BY ELAINE GOODMAN
Daily Post Staff Writer
East Palo Alto City Council will vote Tuesday (Dec. 3) on a plan that would allow up to 3.35 million square feet of new office and research and development space in the Ravenswood-Four Corners area.
Approval of the plan would clear the way for large projects that have been stalled in the city’s development pipeline, including a complex of five 8-story buildings at 2020 Bay Road.
Also in the pipeline is Sand Hill Property Co.’s proposal for two 8-story laboratory and research buildings as part of a mixed-use project at 1675 Bay Road.
The plan council will vote on tomorrow is an update to the Ravenswood Business District-Four Corners specific plan that was approved in 2013.
The 2013 plan allowed for about 1.44 million square feet of new office and R&D space. But since then, the city has received development proposals that combined would go over the 2013 square footage cap.
In addition to 3.35 million square feet of new office and R&D space, the proposed plan includes up to 300,000 square feet of new industrial space and 1,600 housing units. If council approves the Ravenswood-Four Corners plan Tuesday, the plan will return for a final vote on Dec. 17.
“We have been anxiously waiting for this milestone,” Sand Hill Property said in a letter to the city in September, when an environmental document known as the DSEIR was released. “The city’s delayed specific plan and associated DSEIR for several years have long delayed our project application review.” Council had considered updating the Ravenswood-Four Corners plan with a smaller amount of new office and R&D space: 2.82 million rather than 3.35 million square feet.
But city planning officials recommended that council go with the larger number, which could potentially bring more revenue to the city, more developer fees and greater community benefits.
The plan would reward developers by allowing increased density if they provide community benefits such as affordable housing or parks.
With approval of the specific plan, projects that have been stuck in the city’s development review process can move forward. One of those is a project proposed for 17 acres at the end of Bay Road near Cooley Landing. The 1.34 million-square-foot development at 2020 Bay Road would include five 8-story buildings that would house offices, retail and civic uses. New York developer Bill Uhrig has even discussed potentially including a city hall in the complex.
Parking would be on surface lots and in mechanical automated parking towers. A public plaza is also part of the plan.
A second project is Sand Hill Property’s proposed mixed-use development on 6.1 acres at 1675 Bay Road, at the corner of Bay Road and University Avenue.
The proposal includes up to 40,000 square feet of retail, restaurants, and community space; 180 units housing at different affordability levels; and 500,000 square feet of research and laboratory space, according to information on the city’s website.
A public plaza at the center of the site would be next to two eight-story research buildings with ground floor restaurants and retail.
The Ravenswood-Four Corners specific plan covers a roughly 207-acre area bounded by the city limits and Union Pacific railroad tracks on the north; Ravenswood Open Space Preserve and Palo Alto Baylands on the east; Weeks and Runnymede streets on the south; and a Union Pacific easement off of Illinois Street on the west.
The plan envisions Bay Road as the “heart” of East Palo Alto, with shops and restaurants lining a walkable corridor. The plan also seeks to improve public views of the Bay and to enhance access to the waterfront and the Bay Trail.
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