HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-03-08 City Council Summary Minutes
Special Meeting March 8, 2000
1. Council Discussion and Direction on Guiding Principles and
Objectives for Ad Hoc Middle School Site Review Committee........................................................ 450
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m............... 463
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The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Council Chambers at 5:45 p.m. PRESENT: Beecham, Burch, Eakins, Fazzino, Kleinberg (arrived at 5:50 p.m.), Kniss, Lytle, Ojakian
SPECIAL MEETING
1. Council Discussion and Direction on Guiding Principles and Objectives for Ad Hoc Middle School Site Review Committee
Mayor Kniss said people who lived in Palo Alto or in the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) had concern for the health, vitality, and well-being of all the institutions in the City. Superior schools, wonderful services provided by nonprofits,
open spaces, and gathering spots were important. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the City, PAUSD, the Jewish Community
Center (JCC), and housing advocates worked together to develop a plan for the Terman School site on Arastradero Road. At that time, the drop in student population and the fiscal pressures on
PAUSD meant that the land had to be sold on the open market unless a partnership could be formed to keep it in public
ownership. Through a cooperative process, a plan was developed. Part of the land was made available to affordable housing, and 7.5 acres were purchased by the City and developed into a park.
During the current year, the City would make its final payment to PAUSD and formally take title to approximately 15 acres,
which was the entire Terman site with the exception of the housing site. Six acres of the land were leased by the City to the JCC, which subleased parts of the land to other nonprofit
organizations that provided important community services. The primary occupant was the JCC which invested considerable sums of
money in the renovation and improvement of the facilities. The PAUSD and the community worked to locate new facilities and spaces for the ever-increasing population of young people. A letter was recently received from PAUSD that indicated its interest in acquiring the Terman site for use as a middle school
and working with the JCC on the relocation of its facilities to another site in the City. The JCC advised the City that it was agreeable to such discussions. The PAUSD did not need the City’s
consent to locate in a school or to add more classrooms to an existing one. That was not subject to the City’s zoning codes or
the Comprehensive Plan. The City did not control PAUSD. The PAUSD has the power to purchase land by negotiation or acquire it through eminent domain. The PAUSD was the lead agency on any
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school acquisition project. If PAUSD wished to use its property for purposes other than classroom uses, it was subject to City
zoning rules. The City held the Terman property subject to the lease hold rights of the JCC, and any acquisition by PAUSD of the Terman site involved both the JCC and City. The reestablishment of a school at the site, possible joint use of the park by the school and public, and the relocation of the JCC
were exciting opportunities, but they also required successful resolution of a number of issues.
Glenna Violette, 95 Crescent Drive, favored reopening Terman, noting that the location was the best for a school. The
neighborhood had long complained about weekend activities, loud music, and parking. The parking would be improved because the students rode bikes, walked, or took busses to school. The cost of opening the site would be less than any other way of housing the students. The fastest way to get a school in operation was
to take a school that was in operation in the past. There appeared to be a bond issue on the horizon, which might not be necessary if the Terman site was used for a school. Stanford University (Stanford) would probably look favorably if PAUSD used its own site first instead of trying to purchase land from
Stanford.
Linda Neugass, 3352 Bryant Street, teacher at the JCC, said she would like to see the JCC remain at the Terman site. She was a parent of two school-age children and understood the need for
another middle school. She asked the City to work with the JCC to keep the JCC in Palo Alto. The JCC was important to the
community and served many people. Cathy Kroymann, 1 Somerset Place, President, Palo Alto School
District (PAUSD) Board of Directors, said for many months, Stanford University and PAUSD explored alternatives for a site
for a new middle school. A new school was urgently needed to relieve crowding in the existing middle schools and to accommodate projected enrollment growth. Several sites on the Stanford land and in the City were reviewed. Following extensive explorations, the focus was narrowed to three sites: the Deer
Creek site on Stanford land between Page Mill Road and Arastradero Road, the former Terman Junior High School Site, and a portion of the Cubberley High School site. The Terman site was
PAUSD’s first choice primarily because of its excellent location, proximity to the greatest number of students, and the
cost effectiveness of renovating the site versus building a new site. One the conclusion was reached, conversations were extended to include representatives from the City and the JCC.
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The goal was to arrive at a solution that best met the needs of all groups in the community. The PAUSD believed a positive
solution could be found for the community as a whole and for the individual parties concerned. Once possible solution was to locate the JCC at the 25 Churchill Avenue site and, with the assistance of Stanford, relocate the PAUSD office along the border of the Palo Alto High School site or another location.
