Upfront SAN FRANCISQUITO CREEK
Residents near creek may be asked to tax themselves Joint Powers Authority eyes finance district for residents in flood-prone areas of Palo Alto, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto by Gennady Sheyner
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ith federal funding up in the air, Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Menlo Park officials may look to residents who live near the volatile San Francisquito Creek to tax themselves in order to pay for flood protection. The San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority (JPA), an agency that includes elected officials from the three cities, is considering creating a finance district for residents in about 5,400 parcels near the floodprone creek. This includes about 3,600 Palo Alto parcels, according to Len Materman, executive director of the creek authority. Materman told the Palo Alto City Council Monday night (Dec. 12) that the goal is to pass a bond that would help owners in the floodplain properties leave the National Flood Insurance Program, which costs an average household $1,300 a year. Materman said the bond would cost the parcels between $600 and $700. Once construction is completed property owners would see major
savings, he said. With flood-insurance rates rising by about 3 percent annually, the annual rate is slated to go up $2,000 in 15 years and more than $3,500 in 35 years, Materman said. “We do know that an argument for passing a bond measure would be to achieve substantial savings for property owners following the construction period,” Materman said. The proposed finance district is one of many funding sources the creek authority is considering to pay for its ambitious plan to calm the fickle creek. The agency was formed in 1999, one year after the creek flooded, causing tens of millions of dollars in damages (including $28 million in Palo Alto alone). The creek authority — which also includes elected officials from the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the San Mateo County Flood Control District — is also seeking various state grants to build a new levee downstream and to upgrade bridges in the three cities.
‘If we rely on the Corps it could be several decades.’
— Len Materman, executive director, San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority
Officials from the three cities had initially hoped to acquire federal funding for the proposed flood-protection measures. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the midst of a feasibility study analyzing ways to protect the properties around the creek from the “100-year flood” (an event that, by definition, takes place once every 100 years). The study was launched in 2005 and still has a way to go, Materman said. Both the appropriations for the study and the progress with the appropriations have been “suboptimal,” he said. Given the slow progress on the federal front, the cities are now
focusing on funding sources at the state, county and local levels. “If we rely on the Corps it could be several decades, but if we take ownership of funding and try to apply for a two-county funding district, it’s faster,” Materman said. The creek authority had earlier this year applied for a state grant to help pay for the design costs associated with upgrading the Newell Road bridge between Palo Alto and East Palo Alto. It is planning to seek a similar grant for the Middlefield Road bridge between Palo Alto and Menlo Park. The Pope-Chaucer Street and University Avenue bridges would be next in line. Other funds could come from the water district, which passed a bond in 2000 with support from Palo Alto voters. The water district is now considering asking voters for another bond next year. Some of the proceeds from the future bond could also potentially be used to support the creek authority’s flood-protection effort.
Brian Schmidt, a member of the water district’s board of directors, told the council that the board still hasn’t decided whether to put the bond on next year’s ballot. And even if the bond measure goes on the ballot, there is no guarantee that it would pass, he said. “I think we’re going to do it if we think we’re going to win, but we don’t know yet,” Schmidt said. The first phase of the creek authority’s plan targets the vulnerable downstream area between U.S. Highway 101 and the San Francisco Bay. It includes excavating a channel, connecting the creek to the Baylands and building a levee (a project that would require reconfiguration of the Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course). The project, which would provide protection from a 100-year flood to the downstream area, has an estimated cost of $26 million. The second phase would focus on the area between 101 and El (continued on page 10)
DEVELOPMENT POLICE
Palo Alto bids farewell to ‘Downtown’ Sandra Brown Popular lieutenant retires after 24 years in the Palo Alto Police Department by Gennady Sheyner
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Courtesy of City of Palo Alto
fter nearly a quarter century of patrolling the streets, testifying at trials, and counseling students, “Downtown” Sandra Brown is stepping down. Lt. Brown, whose energetic presence and distinguished career made her one of the department’s most popular and well-known officers, received a standing ovation and a special resolution Monday night (Dec. 12) from the City Council. She is retiring at the end of this week. The resolution, which Councilwoman Karen Holman read into the record Monday, cites her long list of assignments, including stints as a field-training officer, a traffic-team supervisor, a recruiting officer, community-relations officer and a bike officer — an assignment that prompted the San Jose Mercury News to give her the moniker, “Downtown” Sandra Brown. The council resolution also praises Brown for her “genuine care for people” and “passion for youth.” Interim Public Safety Director Dennis Burns praised Brown Monday for being an “outstanding ambassador not only for city but also for police department.” Brown, he said, is “someone who made everyone play better every day.”
