Council sets designated office space cap; critics call plan meaningless
Palo Alto’s annual 50,000-square-foot cap on new office space is here to stay.
That’s what the City Council decided in a 5-4 vote Monday night, although some critics questioned whether the cap will really curb development.
The annual limit applies to new office space throughout downtown, the California Avenue business district and the El Camino Real corridor. The cap was set as a temporary experiment in September 2015. Council members Karen Holman, Adrian Fine, Lydia Kou and Tom DuBois dissented.
Under the new ordinance, if no one proposes to build any offices one year then the entire 50,000-squarefoot cap will roll over to the following year for a maximum allowance of 100,000 square feet. The council also required that staff return in two to four years to discuss possibly reducing or expanding the limit.
Those caveats were interpreted by some as evidence that the cap really isn’t a cap.
“You blew it,” said Bob Moss, who along with other residents asked the council to extend the cap so it applies citywide and not just in three areas.
For instance, they said, most of the land that can be commercially developed is in Stanford Research Park, which the council exempted from the cap. Of 12 million square feet of existing office space in the city, roughly 10 million is located in the park, according to the city.
“Limiting the cap to just a few specific areas has the effect of declaring open season on the rest of the town,” resident Elaine Meyer said. “It tells office developers they can build in other parts of the town where there are no limits. It’s a trick, please remove it. It invalidates the effectiveness of a cap.”
Meanwhile, the citizens group Palo Altans for Sensible Zoning has begun a petition campaign to place a measure on the November ballot that would reduce by half the amount of non-residential development allowed citywide. The new comprehensive plan adopted by the council caps new non-residential space at 1.7 million square feet through the end of 2030, which the group wants trimmed to 850,000 square feet.
“Between 1989 and 2014, the average annual growth rate in non-residential square footage averaged 58,000 square feet per year; the 2030 Comp Plan allows up to an average of 113,000 square feet per year citywide,” the petition reads.
Contact Kevin Kelly at 650391-1049.