Stanford and PAUSD worked successfully together with a facilitator in a collaborative, problem-solving manner and looked forward to the City joining in the discussion and efforts
to solve the community problem.
Larry Horton, Stanford, appreciated the spirit of cooperation from all the parties involved. Stanford and PAUSD learned much from each other while working through the process. Mayor Kniss asked for the number of students currently at the
middle schools. Ms. Kroymann said there were approximately 1,100 students at each of the two school sites. The Board policy indicated the desire was for 600-900 students at the middle school sites.
Council Member Fazzino was aware of other sites that were
previously discussed by PAUSD and Stanford. Ms. Kroymann said PAUSD was open to explore any possibilities
that might be available. Numerous sites were identified on Stanford land and in the City, but those were ruled out for
various reasons. Ms. Kroymann said the key issue was that the Terman site was in
an ideal location because the greatest number of students were in proximity to the Terman school site. The cost of building a
new school would be twice as much as renovating an existing school site. Sadie Espar, 580 Arastradero Road, #202, said the JCC was a lifeline for her and her neighbors. The JCC became the center of
many of the retirees’ lives where they participated in activities and made friends. Many people built their lives around such a community center.
Bill Cantor, 1075 Spacepark Way, Mountain View, was concerned
with the Senior Center of the JCC. As much as education was important for youngsters, senior citizens also needed to be considered. The Senior Center provided him with the opportunity
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to meet new friends, attend classes, and teach classes. The continuity of the people in the JCC not being disrupted was
important. Trudy Zolotarov, 90 Sierra Vista #B22, Mountain View, said there were approximately 3,000 Russian Jews living in the Palo Alto area. The younger family members worked hard to be involved in
the community and were successful. The older family members found it more difficult to adopt to the new life. The JCC played a wonderful role to support those people. There were many
activities at the JCC including language and citizenship classes. The current location of the JCC was important for
immigrants who did not drive. Erin McGauley-Caloca, 457 College Avenue, said as a parent of two students in the PAUSD, she had the highest concern for the students and respect for the educational programs in Palo Alto.
She objected to the JCC relocation which was the result of shortsightedness and poor planning on the part of past PAUSD administrations. She was affected by school closures throughout her educational career. The PAUSD often chose to sell off school sites for land value in the era of declining enrollment, sites
currently filled with houses full of PAUSD students. Some sites were retained and others such as Cubberley were modified with
the removal of the pool or the building of affordable housing apartments on the Terman playing fields. The JCC played an important support role for PAUSD for more than 20 years. The JCC
rented the Ortega site for several years and rented a significant portion of the Terman site for the prior 18 years
during the City’s lease-purchase agreement. The JCC provided high quality pre-school and after-school child care programs and collaborated with Palo Alto Parents and Professionals for Art to
provide multi-disciplinary art camps which were scheduled during PAUSD’s winter, spring, and summer vacations. The PAUSD found
itself in a difficult position, a problem caused by its own poor planning. The JCC was one of several players in the current situation, and any solution that compromised the ability of the JCC to continue to offer its rich variety of programs and services in Palo Alto was unacceptable.
Mickey Hebard, Director of Palo Alto Parents and Professionals for Art (PAPPA), 3370 Kenneth Drive, said PAPPA had a long
association with the JCC. As a long time member of the community and supporter of the PAUSD, she appreciated the dilemma that the
City, PAUSD, and Stanford faced. Whatever the outcome of the negotiations, she urged the Council to assure that the JCC remained intact. Since the early 1980s, the JCC welcomed PAPPA’s
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after-school art classes; and since 1992, the JCC collaborated with PAPPA in presenting week-long multi-cultural,
interdisciplinary arts camps for children. Many of the camps were positive outreach programs, involving children from Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Menlo Park to share the riches of the camp experiences and to further communication and understanding. The JCC not only helped to underwrite the camps,
but provided bus transportation to children in East Palo Alto. Children were given access to the swimming pool during the art camps. She urged the Council to carefully explore all the
options available and to keep in mind the JCC was a living organism that provided sustenance to many people.
