Palo Alto Weekly
November 21, 2002
 
Planning Commission disputes hills zoning
At issue is how high university can build in open-space areas

By Don Kazak

Stanford University's right to build anything above 200 feet in its foothills land met with resistance from the Palo Alto Planning Commission Wednesday.

The proposal, by Santa Clara County, would establish zoning standards for the 2,000 acres of Stanford hills within the county's jurisdiction.

Stanford's general use permit allows it to build 15,000 square feet of buildings in the hills over the next decade. But the visual impact of those buildings is of concern to planning commissioners.

The Community Plan, part of the use permit, says Stanford should not be allowed to build in the hills above the 200-foot line. But the hills zoning proposed by the county planning staff is more generous, allowing structures to be built above 200 feet.

Planning Commissioner Pat Burt noted that 188 acres of the Stanford hills within Santa Clara County are below the 200-foot elevation, which gives Stanford plenty of area to build without going higher into the hills.

"I think it is a significant issue," Burt said.

Members of two environmental watchdog groups, the Committee for Green Foothills and the Stanford Open Space Alliance, also zeroed in on the 200-foot elevation issue.

"We're concerned about visual protection," Denice Dade of the Committee for Green Foothills said. "The county board (of supervisors) put it in, and the county staff dismissed it (in the proposed zoning)."

"Protection of the foothills is something of keen concern to people in this area," said Jeff Siegel of the Stanford Open Space Alliance.

There are other issues in the proposed Stanford hills zoning of concern to both the green groups and the Palo Alto Planning Commission, including review of future projects in the hills and how Stanford would "cluster" future development in the hills. There were enough concerns raised that four commissioners present Wednesday night expressed frustration that no one from the county planning staff was at the meeting to question.

One of the other issues is whether Stanford would be able to use what are now "special conservation areas" -- areas which are environmentally sensitive or protected habitat and which can't be used for development -- in exchange for any future development. The proposed county zoning notes that "conservation easements" -- in effect, open-space protection -- have to be made whenever Stanford does build something in the hills.

"It's double-counting" if the special conservation areas also can be used for the required conservation easements, Dade said.

The Planning Commission's comments will go on to the City Council for consideration at its Dec. 2 meeting. After that discussion, the city will send a letter to the county Planning Commission outlining Palo Alto's concerns.