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Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / December 1, 2017
The City Council plans to approve on Monday night a comment letter on the project’s voluminous draft Environmental Impact Report, which assesses likely consequences of the expansion. The letter takes issues with Stanford’s assumptions about traffic, groundwater and fire-service demand, among many other things.
Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / November 28, 2017
The council didn’t take any votes on the proposal, which is still in a conceptual phase and which has not yet been the subject of a formal application. The pre-screening session was a chance for the council to either nip the project in the bud and avoid unnecessary expenditures or signal its support and suggest ways to improve the project.
The council did both of these things and, in doing so, sent a mixed message to the prospective applicant, building owner Thoits Brothers Inc. But given that the more pro-growth faction enjoys a narrow council majority, the Monday discussion means the application is likely to move ahead.
Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / August 29, 2017
Palo Alto’s elected leaders found plenty to like on Monday in a new proposal to bring 61 units of desperately needed affordable housing to a transit-friendly site in the Ventura neighborhood.
There’s just one serious problem: it would violate the zoning code in more ways than they can count.
Palo Alto Weekly – by Elinor Aspegren, Shawna Chen and Jocelyn Dong / August 15, 2017
Unhappy over the City of Palo Alto’s planned eviction of a dozen nonprofit organizations and businesses that have been using First Baptist Church in Palo Alto as their home, members of the groups and their supporters turned out in force on Monday to plead with the City Council to change zoning rules to allow them to stay.
Palo Alto Daily Post – by Emily Mibach / July 12, 2017
Facebook’s proposal to develop a 59-acre business park on Willow Road in Menlo Park into a “Village” with homes, stores and 1.75 million square feet of office space doesn’t answer some major questions about housing and traffic.
Palo Alto Weekly – by Palo Alto Weekly editorial board / July 14, 2017
It’s hard to imagine a better example of how messed up our region’s planning processes and development policies are than Facebook’s latest proposal to build nine new office buildings totaling 1.75 million square feet, likely to be occupied by up to 10,000 new employees, while eventually constructing 1,500 rental apartment units.
The Almanac – by Kate Bradshaw / July 10. 2017
Facebook, which hit 2 billion users June 27, has announced plans for a major new office, residential and retail development near its headquarters at Willow Road and Bayfront Expressway in Menlo Park.
Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / June 19, 2017
Few projects epitomize the hopes of Palo Alto’s housing advocates and the anxieties of the city’s land-use watchdogs as clearly as 2755 El Camino Real, a four-story housing project proposed for the busy intersection of Page Mill Road and El Camino Real.
Palo Alto Matters – March 24, 2017
Moving quickly to assert itself, the new Council majority used a fast-track voting process to limit debate and sideline the Citizen Advisory Committee’s Land Use recommendations – only to retreat after two months of public backlash.
Read More “Facing sustained public outcry, Council reverses course”
Palo Alto Weekly – Editorial / March 24, 2017
Faced with a strong backlash from residents across Palo Alto’s political spectrum and angry colleagues who felt disrespected, the City Council majority that had in January abruptly voted to remove the implementing programs from the draft revision to the Comprehensive Plan reversed course with a do-over Monday night.
