The Loma Prietan
May/June 2001
Stanford Update: Foothills Victory
by Denice Dade
Led by Committee for Green Foothills (CGF), environmentalists were successful in convincing the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to uphold protective foothill policies and deliver a crippling blow to the Carnegie Foundation’s proposed headquarters for the Stanford Foothills. In a 5 to 0 vote, the Board sent Carnegie back to the drawing board, requiring them to comply with the strong foothill protections recently established as part of the Stanford University Community Plan.
Among its many flaws, Carnegie’s proposed 21,000-square-foot office building violated Stanford’s newly approved Community Plan by placing part of the building, the parking lot and access road outside the
Academic Growth Boundary, in a Special Conservation Area. The building would have destroyed sensitive California tiger salamander habitat without mitigation, and would have permanently scarred the gentle rolling hills.
CGF appealed the Planning Commission’s earlier approval of the project because the project was illegal, violating both county planning principles and state law. The Loma Prieta Chapter supported the appeal and urged the Board to reject the Stanford-Carnegie proposal in its current form. The Board responded by sending Carnegie’s plan back to staff, requiring the project to comply with the following elements:
- Full mitigation of tiger salamander habitat with permanent easements.
- Decreased size and intensity more appropriate for this sensitive area.
- Conformance with the new Stanford Community Plan. The entire project must be inside the Academic Growth Boundary, and the project must be relocated below the 200 ft. elevation level to protect the viewshed (the existing site is approximately 350 feet).
- Thorough exploration of alternative locations.
Conforming with these requirements
virtually eliminates the possibility of Carnegie developing the proposed location. The Board, lead by Supervisors Kniss and Beall, made their commitment to protecting the foothills clear.
We hope to see the same on May 8th when the Board takes this issue up again.
Denice Dade is the Santa Clara County
Legislative Advocate for Committee for Green Foothills.