Stanford wants to build 500 apartments across the street from the downtown Palo Alto train and bus station as part of its application to increase the campus it released today (Sept. 9).
The university is also proposing to build 500 homes at Stanford Research Park, which would be available for anyone to rent, according to Stanford’s General Use Permit application, or GUP.
In total, the university wants to add 2,500 beds and at least 500 homes to Stanford lands and 1.8 million square feet of academic space.
This new application comes after Stanford withdrew its last application for a GUP, a catch-all permit the university uses to build on its unincorporated Santa Clara County campus, in 2019 amid county supervisors’ concerns expansion would bring in more employees than the area could house.
Stanford has been holding meetings with local officials in a group called “Stanford Next” since October, where leaders were asking the university to provide housing near transit and for all its employees, not just faculty. They also asked Stanford for no new car trips to campus, something Stanford guarantees in the new application.
For three years before withdrawing it in November 2019, Stanford attempted to get approval for a 3.5 million square foot expansion of the campus, but faced blistering public criticism. During that three-year fight, Stanford fought with Santa Clara County officials, and in particular then-Supervisor Joe Simitian of Palo Alto, over requirements about housing and traffic. County leaders insisted that the university fully mitigate the impact of its growth. Stanford revoked its application four days before the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors was set to vote on the permit.
Because Stanford occupies an unincorporated part of the county, the Board of Supervisors signs off on all major expansions.
But the land isn’t subject to zoning limitations on density per parcel, so the county has been approving the university’s growth in increments. The county issued Stanford’s last General Use Permit, or GUP, in 2000, allowing for more than 2 million square feet of academic facilities and 3,018 housing units.
Stanford hopes to get the final approval from the county in 2028.
This is a breaking news story, check back for updates and pick up tomorrow’s Post for the full story.
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