced neighborhood, median value homes maybe $275K, but by preserving the woods and wetlands we’ve ensured a better quality of life here for years.

It’s a delicate balance, affordable housing is needed, but sustainable construction that is mindful of green space is also important. Because my neighbors fought to preserve so much, we have a little natural miracle in a medium sized city that is home to a large herd of deer and a ton of other wild life. Because the wetlands were preserved long ago, my backyard is a birder’s paradise, I see more amazing species everyday than I might have seen in a year without the nature preserves around here. There’s value in all of that.

[Demovictory9]

28. I understand. you protected your green paradise. but I know

But I also know people in your neighborhood value living near a new shopping center or nice restaurant development thats built in someone else's green space. Nothing personal... I see it happen.