Category: Jobs/Housing Imbalance

On September 5, City Council will define its vision for future limits on the pace of growth for office and research and development (R&D) square footage in Palo Alto.

In this first step toward developing a permanent annual limit on office/R&D development, Council will direct staff regarding the following details of a possible ordinance:

1. Boundaries of the areas that should be subject to an annual cap;
2. The quantitative limit – should it be 50,000 sf or something different;
3. Whether unused annual allocations should be “rolled over” to raise the cap in subsequent years;
4. Whether current exemptions to the limit should be continued or modified; and
5. How projects should be reviewed – competitive, first-come first-serve, or some other process.

Many Palo Altans see managing the pace of jobs growth as a vital piece of the puzzle to address our jobs/housing imbalance, while others worry that constraints on a strong office market will impair Palo Alto’s economic vitality.

Tell City Council where you stand on office growth limits. Speak up at City Council on September 5 at 6pm (City Hall) or send an email to the full Council at city.council@cityofpaloalto.org.