This is crazy. No mountain lion could afford to live in Woodside. They'd have to go down to Gilroy, or up in the mountains like La Honda.
Posted on 02/03/2022 2:55:57 PM PST by nickcarraway
The town of Woodside in San Mateo County has found a way to thwart new housing development: invoking the supposed endangerment of mountain lions.
Woodside, which according to the U.S. Census Bureau has a median household income of more than $250,000, has blocked any new development under Senate Bill 9 under a clause in the bill prohibiting development in the habitat of an endangered species. SB 9 was an attempt to encourage more housing development in established neighborhoods by allowing property owners to split large lots and bypass public hearings.
Advertisement “We love animals,” Mayor Dick Brown told The Almanac. “Every house that’s built is one more acre taken away from (mountain lions’) habitat. Where are they going to go? Pretty soon we’ll have nothing but asphalt and no animals or birds.”
Mountain lions have not been added to the state’s list of “endangered” species but are “threatened” and granted protections under the California Endangered Species Act.
Woodside had previously found other ways to weaken possible SB 9 development. On Jan. 11, the town placed size restrictions on new units, prohibited basements in said units and banned development in wildfire-prone areas.
State Sen. Scott Wiener — one of the architects of SB 9 — predicted legal action against the town.
“Woodside announced it’s exempt from state housing law because of … mountain lions,” he tweeted. “I’m all for mountain lions. I’m also for people. You know, the ones who need homes. Can’t wait for the lawsuit against Woodside for this brazen violation of state law.”
While invoking mountain lions seems to be the most creative way to hide from SB 9, other California cities have taken similar steps to weaken the legislation’s effects. The city of Alhambra in the San Gabriel Valley passed an ordinance at the start of the year in an attempt to preserve more restrictive local housing laws.
“The intent here, and the goal here, is just to simply protect our residential neighborhoods,” Councilmember Ross Maza said at the time. “I think most of us have had some type of feedback from our constituents, our residents with concerns because we know that many projects that would have been built under SB 9 could permanently damage these residential neighborhoods.”
This is crazy. No mountain lion could afford to live in Woodside. They'd have to go down to Gilroy, or up in the mountains like La Honda.
LOVE IT - use the Left’s weapons against them. It’s rare that we get the opportunity, but great when it’s done!
Probably just wants a scratch under the chin and some kitty yummies.
Pretty Kitty, Kitty!!!
Mountain Lions for the Homeless!
Woodside, huh? I figure it has nothing to do with the Bay Area uber-wealthy who live there.
Ni-i-i-ice kitty. Bi-i-i-i-i-i-i-ig kitty.
Probably don’t need any more cougars...
Wealthy California hipsters LOVE their zoning laws.
Without them, they wouldn’t have a bubble to live in.
Then would personally experience the consequences of the politics that they so loudly support.
Some animals are more equal than others!
;-)
Agree!
Liberals should go after mountain lions with the same zeal they go after people in MAGA hats.
I’m fine with less Libertards and more Mountain Lions.
Build in some other blown out areas of the Bay Area. They are everywhere. Save the greenbelts.
Woodside has tons of empty spaces for homes. Wealthy people in Woodside just want the mayor to limit housing in order to keep the real estate prices high. In other news, Mountain lions were seen near the helicopter crash of Kobe Bryant. Too gross for the media to report.
And the mountain lion is not at all endangered.
For official state of AZ page:
“The mountain lion occurs throughout the western hemisphere and has one of the MOST EXTENSIVE RANGES of any land mammal, from the Straights of Magellan in South America to the Canadian Yukon. In Arizona, mountain lions are widely distributed and are EXPANDING into regions where they were once rare.”
“The hunting season in Arizona allows unlimited tags with a bag limit of one mountain lion per hunter per year.”
However, not too many are actually harvested. I wish I could get one!
According to the people who know: There is absolutely no problem with lack of mountain lions. They are just super smart and great in avoiding people.
I have never seen one at large, but I was told by the experts, that for sure, I have been seen by many of them!
If only we could get some mountain lions to prowl the homeless encampments in California.
It couldn’t possibly have been that the town was being pressured to create low-income housing, could it?
Seen a Coyote running down the middle of the street in a neighborhood in RVCD County.....
Plenty of citified wild animals....Deer, Elk, Yotes.....
Great post—NIMBY advocates (not in my backyard) will use any arguments they can, no matter how absurd.
Wealthy leftists have used environmentalism as a weapon to defend their segregated enclaves—while insisting that the deplorables be subject to laws that may endanger life, liberty and property.
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