BACKGROUND
What is the Stanford Community Plan?
Stanford University lands, located within unincorporated Santa Clara County, are governed by the goals, policies and programs in the Stanford Community Plan (“Community Plan”) that is a part of the Santa Clara County General Plan.
Development within the Stanford Community Plan area is currently regulated under the 2000 General Use Permit. For more information visit Stanford Community Plan and General Use Permit Website.
The primary purpose of the Community Plan is to guide future use and development of Stanford lands in a manner that incorporates key General Plan principles of compact urban development, open space protection, and resource conservation. The Community Plan, as part of the General Plan, is comprised of several elements including the following:
Growth and Development
Land Use
Housing
Circulation
Open Space
Resource Conservation, and
Health and Safety.
The Community Plan is also consistent with and furthers the implementation of associated planning documents, such as, the 1985 Land Use Policy Agreement among Stanford University, the City of Palo Alto, and the County of Santa Clara.
Why is the County updating the Stanford Community Plan?
The Community Plan was adopted by the County Board of Supervisors in 2000, and most recently amended in 2015. In November 2016, Stanford University submitted a new General Use Permit (“GUP”) application requesting additional development on the Stanford Campus. Updates to the Community Plan were proposed by the County Administration (see this document below) and considered by the Board in tandem with the proposed adoption of a new GUP for Stanford. The County published a Draft EIR and proceeded with recommendations to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors regarding the application. Stanford withdrew the GUP application on November 1, 2019; therefore, the Administration recommendations could not be adopted at that time.
Stanford University Community Plan
As part of the application review, several public hearings were held and numerous issues and concerns related to the Community Plan were raised and considered. As a result, the Community Plan Update is the first phase of planned work to update the overall County General Plan, and the County is now moving forward with an effort to complete updates to the Community Plan, incorporating the proposed Community Plan amendments considered in 2019 and to address community input and issues raised during the GUP hearing process.
The County will conduct additional research to address the issues raised during the public hearings, including preparation of a Municipal Services Study, Childcare Study, and a Graduate Student Housing Affordability Study. At its February 11, 2020 meeting, the Board of Supervisors directed County staff to continue this work in support of the Community Plan Update.