Can you picture Stanford a decade from now? Campus planners already have. If Santa Clara County officials approve Stanford's new blueprint for growth, the University in 2010 may have more housing, a 12,000-seat basketball arena, an interdisciplinary center for biosciences (see related story) and a joint Palo Alto-Stanford performing arts center. And it will still be bordered by undeveloped Foothills.
Under the 10-year development plan submitted in draft form to Santa Clara County in September, Stanford would build the same amount of academic and support space as it did in the last decade -- about 1.7 million square feet. The application also outlines extensive plans for new housing. About 2,000 units would be built for graduate students. Faculty and staff would get 430 new units -- a mixture of single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums dotted around campus residential areas. Such "infill" housing has been strongly opposed by campus leaseholders. The plan notes that a final decision on the infill sites will be made by Provost John Hennessy.
Campus planners crafted the final draft of the so-called general-use permit and community plan after holding a series of public meetings this summer to hear the concerns of area residents. "Stanford . . . listened very carefully and came out with a plan that we think is responsive to the concerns of the community and that meets [the University's] needs," says Larry Horton, '62, MA '66, MA '70, director of government and community relations.
But several county officials blasted the draft, saying it lacks specifics about where the University plans to build and ignores rules the county established for how the application should be written. County supervisor Joe Simitian sent President Gerhard Casper a strongly worded letter detailing his concerns. One Santa Clara County Planning Commission member was so angered that he suggested that the county hire a consultant to take over writing the plan from Stanford. "[The draft] is a very clear statement that they have no intention of following the rules," says Terry Trumball, the commission member. Horton has responded to these critics by emphasizing that this is just a first draft that will continue to be refined.
The tug-of-war between universities and their hometowns is nothing new. Stanford's may be more intense, however, because the University owns so much land in an area where so little remains undeveloped. One significant piece of the plan is the promise that more than 99 percent of the area in the Foothills south of Junipero Serra Boulevard would remain undeveloped for the next decade. Community activists have pushed to have this greenbelt preserved forever. Administrators favor long-term protection of the land, but have balked at a permanent commitment.
With the draft application now public, the next step is for the University, the community and county officials to get to work ironing out their differences. A final version of the plan is to be given to the county on November 15.
