Elect Jim Waschura to Los Altos Hills City Council 2026
Thoughtful Leadership. Clear Communication. Empowering Residents.

Thoughtful Leadership. Clear Communication. Empowering Residents.


Jim moved to Los Altos Hills 28 years ago. He has deep roots in the community and understands the importance of preserving what makes Los Altos Hills special for families across generations. As a husband, father, and grandfather, he brings a long-term perspective to decisions about neighborhoods, safety, open space, and quality of life. He believes Town government should protect the character of the community while planning responsibly for the future.

Jim’s Planning Commission experience gives him direct knowledge of how Town policies affect residents, property owners, and neighborhoods. He has worked through complex land-use issues, including Housing Element development standards, multifamily housing requirements, pathways, slope, creek and ridgeline protection. This background helps him ask insightful questions and focus quickly on fair, workable solutions.

Jim brings professional experience in business, engineering, and decision-making to public service. He understands budgets, tradeoffs, accountability, and the importance of clear communication. His background helps him evaluate issues carefully and work toward decisions that are both principled and practical.

Jim has spent years learning how Los Altos Hills operates, from planning and building to public works, finance, legal matters, ordinances, Town code requirements, and public meetings. He understands that good local government depends on transparency, responsiveness, and follow-through.
Please reach us at jim.waschura@gmail.com if you cannot find an answer to your question.
Public safety, police, fire, emergency services. Efficient capable Town administration. Housing Element Plan programs required to prevent builder's remedy projects, Expand solutions for meeting RHNA Housing quotas using ADU, SB 9, Duplex/Triplex and multifamily projects that contribute to protecting the town's semi-rural character.
Large lot sizes. Deep setbacks. Open spaces. Pathways. Creeks. Horse-riding facilities. Landscape screening around development. Current construction setbacks from property lines (40 FT front and 30 FT side and rear), provides 60 FT home-to-home spacing. New state mandates reduce ministerial project approval setbacks to as little as 4 FT from a property line.
Protecting the ideas represented in the founding "Green Sheets" document by a voter ballot initiative may sound appealing, but it is not well matched to the actual threats facing the Town. A ballot initiative could express strong resident support for semi-rural features such as large lots, deep setbacks, pathways, open space, limits on commercial activity, and the keeping of horses and other animals. But many of the pressures residents are most concerned about come from state-mandated housing laws that local voters cannot simply override. If state law requires reduced setbacks, increased density, ministerial approvals, or objective standards, a local referendum may not provide the protection residents will expect.
Codifying broad Green Sheets principles too rigidly will have unintended consequences. Rules such as never giving back a pathway easement without voter approval, or freezing present policy language forever, limit the Town’s future ability to correct mistakes, adjust easements, resolve conflicts, respond to changed conditions, or comply with higher law. What begins as protection of Town character becomes an obstacle to practical governance.
The question is not whether the Green Sheets values matter. They do. The question is whether a ballot initiative is the right mechanism to protect them with. The values may be better protected through carefully drafted ordinances, objective development standards, public process requirements, and clear policy direction, rather than by locking broad aspirational language into a voter-protected framework that may be both under-protective and over-restrictive.
Yes, and I'd like to see it built in a way that actually serves the people it's meant for. It would be a real benefit if local firefighters, police officers, teachers, and town staff could live in the town they serve rather than commuting long distances. The problem is the mechanism the state relies on to produce those units. Under Density Bonus law, a developer earns extra density by including as little as 5% affordable housing, which means a typical project delivers roughly 4 to 8 affordable homes for every 100 built while everything else sells at market rate. If Los Altos Hills obtains the affordable units it needs that way, they would come bundled with over 900 market-rate homes in a town that has only about 3,200 homes today. That is why I favor working directly with nonprofit affordable-housing developers, who finance projects through state tax credits and county housing funds rather than market-rate cross-subsidy, so the town can obtain the affordable units without the flood of dense market-rate construction.
"Jim Waschura is eminently qualified to serve on the City Council. He is smart, thoughtful, creative and dedicated. As a longstanding member of the Planning Commission, he has deep experience on housing and land use issues. I am honored to support him."
Rajiv Bhateja — Mayor, Los Altos Hills
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"As I complete my term on the City Council, I care deeply about who carries this work forward. I've watched Jim Waschura's work on the Planning Commission for six years — he studies the issues thoroughly, explains them clearly, and treats residents and applicants alike with fairness and respect. He understands the pressures facing Los Altos Hills, especially on housing, better than anyone I know. Jim has my full confidence and my vote."
George Tyson — Los Altos Hills City Council Member and former Mayor
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"I've had the pleasure of knowing Jim and his family since our (now grown) children attended elementary school together. Jim is thoughtful, diligent and fair. He researches issues thoroughly to find an equitable and workable solution. He has helped steer the Planning Commission through the complexities of the changing state regulations. I wholeheartedly endorse him for City Council. He will keep the best interests of the whole town in mind."
Lisa Schmidt — former Los Altos Hills City Council Member
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"I can think of no one more capable of addressing our Town's biggest problem — the state's housing mandates — than Jim Waschura. Jim's many years as a Planning Commissioner mean he understands both the state laws and our Town's needs as well as anyone, while he has consistently shown a calm, collaborative, reasoned, and kind approach towards every case. The first time I met him, he had the same friendly demeanor, but did not shy away from asking me — a Council member at the time — hard, direct questions to get to the root of the issue. That is exactly the capability we need — communicating with residents, understanding the issues, and tackling them pragmatically. I look forward to seeing Jim serve us on our Town Council."
Roger Spreen — former Los Altos Hills Mayor and Council Member
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"I have been involved in the Town's operation and governance for around 50 years, and I am pleased to endorse Jim Waschura for election to the Los Altos Hills Town Council. It has become apparent to me how important it is to have at least one Council member who carries the scars of experience from the Planning Commission — never more so than today, with ever-increasing legislative pressures from Sacramento — and in this election we are losing our one member with that distinction. While serving with Jim on the Planning Commission, I have seen his clarity of reasoning and fairness in judgment. Jim has a solid base of real and relevant experience, and I have no hesitation in strongly recommending him for Town Council."
Jitze Couperus — former Planning Commissioner (12 years); involved in Town operation and governance for 50 years
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"I enthusiastically support Jim Waschura for Los Altos Hills City Council in the November election. Jim has proven himself as a thoughtful and thorough contributor to the success of our Town. His years on the planning commission have prepared him for the challenges and opportunities we face as a community. His years as a resident ground him in the values our Town relies on for our quality of life. Please join me in voting for Jim Waschura."
Kit Gordon — Resident of Los Altos Hills for 30 years; Town volunteer for 20 years; Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Bond Oversight Chair; Peninsula Open Space Trust Skyline Committee; Former Chair Open Space Committee
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"I am heartily in favor of having Jim Waschura on the Los Altos Hills City Council. He has dedicated his substantial talents to public service in our town over the course of many years. Having a member of the City Council with this much Planning Commission experience will be crucial in the upcoming years, in dealing with housing build-out, town character preservation, and avoiding environmental despoliation. I have personally worked with Jim and seen his ability to delve deeply into an issue, to smartly use technical prowess and to simply persevere."
Grace Tsang — Former Chair, Environmental Design and Protection Committee
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