Peter Milward, President, Cardiac Therapy Foundation (CTF), 4139 Thain Way, said CTF operated at the facilities occupied by the JCC. The JCC went out of its way to provide space for the needs of the CTF. The program had to continue for the 200 people who
belonged to the CTF. Without the relationship of the JCC, CTF did not know what it would do. Pete Slosberg, President, JCC, 655 Arastradero Road, said the JCC was a tenant of the City of Palo Alto under terms of a 25-
year lease, ending in approximately 7 years with provisions for a 25-year extension. The JCC had a 17-year relationship with the
City, and was told by City staff that the JCC provided strong community benefits including after-school childcare, services to the well and frail elderly, and services to émigrés. The JCC
provided space for the following community-based programs: CTF, PAPPA, and the Palo Alto Department of Recreation. The JCC
represented a variety of ethnic backgrounds and participated in a wide spectrum of activities. The JCC received approximately 1,200 daily visits, and non-members represented 40 percent of
the total. The JCC was an asset to the members and the community. The building was approximately 40 years old, and the
JCC was well on its way to execute an $11 million renovation of the whole site. A $1 million upgrade was completed the prior year for the early childhood education. The plans were placed on indefinite hold when PAUSD expressed its intent to reacquire the Terman site for an additional middle school. The
infrastructure at the facility was falling apart, and they were about to remedy the situation with the renovation project. The members were concerned with the utility of the facility as well
as the longevity. Fiscal health was directly linked to membership. They were eager to work with the City toward a
positive solution that would benefit everyone involved.
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John MacMurray, 4238 Los Palos, JCC neighbor, agreed with most of the accolades of the great programs at the JCC but said the
JCC was a lousy neighbor as far as curtailing noise. Twenty years ago someone asked why the PAUSD was in a hurry to sell the site because demographics would change; and when they changed, houses would have to be destroyed to build another school. The property was originally developed as a school, taxpayers paid
for a school. He agreed the property should be turned into a school because the school was a better neighbor.
Deborah Wenocur, 4057 Amaranta Avenue, said the City Council carried a huge burden of responsibility to all the parties
affected if Terman was converted to a middle school including the neighborhood in terms of large traffic problems, the loss of a park, library, and community center. The City would be responsible to the JCC in terms of broken promises for its lease and lease renewal and to the clientele of the JCC, many of who
based their housing decisions on living near the JCC. The MPJCDS School was built on the site adjacent to the JCC in view of City assurances that the JCC would remain at its current location. The Terman Apartment residents would be affected in terms of noise, traffic and the variability to access their apartments
since their access route was through the Terman site. She hoped the City was ready to take the responsibilities very seriously.
The traffic and safety issue was enormous, adding hundreds of cars on Arastradero Road to at rush hour. Public transportation, including the Shuttle and school buses, were possibilities.
Additional traffic lights would have to be placed on Arastradero Road to allow the residents of Green Acres to get in and out of
their neighborhood. A local library would have to be built, and the JCC needed an appropriate and nearby site.
Tina Dinitz, 4178 Wallis Court, supported the PAUSD in its quest for a solution to the overcrowding in the middle schools but
thought the Terman site was the wrong path. The first concern was traffic and safety. Years ago, Terman might have been a good place for a junior high school, but currently, the line up of automobiles at Gunn High School began at 7:30 a.m., and more cars dropped students off at Mid-Peninsula School at 8:30 a.m.
The traffic situation was unpleasant. A new junior high school at the Terman location would increase the problems. She was appalled to find out that the PAUSD planned on breaking the
lease. She realized that everyone was negotiating and was sure an equitable solution would be found, but the situation should
not have happened. The neighborhood would lose out by losing the community facilities.
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Robert Herriot, 2066 Bryant Street, favored turning the Terman site into a middle school. It was one of the best possible
locations, despite the drawbacks mentioned by the previous speaker. The buildings were ready to be used for a school. He agreed that bad planning occurred years prior with regard to selling the site. The constituency of the City of Palo Alto and PAUSD were essentially the same group of people. Whatever helped
PAUSD would help the citizens of Palo Alto. There was a need to move ahead to get something negotiated. Finding a good site for the JCC was important. He urged the Council to move ahead with
making the Terman site a middle school.
Elizabeth Allyn, 4186 Willmar Drive, said the citizens of Palo Alto owned a former school site on Arastradero Road; the site was currently leased for regional uses. The PAUSD needed a new middle school for 600-800 students. The made-to-order site included all the amenities of a junior high school. Public
transportation and parking were available. She did not believe that the school would create more traffic problems than currently existed. The junior high school could satisfy broader community needs as a joint facility use with the City. The site had a safety factor as a school in that students would not have
to cross Alma Street, El Camino Real, or the train tracks. The cost of upgrading the site, plus the cost of repurchasing the
lease from the present tenant would be less than the cost of building a new school. The PAUSD might need more financing to update existing schools and replace portable classrooms. She
understood the present tenant of Terman was in the process of building a new regional facility in Foster City to open in the
Fall 2000. Many of the current uses might be assumed at the new facility. The primary responsibility and obligation of the City Council and PAUSD was to meet the educational needs of the
children of the community before providing facility space for regional community use.
