City’s gas ban puts celebrity chef’s proposed restaurant at Stanford Shopping Center in doubt

Celebrity chef Jose Andres plans to open a restaurant at the Stanford Shopping Center. AP photo.

This story first appeared Saturday, May 6, in the print edition of the Daily Post. If you want to read important local stories first, pick up the Post in the mornings at 1,000 Mid-Peninsula locations. It’s where our competitors get their story ideas.

BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer

The company that manages the Stanford Shopping Center is threatening to sue the city of Palo Alto over its ban on natural gas in new buildings, which is threatening the opening of a high-end restaurant.

The city’s rules are “legally defective and unconstitutional,” attorney Anna Shimko wrote in a letter to the city on April 28.

Simon Property Group, which runs the shopping center on a long-term lease from Stanford, is “prepared to take all actions necessary to enforce its legal rights to employ gas facilities,” she said.

City Council discussed the letter in a closed session on Monday.

Simon is asking the city to permit natural gas in a new building at the corner of the mall at El Camino Real and Sand Hill Road, where two restaurants have signed leases.

The potential restaurants are Dumpling Time and Zaytinya, a high-end Turkish, Greek, and Lebanese restaurant helmed by celebrity chef Jose Andres.

The city approved a building permit with a natural gas line in December 2020, and the line was connected to the building pad on Jan. 21, 2021, Shimko said. She included pictures of the construction with her letter.

Zaytinya expressed interest in signing a lease in March 2021 but asked for a larger space, Shimko said.
Simon is now preparing to submit a building permit that could fit the restaurant.

Five-star menu in jeopardy

“Without a gas connection and appliances, Zaytinya would be forced to alter its signature five-star menu, which it is unwilling to do,” Shimko said. “Zaytinya relies on traditional cooking methods that require gas appliances to achieve its signature, complex flavors.”

According to the letter, city officials said that the building can’t connect to gas because of the city’s ban on natural gas in new buildings, which took effect on Jan. 1.

Shimko is arguing that the city already approved a gas line when approving the old building permit, giving Simon a vested right to a hookup. The city needs to compensate Simon if that right is taken away, she said.

Berkeley’s gas ban was overturned

A recent federal appeals court decision also prevents the city from banning natural gas, Shimko said.

She referenced a decision from April 17, when three judges overturned Berkeley’s first-in-the-nation ban on natural gas in new construction.

The California Restaurant Association successfully argued that the city bypassed federal energy regulations when it approved the ordinance.

Local city attorneys are evaluating the implications of the decision — Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Carlos and Los Altos all have some prohibitions on natural gas appliances, called “reach codes.”

City Attorney Molly Stump didn’t comment on the Berkeley case, but Los Altos City Attorney Jolie Houston said in an email to the Post that Santa Clara County cities took a different approach.

Berkeley relied on an ordinance that was approved under the city’s police powers, not the state’s building codes like Los Altos, Houston said.

“At this time, the ruling is new, interpretations are evolving, and it is too soon to make any conclusions about how this decision will and will not impact traditional building reach codes concerning the regulation of natural gas,” she said.

Shimko is arguing that the court’s decision means that Palo Alto isn’t allowed to enforce its restrictions.
“The overturned Berkeley code is remarkably similar to the subject Palo Alto code change,” she said

Mall’s law firm also works for Menlo Park

Shimko works for Burke, Williams and Sorensen, LLP — the same law firm that advised the city of Menlo Park on its natural gas restrictions.

1 Comment

  1. The morons buying into the natural gas ban have no idea what they are talking about.
    For the sake of “climate change” (which most of us used to call weather) there are repeated lies about
    how the use of fossil fuels will result in the world ending in 6-years (if you believe a child who told you 6-years ago we’ll all be dead in 12-years.)
    The reality is, “renewable” energy isn’t renewable. The environmental impacts of this rush to a green new World have never been considered. Not to mention the slave labor in the countries that China controls that produce 90% of the rare earth elements required to produce battery and solar power. Remember, windmills aren’t recyclable, solar panels contribute to hugh levels of pollution in their manufacturing. You can already see the death of marine mammals off the East Coast and now Gavin wants to bring that to Kalifornia.
    Forget the fact that it requires fossil fuels to make just about any type of plastic or other key elemental ingredients in the green infrastructure.
    A careful analysis shows we are moving toward a new Ice Age. That’s why they changed the name from Global Warming to Climate Change.
    Take ten steps back and take an objective analysis, not what is being shoved down your throats by the wackos that insist on controlling the narrative and shouting down anyone who might express a contrary opinion.

    Go ahead, take your shots.

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