By the Daily Post staff
Palo Alto could be getting a new street name tonight (Sept. 10), though the street will be just a half-block long.
City Council will vote on a recommendation to put the name “Orchard Court” on a street that will serve a new 16-unit subdivision off of Clemo Avenue, between Maybell Avenue and Arastradero Road in south Palo Alto.
The street will be on the site where the Palo Alto Housing Corp. had proposed a 60-unit housing complex for low-income seniors and 12 single-family homes. The project was rejected in a 2013 ballot referendum, and the land was sold to Golden Gate Homes, which is putting a 16-unit development on that site.
When the city has to name a new street, it’s policy is to turn to the Palo Alto Historical Association for help. The association suggested Orchard Court because the land as well as the nearby Juana Briones Park were part of a former apricot orchard, harkening back to Santa Clara Valley’s past as the fruit bowl of America.
“While most of Palo Alto was not part of this history, the lands in southwest Palo Alto, including Barron Park, were part of this legacy,” Steve Staiger of the historical association said in a letter to the city.
The association considered two other names — Perry Court, in honor of the donkey who lives in Bol Park and was the model for the donkey in the “Shrek” movie, and Parkhouse Court, in remembrance of recently deceased association archive volunteer Jack Parkhouse.
Council will likely approve the name without discussion tonight because it’s on council’s consent calendar when a number of uncontroversial items are approved in one action without debate.
Orchard Court is stupidly generic. Apricot Court would have been so much better, but surely, it’s too late.