The City Council will be holding an important meeting on December 2nd that will have a lasting impact on the future of Palo Alto. This meeting and the subsequent meeting on December 9th were scheduled in response to the stunning election victory by the opponents of Measure D and the reversal of the Council decision for a Planned Community (PC) rezoning of the Maybell-Clemo property.
The agenda topic is : Initiating a Community Conversation on the Future of the City Including the Comprehensive Plan, Planned Community Zoning, Parking and Traffic Strategies and Related Matters
This agenda item is expected to take up most of the evening, starting at 8:35PM and continuing until 11PM, according to the Council agenda. The Council is calling this a Study Session, and they are providing an opportunity for input from community members.
The title of the City Manager report, Planning The Future Report #4294, indicates the important objective of this meeting. This is the first of two sessions the Council has scheduled to discuss long term vision of planning and development. Come to this and the next Council meeting (December 9th) if you can. If not, follow the Council’s decision very carefully. You can track the Council meeting on Channel 26 Public Access.
Art Liberman adds the following …..Neilson Buchanan, Downtown North neighborhood leader, provided the following comments on this meeting and on the City Manager’s staff report:
#1 The Council seems to be ready to delay or stop Planned Community decisions. This is within their spectrum of options…primarily a political response presumably addressing public outcry and calming parking and gridlocked traffic.
#2 The staff report is very strong (see page 25) on legal opinions that property owners are for the foreseeable future entitled with well-established property development rights. My concern is that the Council is not addressing the fact that dozens of “entitled” developments in total seem to have as much if not more negative impact that the J Paul and Arrillaga/Stanford Office building projects seeking PC designations.
Furthermore, the Planning Department with Council blessings continues to make serial negative impacts for developments (around the Calif and University Ave commercial cores) when if fact there is clear cumulative negative impact on neighborhood parking and traffic. This is a double standard that warrants immediate political pushback and competent legal challenge from a growing number of afflicted neighborhoods. At some point I hope at least one Councilperson will ask the city manager where tenants of these developments will park their vehicles.
#3 The staff report once again makes very selective use of excerpts from the Comprehensive Plan. See page 2 of the staff report. Senior city staff including the city manager fail to ask the Council to address Comp Plan Page I-3 stating a much more important vision for neighborhoods:
‘The Plan establishes the physical boundaries of residential and commercial areas and sets limits where necessary to ensure that business and housing remain compatible. It encourages commercial enterprise, but not at the expense of the City’s residential neighborhoods.‘ ”
Mr. Buchanan has written a short note about how he views the issues facing the city How Will the Palo Alto City Council Manage Opportunities Driven by the 2012-2017 Economic Boom?