Upfront
News Digest
LAND USE
With bigger budget, Palo Alto tackles street repairs The City of Palo Alto is slated to begin work on many street-improvement projects this month, including sidewalk replacement along school routes, concrete repair on 40 city blocks and preventive maintenance on 31 miles of public streets, according to a press release. These improvements are backed by a $3.3 million increase in the annual funding for street maintenance and repair that went into effect July 1, raising it from $1.8 million to $5.1 million. The city also received an additional $2.5 million in federal grants over the past two years for street improvements. Broken concrete slabs on 40 blocks, including sections of Cowper Street, Addison Avenue, Lowell Avenue and Emerson Street, will be repaired or replaced starting this month. The work is expected to last for four months, the press release stated. Heavily used sidewalks within a half-mile radius of 11 Palo Alto schools will be repaired to make them safe for walking and biking. Work closest to the schools is set to be completed before school starts in August. The remaining work will be completed by the end of the year. Work this summer also includes preventative maintenance of 31 streets currently in good condition. Ten miles of Palo Alto streets will also be repaved with new asphalt, including much of Forest Avenue and the Southgate neighborhood. N — Elena Kadvany
Planning commission lauds ‘true mixed-use’ project A proposed mixed-use development at 3159 El Camino Real that has drawn attention for its high ratio of apartment units to commercial space won the support of the Planning and Transportation Commission, which voted to approve a set of requests from the project’s developer Wednesday night, July 17. The commissioners lauded the project, which would be located on the block between Portage and Acacia avenues, for its “true mixed-use� characteristics. While many mixed-use buildings are composed mostly of office space, with minor residential and retail areas, the proposed development would include 48 rental units — largely studio and onebedroom apartments for young professionals — a restaurant, the existing Equinox gym around which it would be built, a corner plaza and an underground parking garage. With commissioners Arthur Keller and Michael Alcheck absent, the commission voted 5-0 to recommend that the City Council approve the requests, which would allow the developer — the Silva family of Menlo Park — to skirt some city requirements for the project. Among the requests was permission to exceed the building’s maximum 1-to-1 floor-area ratio by 0.06, increasing the square footage of the buildings from 69,503 to 74,112. The increase would allow for five below-market-rate apartments to be included, the developer stated. Another request would allow the developer to exceed the maximum building height limit of 50 feet by an additional 5 feet to allow mechanical roof screens and apartment roofs to go together into one consistent design element. While commissioners held some reservations, they were generally enthusiastic about the project. Vice-chair Mark Michael called it “an excellent proposal� that is sensitive to the city’s land-use guidelines, the Comprehensive Plan. Others expressed concerns about exacerbating traffic and parking problems. Commission Chair Eduardo Martinez was supportive of the project, saying it’s a sign the city is “starting to get it right — higher-density developments along El Camino Real.� N — Eric Van Susteren
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Map by Shannon Corey, based on Google Maps
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Equinox gym
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3159 El Camino Real We Fix Macs’ current location
Maybell project opponents race against deadlines Critics circulate two petitions to reverse approval of Palo Alto Housing Corporation’s development by Gennady Sheyner pponents of a recently approved development on Maybell Avenue in Palo Alto are heading into crunch time in their drive to overturn a City Council decision to allow construction of 60 units of housing for low-income seniors and 12 homes on a former orchard site. The coalition, led by residents of the Barron Park, Green Acres and Green Acres 2 neighborhoods, is circulating two petitions to hold referendums. One would specifically overturn the council’s approval of the project and one would nullify a recent change in the city’s Comprehensive Plan, which is designed to guide land-use decisions. The change effectively made the Comprehensive Plan compatible with the project proposed by the Palo Alto Housing Corporation. In each case, the group needs to collect 2,298 signatures within 30 days of the council’s decision to bring the issue to a November vote. The decision on the project itself wasn’t officially made until June 28, when the council voted on a “second reading� of its earlier approval, giving the group until the end of July to file its petition. The deadline for the Comprehensive Plan petition is much tighter because the group got a late start in gathering signatures. The council’s vote to change it was made June 17, making the deadline July 16, but the group only decided to circulate the second petition after consulting an attorney last week, said Bob Moss, a Barron Park resident. Though Moss said he believes the first one would suffice to reverse the council’s approval of the proposal for 567 Maybell Ave., he and other supporters of the referendum decided to circulate the second one “to be on the safe side.� “Since the council had passed two separate resolutions, (the attorney) thought it was best to referend both of them,� Moss said. Information about the referendums is available at paloaltoville. com, the group’s website. Hundreds of opponents had also attended recent council meetings and submitted letters and emails arguing against allowing greater density at the 2.4 acre site, which is near a popular corridor for commuting to schools. Opponents had also formed two separate groups, Maybell Action Group and Coalition for Safe and Sensible Zoning, dedicated to reversing the council’s decision. “We care about these referendums because they go to the heart of overdevelopment in Palo Alto, leading to traffic congestion, lack of parking, densification of neighborhoods, downgrade of quality of life in Palo Alto, and other symptoms of poor
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land use planning,� Coalition for Safe and Sensible Zoning, a smaller group that has focused more on technical land-use issues, wrote on its website. The grassroots move to reverse the council approval of the project gained some momentum last week when the Barron Park Association released survey results that showed members supporting the referendum of the project by a three-toone margin. Furthermore, 117 of the 177 respondents said the association should contribute up to $1,000 for the referendum effort. Though the signature drive for the
referendum on the Comprehensive Plan is facing a deadline of next Tuesday, Moss said he’s seen a high level of interest from the community. He also noted that the second referendum package has an advantage over the first one in that it is only five pages long and can thus be easily emailed to people (the first one is about 60 pages). Even with the tight deadline, Moss said he believes the needed signatures can be gathered. “There’s an awful lot of people collecting signatures,� Moss said. N Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.
Referendum Signing Events Sunday July 14, 2013 4:00-6:00 p.m. 1121 Harriet Street, Palo Alto Enjoy wine & cheese
and
6:30-8:30 p.m. Mitchell Park East Meadow side Enjoy fresh lemonade and cookies
Come sign the Maybell Referendum Petitions We support affordable senior housing under existing zoning. visit www.paloaltoville.com
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