Lt. Sandra Brown “(She is) probably the most recognized Palo Alto police officer in our recent history and one of the best known personalities around,” Burns said. A well-known presence in downtown Palo Alto who earned her nickname in the 1980s while patrolling, Brown is lauded in the council resolution being “instrumental in the Department’s problem-solving and community policing approach to crime and quality of life issues in the Downtown area” and for her “creative and inventive collaboration with the business community.” In accepting the council reso-
lution, Brown thanked the volunteers at the Palo Alto Police Department and her colleagues, whom she praised for honorably serving the community even while getting disparaged by the city’s vocal police critics. The citizens of Palo Alto, she said, can “sleep peacefully.” She also thanked Burns and her colleagues in the department for “all the adrenaline rushes and for the opportunity to lead and be led.” Former Mayor Vic Ojakian said he met Brown more than a decade ago, when he was on the City Council, and said he was “impressed with her and how she connected with the people in this town. “I’m very grateful that she served on the force, and we are losing a real asset,” Ojakian said. Brown’s departure is the latest in a department that has seen an exodus of experienced officers in recent months. Lieutenants Scott Wong and Douglas Keith and Sgt. Rebecca Lynn Phillips had all received council resolutions over the past month in recognition of their recent retirements.N Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.
Busy Palo Alto intersection could see new hotel City board members generally like Hilton Garden Inn, but some residents critical by Gennady Sheyner
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he latest addition to Palo Alto’s dynamic hotel scene could soon go up near one of the busiest intersections on the south part of the city. A four-story Hilton Garden Inn, featuring 176 rooms and various upscale amenities, has been proposed for 4217 El Camino Real, across the street from where the venerable Rickey’s Hyatt once stood. The proposal, which received its first review at Thursday’s Architectural Review Board (ARB) meeting, is the fourth hotel application the city has received in the past two years (see cover story on page 33), though one has since been withdrawn. Unlike the others, it would not need to go through extensive planning commission and council meetings because it would conform to the site’s commercial zoning. The board did not vote on the proposal and had mostly good things to say about the planned design, which includes a U-shaped building and a porte-cochere fronting El Camino Real. Jeffrey MacAdam from the firm Architectural Dimensions, which presented the plan to the ARB, said the new hotel would have two levels of parking to accommodate 178 parking spaces along with 28 bike racks. But the proposal by OTO Development also drew some criticisms
from area residents and board members, some of whom said they were concerned that the 50-foottall building would be too massive for a block currently dominated by shorter structures such as car-rental agencies and a dry-cleaning business. The hotel would stand across the street from Arbor Real, a townhouse development that replaced Rickey’s Hyatt. The Garden Inn would stand just south of the prominent intersection of El Camino and Arastradero Road — an intersection that is frequented by students commuting to Gunn High School, Terman Middle School and several smaller schools. The city is in the midst of a multiyear traffic-calming effort aimed at making the busy stretch of Arastradero west of El Camino safer for bicyclists and pedestrians. Four speakers, including three Arbor Real residents, shared with the board their concerns about the project’s impact on the intersection. They called for the city to undertake an independent study to evaluate the traffic impacts of the new hotel. Land-use watchdog Bob Moss was the most vehement critic of the proposed hotel design, saying, “On a good day, I’d call it ghastly.” He compared it to the Arbor Real development, which is frequently criti(continued on page 10)
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