Simitian: Stanford knew Supe says he pitched his plan for the foothills over a month ago

by Matt Zalaznick

Supervisor Joe Simitian criticized Stanford last night for acting surprised about his plan to preserve its foothills for the rest of the century, saying he told the university's president about the idea more than a month ago.

"The suggestion that Stanford was bushwhacked, sandbagged or blindsighted is particularly disappointing to me," Simitian said at the county supervisor's public hearing last night in San Jose. "No way in the world they could have been surprised."

Stanford reacted with outrage last week when at a town hall meeting in Palo Alto on Oct. 24 Simitian announced a plan that would prevent Stanford from building on its foothills for at least 99 years.

Stanford President John Hennessy has encouraged alumni and supporters to lobby the county board of supervisors to reject Simitian's plan.

In a terse exchange with Simitian last night, Hennessy said that despite Stanford's knowledge of what Simitian was considering, it didn't know he was going to make those proposals public until the town hall meeting in Palo Alto.

The county board of supervisors is scheduled to vote today on the general use permit - Stanford's 10-year, 4 million square foot expansion plan - and will consider including Simitian's proposal in the development permit.

Hennessy told the board last night that it would be impossible for the university to accept a permit that included Simitian's open space demands.

"This proposal is a last-minute initiative and one that causes Stanford great difficulty," Hennessy said.

Stanford has warned that it will not accept the permit if Simitian's version is approved. It has also warned that it will withdraw its offer to lease Palo Alto the old Mayfield School site at the corner of Page Mill Road and El Camino Real so the city can build a new home for the Jewish Community Center.

Since Simitian's plan would keep housing out of the foothills, Stanford spokesman Larry Horton said it would apply to build housing on the Mayfield site if Simitian's plan goes through.

Simitian said he met with Hennessey and Stanford board of trustee president Isaac Stein on Sept. 22, Sept. 29 and Oct. 12. to inform the university of his ideas on open space. The dates that Simitian says he had with Stanford show it knew that they knew what he was considering when it offered the Mayfield deal Oct. 6.

JCC board member Joel Spolin urged the board last night to reject Simitian's idea so the Mayfield deal would not be killed.

"The Palo Alto JCC is counting on a generous contribution from Stanford of the six-acre site for its future home," Spolin told the board.

The JCC is being thrown out its 655 Arastradero home by the Palo Alto school board to make way for a third middle school.

Simitian's open space formula would allow Stanford to build 2,000 square feet of new academic facilities for every 1 acre of foothills it dedicates as open space for either 99 years or as long as the new buildings stand.

If Stanford builds all 2 million square feet of new academic space, it would have to dedicate 1,000 acres of its 2,200 acres of foothills as long-term open space.

The board will consider Stanford's plans today at 2 p.m. at the Santa Clara County Government Center at 70 West Hedding St., San Jose.