What does Stanford Propose?

Stanford is proposing to build 27 faculty houses and 3 multifamily residential buildings on 3 acres of land within a 7 acre planned unit development along Alpine Road. The development would be carved out from a 75 acre parcel of undeveloped land situated in the Alpine Scenic Corridor between Golden Oak Drive and Minoca Road to the southwest, Cervantes Road to the west, and Westridge Drive to the northwest and north.

The land Stanford is proposing to develop forms the mouth of the steep Alpine Canyon watershed and is immediately adjacent to the creek that flows from the canyon into Los Trancos Creek and from there into San Francisquito Creek.

The Alpine Canyon provides habitat, breeding and hunting grounds for some of our most beautiful and majestic animal species, including bald eagles, golden eagles, white-tailed kites, great-horned owls, mountain lions, coyotes, grey fox and deer.  It also serves as a wildlife corridor for migration of mammals between the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve and the Arastradero Preserve through the Alpine Canyon and across the Stanford lands at Felt Lake.

The canyon not only provides safe passage and vital habitat to many important species in and around the canyon, it also provides a critical watershed for the animals who live or breed in the canyon and along the entire San Francisquito Creek system.  Riparian and aquatic life throughout the canyon and along the Los Trancos and San Francisquito Creeks depend on the canyon’s watershed to sustain and nurture their habitat as well.  The alluvium at the mouth of the canyon provides an important source of groundwater recharge and filtration that protects and restores the quantity and quality of local groundwaters.

The Alpine Road Corridor and especially the Alpine Canyon define the scenic entrance to Portola Valley by marking the transition from the increasingly intense, urbanized land use policies of Menlo Park and Palo Alto to the rural, open space and conservation policies of Portola Valley.  The oak woodland pasture that forms the mouth of the canyon sits immediately adjacent to Alpine Road and sets the rural stage for rapidly rising hillsides behind that form the steep, densely wooded ravines of the canyon.

As detailed more fully below, the major community goals of Portola Valley’s General Plan, its land use element, its open space and conservation elements, its Alpine Corridor Plan, its trails element and its safety element all call in unison for the protection of this residential open space preserve, and its utilization to accentuate and protect the wildlife and natural ecosystems that depend on it.

Nonetheless, Stanford instead proposes to develop this land and use it for high density faculty housing.  Stanford’s proposal would subdivide its 75 acres of open space land into a 68-acre parcel of undeveloped land and a 7-acre planned unit development for faculty housing.

Stanford proposes to further subdivide the 7-acre parcel into 30 smaller residential parcels.  Each single-family parcel would be less than 5,000 square feet per lot and collectively all 30 residential parcels would be tightly aligned in a row that would comprise less than 3 acres of land.  The remaining 4 acres of the 7-acre development would be held in common to provide a street right-of-way, parking areas, a small common space and setbacks.

As to the remaining 68 acres of undeveloped land, Stanford makes no proposal to grant an open space, conservation or trail easement in the land, or to manage and maintain it to protect public safety or promote natural habitat.

While Stanford’s proposed project may serve Stanford’s self-interest, it does not serve the interest of Portola Valley.