William Spangler, 471 Carolina Lane, said the City and PAUSD were separate governmental agencies and did not have identical constituencies. A small portion of South Palo Alto was not in the PAUSD, and Los Altos Hills and Stanford were outside the
City limits but within the PAUSD. The City was not a piggybank to subsidize PAUSD. City and school transactions should be a fair market value. The City Council members had a personal
fiduciary responsibility to the City and its taxpayers. If the installment purchase on Terman caused confusion as to who
actually owned Terman, the final payment should be accelerated. Honest, fair market values could be determined using the Spangler School. If the City was too rich and the PAUSD was too
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poor, the City should raise taxes and the PAUSD should seek to raise taxes over the whole District. He did not want to be in
the position of subsidizing people in Los Altos Hills. The City should consider a fair market value to the PAUSD rather than a sale. There was no reason to believe that the property would not be surplus again in 15-20 years.
Andrew L. Freedman, 4050 Verdosa Drive, said the JCC was an integral part of the community, providing support services such as a cardiac class, fitness center, and daycare programs. He was
happy that the City would work with the JCC and PAUSD to find a solution. He would like to see the JCC stay at its current
location. Rosalie Weissman, 4228 Pomona Avenue, said she had difficulty accepting the fact that the PAUSD and City Council were planning to take over Terman Park for a middle school. The amount of
traffic the move would engender would be untenable particularly for the homeowners on Pomona Avenue and Los Palos Avenue. Traffic from the newly opened day school and Gunn High School combined with industry traffic was already heavy, and the addition of traffic bringing middle school attendance to the
site would create major gridlock. The area would be deprived of amenities enjoyed by the rest of Palo Alto such as park,
library, and playing field. The City should try to enhance the area. The Terman apartment occupants who chose to live in the apartments, largely due to the proximity to the amenities and
the JCC, would be isolated. The JCC created a hub of learning and culture that all the residents of the area benefited from.
The JCC was a good, responsible neighbor. Mayor Kniss said the PAUSD did not need the City’s consent to
locate a school. The PAUSD had the power to purchase land by negotiation or acquire it through eminent domain.
Odile Disch Bhadkamkar, 3717 La Calle Court, said there was no question that the JCC was a treasure in the community, and there were many qualified people who would work on a solution. She was concerned about the teenagers who were in overcrowded schools.
Palo Alto schools were number two in the Star Testing on elementary and high schools. The current PAUSD School Board should not be slammed for decisions that were made 18 years
prior. She disagreed with the argument that the City of Palo Alto had not paid attention to southwest Palo Alto. She was a
strong advocate of redistributing resources in that area, and she pointed out that the City had done much in the prior years to building up the community center in southwest Palo Alto.
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Wing-See Leung, Palo Alto Family YMCA, 3412 Ross Road, said the
decision was probably inevitable that the PAUSD concluded to convert Terman to a middle school. The people of the community, especially the children, needed those in leadership positions to take note of the impending space crisis and act boldly and decisively. She suggested imagining trying to replace space for
all the programs at Terman where the JCC was the prime tenant. The average attendance was 1,200 persons per day and included activities for children, seniors, Russian immigrants, cardiac
rehabilitation, and more. Losing the space in south Palo Alto would affect many people. The YMCA used the gym for basketball
programs. PAUSD was renovating all the 40-year-old school buildings which meant less space for sports day camps. Children needed places to practice music, the arts, and sports. The community needed to get better at using the limited available facilities and find land to build more.
Tom Wyman, Library Advisory Commission (LAC) Chairman, 546 Washington Avenue, said the future of the Terman Library was uncertain. Several options existed: 1) the Library could remain as it was; 2) the Library could be associated in a joint-use
venture with the PAUSD at Terman Park or Gunn High School; or 3) a stand-alone Library at another location. The LAC was committed
to provide library services for the southwest community neighborhood area. The Friends of the Palo Alto Library (Friends) used three classroom areas on an ongoing basis to
sort, price, and prepare for their monthly book sales. The Friends made a presentation to the LAC indicating how much space
they wanted to have at an expanded facility at the Main or Mitchell Park libraries. The LAC was considering the proposal with favor.
