The Los Altos City Council approved a Los Altos Library expansion proposal, which will add 5,000 square feet of patio and a walkway space, at its Nov. 28 meeting.
Although a city staff report concluded that the orchard would not be impacted by the patio construction, Los Altos residents voiced concerns at the meeting, saying that 10 trees on the orchard would be affected by the patio.
Those advocating for the orchard said the land had “historical landmark” status, and reminded the council of the city’s past pledge to preserve the orchard “in perpetuity.”
“That map did have a number of tree sites on it and it did have boundaries associated with it, scale or not scale,” resident Catherine Nunes said, citing an unofficial map of the orchard land and patio. “You can tell where the orchard goes.”
Earlier this year, the council approved a $225,000 allocation to the maintenance of the orchard over three years, including $75,000 designated to revamping its irrigation system, outlined in the 2023-24 final operating budget. The orchard, which has suffered from a lack of maintenance, is planned to produce 444 apricot trees if the orchard plans come to full fruition.
The patio plan proposed at the meeting wasn’t the original plan the Library Patio Project Group — an assembly of patio supporters — had in mind. Their original outline included a larger patio extending out toward San Antonio Road, but they’ve since realized it conflicted with a fountain in front of the library and made changes.
The group’s Nov. 28 proposal was considerably less invasive than their previous one and featured slatted fencing so that library-goers could also enjoy the view of the orchard.
Despite changes made to the proposal, councilmembers Neysa Fligor and Lynette Lee Eng ultimately voted against it, citing a lack of transparency from the LPPG and the concern that the outlined patio is still too large and doesn’t properly preserve orchard space.
Even so, other councilmembers recognized the value of a patio space and commended the designs portrayed in the proposal, leading to a 3-2 overall vote in favor of the proposal.
“This would make that orchard so much more beautiful and attractive and useful to this community,” Mayor Sally Meadows said. “I’m on board with authorizing this, and if this doesn’t make the orchard look 20 times better, 50 times better than it does today and maximize the value to our community, I’ll eat the apricots off of every tree there.”
