BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
The city of Palo Alto is refusing to release an appraisal for the Cubberley Community Center before voters consider approving a sales tax to buy the land.
The city said appraisals ahead of buying a property are exempt from the California Public Records Act, so the city isn’t required to release the appraisal.
City Manager Ed Shikada said it’s not his decision alone to release the appraisal at this point. He said council and the school board would need to be involved, and both are on summer break.
“That said, please remember that our agencies agreed to this price to benefit the schools as well as improve Cubberley,” Shikada said in an email.
Council is asking voters to buy seven acres for $65.5 million from the Palo Alto Unified School District.
The deal was approved in October 2024 by council and the school board, contingent on the city raising the money with a tax.
Councilwoman Julie Lythcott-Haims and former school board member Jennifer DiBrienza led the committees that confidentially negotiated the price.
Former school board member Todd Collins has suggested that the city could ask for a lower price or better terms, like a payment plan rather than paying cash upfront.
“There are lots of ways that the district and the city could work together,” Collins said in a June interview.
Residents have questioned council’s decision not to mention the land purchase on the ballot for the half-cent sales tax.
Instead, the question asks if the city should make Cubberley’s buildings safer, upgrade deteriorating wiring and plumbing, acquire outdoor space, maintain safe and clean streets and prepare for natural disasters.
“It just seems off to me — I mean we can’t really do it without the purchase of the land,” resident Phyllis Brown told council members during the June 8 meeting.
In a letter to council, resident Penny Ellson asked if the city mistakenly left out the land purchase in the ballot question.
“This seems to be a significant omission. Shouldn’t this be included?” Ellson wrote.
Brown and Ellson both support the city’s Cubberley plans, which include renovating the classrooms for nonprofits and building a city-owned gym.
Councilman Pat Burt told the Post that the ballot question has a word limit and followed “legalistic guidance” from City Attorney Chris Jensen. But an accompanying argument in favor of the measure will “clearly state one of the key purposes is the actual land purchase,” Burt said in a June 28 interview
During council’s June 8 meeting, Lythcott-Haims asked about omitting the land purchase from the ballot question. Assistant Director of Administrative Services Christine Paras said the city included language that had the most voter support.
Only 34% of Palo Alto voters surveyed in January said buying the Cubberley land was very or extremely important, and the measure needs 50% to pass.
“Electrical, plumbing — those kinds of basics really resounded with the voters,” Paras told council.
The half-cent sales tax is expected to bring in $15.6 million per year.
Collins said people will feel like they’d be asked to pay for property that they already own.
He said that rather than “hide” the land purchase by keeping it out of the ballot question, the city and school district should go back to the negotiating table.
“If that’s an important thing standing in the way of the community approving additional funding for Cubberley, then both the school district and the city should take a beat and try to incorporate that into their thinking and into their deal,” he said.
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