Elliot Margolies, 3205 Emerson Street, encouraged the Council to
do whatever was possible to keep the important resources in the community. He found the childcare facility at the JCC was affordable for single-parent families. The fitness center at the JCC was also inexpensive. He was part of numerous collaborations between Mid-Peninsula Access Corporation (MPAC) and the JCC Art
Gallery and Xerox-JCC Childcare Center. Council Member Fazzino announced that he must leave at 6:45 p.m.
He appreciated the collaborative approach that the PAUSD, City, Stanford, and the JCC took. There was no choice with respect to
the PAUSD's reoccupation of the site based on legal options. The leadership role of the City was important in identifying another site for the JCC. The City needed to look at tradeoffs with
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respect to PAUSD use of the site including possible permanent use of Cubberley by the City.
Ken Poulton, 884 Los Robles Avenue, said the Terman site was located where the kids were, which was why it was a middle school and should be a middle school again. The Stanford core campus site that was pursued for a long time would have offered
a second best choice. The sites offered in the foothills did not match up well and would have required those sites to be entirely car driven. Arastradero Road, while not car-free, was one of the
best choices for a middle school and would allow most students to walk or bicycle to school. The PAUSD should pay the City back
for the lease payments over the years plus the improvements that were made; however, the transaction should not be a market value. The point of the City ownership was to financially help the PAUSD and to provide space for community activities. The JCC was a community asset and could be located anywhere within the
City to provide the services. The land was public and should be put to the best possible public use, and Terman Middle School was that use. John J. Berwald, 261 Creekside Drive, said there were two
government entities in the area of Palo Alto: The City of Palo Alto and the PAUSD. Each had fundamental priorities. The City’s
was to provide essential services to the public; and the PAUSD’s was to provide education to its public, the children and adults. Each entity needed to accept as its mutual responsibility
helping one another and respecting the PAUSD’s choice of the Terman site as its prime location. He asked that there not be
any repetition of the causes of division by blaming, whether it was the JCC, the Council or the PAUSD.
Kathy Durham, 2039 Dartmouth Street, said there was no question that the community needed a third middle school. Given the
limited number of options, Terman was the best site for the middle school and the only alternative that would allow a substantial number of parents the options of not driving their children to school. As a member of the Enrollment Committee the prior fall, she was convinced that the PAUSD considered all
options and Terman was the best site. Existing public transit would allow students to get to the Terman site. An alternative site for the JCC and its programs was important. She asked about
the location of the former Mayfield site which was more accessible than a two-lane street such as Churchill Avenue. She
supported the creation of an ad hoc committee representing the PAUSD, Stanford, the JCC, and the City to find the best solution
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collaboratively and give the group the challenge of working through problems quickly and creatively.
Carl Gillespie, 4142 Amaranta Court, said the Council and PAUSD served the same tax base, and the residents were interested in both groups working together. He favored restoring the Terman site to a middle school in the fall of 2002. Time was of the
essence. Student safety, reduction of family stress, and traffic reduction were the goals for restarting Terman. Garland School was not viable as a temporary site.
Diane Foote, 734 San Jude Avenue, said her first child was in
the first sixth grade class at Jane Lathrop Stanford School (JLS) with 700 other students; her youngest child left the prior year when the enrollment was over 1000 students. Her third child had a diminished education at JLS. The teachers at Gunn waited each year to see what type of students came out of JLS. Teachers
were unable to know all the children when the enrollment was 1000 students. She asked that the City be an integral part of the solution, and the solution needed to be accomplished with as little cost to the PAUSD as possible. Prices of homes in Palo Alto increased because the PAUSD was good.
Mayor Kniss announced that the meeting would adjourn at 7:15
p.m. due to the Planning Commission meeting scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Anne C. Fletcher, 2020 Waverley Street, moved to Palo Alto in 1953 and voted for the third middle school site which was
Terman. She wished Terman had not been closed and was a strong advocate of the small junior high and small high schools. Los Altos’ schools came in one and two on the STAR test which the
superintendent credited the high marks to small junior high schools. Fremont Hills might be needed as a fourth junior high
school if students were to receive the best education at the junior high school level. Additional housing would be added to the southwest part of town that would bring more students to the District.
