By Khalida Sarwari
Stanford’s proposal for a massive expansion that could see the university build 3,150 housing units and develop 2.275 million square feet of new academic facilities over the next 17 years cleared an early hurdle Tuesday.
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, which oversees planning in unincorporated areas, unanimously agreed to start negotiating terms of that expansion with Stanford. Its decision followed a discussion centered on time frames, public outreach and formation of an ad hoc committee.
Over the summer, the county approved policies that will require Stanford to pay higher fees toward affordable housing and construct more low-income homes. But in a compromise, the university had agreed to build some of the new units on its land instead of contributing money for them to be built elsewhere.
The development agreement that supervisors on Tuesday agreed to begin negotiating would essentially compel Stanford to offer community benefits and offset the housing impacts of its development and the costs of increased development.
Several speakers urged the board to delay negotiations in the interest of transparency, until the final environmental impact review is completed in December. Palo Alto school representatives asked the board to consider the toll of adding students to the area’s schools while environmental advocates expressed concerns about the threat to existing open space protections. A few residents who live close to the campus complained that the university’s out-of-control expansion is already affecting their quality of life.
Peter Drekmeier, a Palo Alto resident and former city mayor, said he’s concerned that proceeding with the negotiations prematurely could undermine the community engagement process.
“We feel it’s important to understand the totality of the impacts from the Stanford development before we can address applicable mitigation and community benefits,” he said.
But Jean McCown, an associate vice president for government and community relations at Stanford, argued that the sooner the conversation starts, the better the chance that the public’s input is considered on certain benefits that aren’t required by the environmental impact review, such as the speedy construction of affordable housing.
“Contrary to some comments, preliminary discussions do not result in decisions made in secret, out of the public eye,” she told the board. “Decisions on development agreement terms would be reached only after knowledge of the results of the final EIR and the review of permit conditions through your public process.”
Suggesting that the process ahead wouldn’t be quick or easy, the board agreed on a soft deadline of July 2019 to finalize its negotiations with Stanford. Board President Joe Simitian appointed himself and Supervisor Cindy Chavez to an ad hoc committee to help guide the negotiation process.
Supervisor Dave Cortese said starting negotiations now would not preclude the board from continuing to gather public input. He also called for a robust community engagement process that includes a diversity of voices, not just those directly affected by the development. Simitian agreed, saying that although it would be a tough balancing act, he’s optimistic about a successful outcome.
“It’s big; it’s important; it’s going to affect a lot of folks in a lot of ways and there’s going to be lots of competing interests,” Simitian said. “We’ve got to make sure we do right by everyone and to the greatest possible degree.”
Santa Clara County to start tackling Stanford’s ambitious expansion plans
