Planners aim to save foothills
By Truong Phuoc Khanh

Santa Clara County planners are recommending that Stanford University preserve its 2,000 acres of foothills, among the Peninsula's environmental jewels, for the next 25 years.

The university had proposed to keep its foothills undeveloped for at least 10 years.

The planners' recommendations, to be made public today, could carry considerable weight when county supervisors decide later this year whether to approve Stanford's community plan.

Stanford submitted its community plan last fall outlining what it wanted to do with the 8,180 acres in its domain. If adopted by the county, it would serve as the blueprint for where Stanford's development ends and open space begins.

For the first time in the university's 100-year history, campus officials would be guided by an academic growth boundary, essentially a line dividing the core campus from the foothills and restricting development.

County planners want to see the growth boundary redrawn to swallow up less open space. And they want Stanford's no-foothill-development promise to be extended to 25 years.

“We've identified the boundary of the area in which we think development is appropriate in the next 25 years. And the area that is not inside that area doesn't get developed,” said county planner Sarah Jones, who worked on the recommendations that will be forwarded to planning commissioners for a public hearing next month.

“That means their growth rate has to slow considerably from what they're proposing right now.”

Under the university plan, much of the 2,000 acres of foothills above Stanford would stay open space available for field research, environmentally friendly recreation and research-oriented astronomical or antennae installations for the next 10 years.

The county planners' recommendations would modify the plan to keep that area, which also includes the Stanford Red Barn and equestrian center, off-limits to development for the next 25 years.

Among other county planners' recommendations:

• Stanford should be required to build more rental housing for faculty and staff members.
• Its residential units should be built concurrent with academic construction.
• The core campus must be expanded by about 5 million square feet -- which is estimated to take about 25 years -- before Stanford could request any new development encroaching on the foothills.

The miles of undeveloped grassland and sloping terrain southwest of Stanford University are the biggest battleground in the tug-of-war between environmentalists, the university and the public over Stanford's proposed plan for development. Some environmentalists have argued that the university's commitment to preserving open space should be permanent, rather than 10 or even 25 years.

The county board of supervisors is expected to adopt or reject Stanford's land plan in October. A key part of their consideration will be the planning staff's recommendations that will be unveiled today in preparation for an upcoming county planning commission hearing.

“This is our staff's best professional judgment about how the county ought to respond to Stanford's application. It will be given very serious consideration,” said Supervisor Joe Simitian, whose North County district includes much of Stanford's unincorporated lands.

Stanford proposes to build more than 4 million square feet -- equivalent to three Stanford Shopping Centers -- over the next decade, half of which would be for academic uses. About 2,500 to 3,000 housing units would be added along with another 2,200 people to the university's daytime population.

Most of the new academic construction Stanford proposes is in the central campus, which pleases the county and the adjacent cities of Palo Alto and Menlo Park.

Before the supervisors vote, a series of public hearings is scheduled. The public will have a chance to comment on the county's recommendations at a planning commission hearing at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 7 in the Palo Alto City Council chambers.