Bernard Cohen, Past President, Cardiac Therapy Program (CTP), 851 Sonoma Terrace, Stanford, said the CTP served over 200 people who suffered from cardiovascular disease. Some people
considered the CTP an exercise program that needed gym facilities. The CTP needed more than that because it was an
educational program, supervised exercise program, and a social support program. The space needs were varied. The CTP needed space to hold lectures and exercise and needed equipment. When
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the CTP formed as an independent organization in 1993, space was sought that would provide the necessary facilities. The JCC
offered facilities that worked out well for the CTP. He urged the Council to consider the needs of 200 people, most of whom were senior citizens, who attended and benefited from the CTP. Margaret Kallman, 4134 Campana Drive, bought her house in part
due to the attractions of the JCC, Terman Library, and College Terrace Library; and one by one, the facilities were disappearing. She asked that the Barron Park residents be given
back at least a library. The JCC was used by people of all ages. The concerts, libraries, and lectures would be missed.
Joe Hirsch, 4149 Georgia Avenue, said the JCC and Terman site were unique community resources in that they were the only facilities west of Alma Street in Palo Alto that provided a broad range of community services to members and nonmembers.
There were multiple City facilities east of Alma Street that provided similar services both north and south of Oregon Expressway. The JCC was the only facility west of Alma Street. If the Terman community lost the Terman site to the PAUSD for a new middle school, the residents would lose the JCC and the
opportunity to replace the JCC with a similar organization that provided a broad range of community services. Under the worst
case scenario, community service provided as the JCC currently provided west of Alma Street would become a thing of the past. There were no other sites available to the JCC unless a multi-
party scenario was developed which was acceptable to all. The PAUSD had an extensive list of options but elected not to pursue
any of the sites in favor of the Terman site. Assuming that the PAUSD decides it wants the Terman site, the City should independently determine that all other options available to the
PAUSD were truly nonviable or significantly less satisfactory prior to surrendering the property to the PAUSD.
Debra Sutherland, 4262 Los Palos Place, said she had not used the JCC but was aware it was a great community resource; however, her children needed a middle school to attend that was not overcrowded and would allow them the opportunity to have the
best educational experience. She did not believe that traffic would be affected by opening Terman Middle School. She looked forward to walking her children to school rather than driving
them across many streets. Overcrowding in the middle schools was past the critical point.
Mayor Kniss said the Council’s goal at the current meeting was to review a letter from PAUSD to the Council. The Council wanted
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to be helpful in the PAUSD’s process as it attempted to locate a new middle school in the community.
Vice Mayor Eakins said the purpose of the meeting was to develop guiding principles and identify a next step for the shared process regarding middle school site selection issues and collaborative middle school site selection planning with PAUSD,
Stanford, and the JCC. MOTION: Vice Mayor Eakins moved, seconded by Beecham, to adopt
the following Guiding Principles:
1. Optimize outcomes for all parties – City of Palo Alto, Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD), Stanford University, and the Albert L. Schultz Jewish Community Center (JCC);
2. Deliberate, plan, and act in Good Faith; 3. Be aware that timeliness is important; 4. Be aware of the multiple roles of the City;
a) landlord of the property that is the home of the
JCC and several other valuable community organizations, b) property owner of the Terman site, and
c) regulator of the land uses.
5. Respect the multiple roles and goals of all the parties involved. Understand that we all have different perspectives; and
6. Affirm the commitment of the City of Palo Alto to do
all that can be done to solve problems without harming its own interests, including its financial interests, and the rights and needs of the tenants. Further, that the Mayor appoint an ad hoc committee of the
City Council to work with City staff, PAUSD, Stanford, and the JCC.
Council Member Lytle appreciated the testimony heard at the current meeting and agreed with most of the comments. Her family
used the Terman site at least once per week for the prior 9 years. She wanted to be appointed to the ad hoc Committee and
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wanted to see the City’s purpose result in a stronger statement that would consider other options and work collaboratively.
MOTION PASSED 7-0, Mossar “not participating,” Fazzino absent.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m.
ATTEST: APPROVED:
City Clerk Mayor
NOTE: Sense minutes (synopsis) are prepared in accordance with
Palo Alto Municipal Code Sections 2.04.180(a) and (b). The City Council and Standing Committee meeting tapes are made solely for the purpose of facilitating the preparation of the minutes of the meetings. City Council and Standing Committee meeting tapes are recycled 90 days from the date of the meeting. The tapes
are available for members of the public to listen to during regular office hours.
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