Proposed Phillips Brooks School violates Woodside General Plan
Posted October 31, 2001 / Updated September 12, 2010

General Plan policies
Woodside's General Plan includes policies designed to ensure safety and environmental protection. The proposed development by Phillips Brooks School violates a number of these policies.

Access
"Institutions shall have access from arterial roads" (Policy 45)
The proposed project violates this policy. Access would be from Lawler Ranch Road, a narrow two-lane cul-de-sac that was constructed to serve a few (13) residences. The General Plan describes the site as having potential external and internal access problems. Allowing an intensive institutional use here could set a dangerous precedent for all other narrow, rural (non-arterial) roads in Woodside.

Intensity of Use
"The intensity of use of an institutional site shall be limited to that which is compatible with adjoining uses... (Policy 44)
Adjoining land uses are residential. An institutional use of this intensity is not compatible with the neighborhood.

Site disturbance
"Property shall be developed with minimum disturbance to the natural terrain..." (Policy 1)
The project will require grading of 16.7 acres (87,410 cubic yards) for buildings, roads, and parking. Major re-contouring of heavily wooded slopes would be necessary. Sports fields would require additional cutting and filling of open meadow lands next to Highway 280.

Slope Protection
"Intensity of land use shall decrease as steepness of terrain increases." (Policy 3)
The purpose of this policy is to guide the location of more intensive development to level or gentle slopes, and to avoid the hazards associated with development of steep terrain. Contrary to the policy, the project is proposed to be located on a hogback ridge which contains steep slopes on either side dropping down to two intermittent streams.

Conservation of Natural Resources
"Valuable natural features, such as streams and stream corridors, scenic corridors, meadowlands, ridge tops and hill tops, and significant strands of trees, shall be preserved and protected through imaginative planning..." (Policy 19)
The General Plan identifies this property as an environmentally sensitive area and spells out special protections. Contrary to these requirements, the location for the school buildings would require re-grading of the ridge underlying the oak woodland, removal of 945 oaks in the woodland, massive cutting and filling for the ball fields and other recreational amenities, creation of a stormwater retention pond, and would intrude into the Highway 280 scenic corridor.

Special Conservation Element Policies
"The natural features of a site shall be one of the planning factors determining the scope and magnitude of development." (Policy 1)
"Conservation of the natural landscape shall be an overriding consideration in the design of any...land development project, paying particular attention to its protection and the preservation of existing native vegetation." (Policy 4)
"Removal of vegetation shall be minimized..." (Policy 5)
"Those areas rich in wildlife or of a fragile ecological nature (e.g. areas of rare or endangered species of plants, riparian areas, etc.) shall be avoided in land development..." (Policy 8)
The project will require the removal of 945 trees and associated oak woodland vegetation, will change the site's hydrologic regime, will adversely affect the site's wetlands in the valley downgradient from the buildings and parking lots, and will drastically alter the natural features of the land. In addition to these direct impacts, mitigation measures for fire protection will require the removal of additional oaks.

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