Stanford, green group bicker over 154 acres
By Elaine Goodman

A 154-acre piece of land at the corner of Alpine Road and Junipero Serra Boulevard is likely to be the center of controversy in Stanford's proposal to build 4 million square feet of new development.

Stanford wants to open the door to more intense development of the land called the Lathrop District, which is on the west side of Junipero Serra Boulevard. But some environmental groups want Stanford to preserve all its land west of Junipero Serra as open space.

Adding fuel to the environmentalists' argument, an environmental report released Friday said Stanford's plans for the Lathrop District "will result in the loss of recognized open space."

Stanford is only asking to build an extra 20,000 square feet in the Lathrop District over the next 10 years. But the university wants to change the designation of the land from "academic reserve and open space" to "academic campus," which the report says would open the door to future development.

"Stanford claims that there will be no development in the 'Foothills District,' but they don't mention they have renamed 154 acres of the foothills 'Lathrop,'" said Peter Drekmeier of the Stanford Open Space Alliance, an environmental group. "In other words, there is no development planned in the 'Foothills District,' but the Foothills District is shrinking."

Sparing the foothills

But Larry Horton, Stanford's director of government relations, said yesterday that the Lathrop District is already extensively developed. The area is home to the golf course clubhouse, a behavioral sciences building, an economics research building, the historic Lathrop house and artists studios. The proposed Carnegie Institute would also be built in the Lathrop District.

In contrast, the foothills area west of the Lathrop District is virtually undeveloped and Stanford plans to keep it that way for the next 10 years.

"It makes perfectly rational sense to treat (the Lathrop District) differently," Horton said.

Stanford is in the process of getting approval from Santa Clara County for a long-range "community plan" and application for 4 million square feet of new development.

The environmental report released Friday will go through a public review process before it's finalized. Then county supervisors will decide whether to approve Stanford's development plan.

No new car trips

The report outlines some changes Stanford could make to its plan so it has fewer environmental impacts.

For example, Stanford could use traffic reduction measures so that new development doesn't add to rush hour traffic. The university agreed to such a "no new net commute trips" policy when the county approved its current growth permit.

Horton said yesterday that a "no new net commute trips" policy isn't part of the university's new proposal. But Horton said Stanford will make major efforts to reduce traffic, including incentive programs to get university students and workers to leave their cars at home.

"We continue to believe our proposal is an excellent one, from a programmatic and environmental point of view," Horton said.