CGF: Take Action: Carnegie Plan Threatens Stanford Foothills

Supervisors approve Carnegie with environmental protections
Posted May, 2001 / Updated June 29, 2005

• What Happened
• The Protections
• What You Can Do

What Happened

Tuesday afternoon, October 16, the Santa Clara County Supervisors approved the construction of a new office complex for the Carnegie Foundation in the Stanford foothills. As we expected, it was approved with a 3-2 vote with Supervisors Jim Beall, Don Gage and Pete McHugh approving the development. Supervisors Liz Kniss and Blanca Alvarado continued to oppose the location.

Committee for Green Foothills is disappointed that the Board has allowed this development in the foothills area. We continue to maintain that this site was inappropriate for a 21,000 square foot building.

The proposed site is a beautiful oak woodland tucked uphill from Junipero Serra Boulevard near Campus Drive.

The Protections

However, as a result of our participation, the project includes some significant environmental protections. Because of the Committee's appeal of the Planning Commission decision and our extensive legal work on the original proposal, the Board ruled on May 8 that the project would have to comply with the new Stanford Community Plan.

Since then, CGF has been working to ensure that the project met this standard. Thanks to our work, this development does uphold the integrity of the Community Plan and its environmental protections:

The Academic Growth Boundary (AGB) was upheld. The Supervisors are requiring Carnegie to contain all structures, roads and parking lots inside the AGB.
To comply with the AGB standard, the building site has been moved significantly downhill; the developer will also be required to plant four mature oak trees to minimize the visual impact of the buildings.
Development and construction activities are prohibited inside the Special Conservation Area, set aside to protect the California Tiger Salamander.
Mitigation standards designed to protect the salamander are clearly defined and enforceable.

Thanks to SOSA, the many community activists and all the CGF members who spoke up for the foothills. Together, we helped shape this first important development proposal under Stanford's new Community Plan. Without our dedication and hard work, this project would have been even more damaging to the foothills.

What You Can Do

Please take a minute to thank Supervisors Kniss and Alvarado for their strong stand to oppose development in the foothills: liz.kniss@bos.co.scl.ca.us, blanca.alvarado@bos.co.scl.ca.us.

You might also thank Supervisor Gage for strengthening environmental protections (at our request) in today's vote to approve the development: don.gage@bos.co.scl.ca.us

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