HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-07-30 Planning & Transportation Commission Verbatim Minutes_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Planning & Transportation Commission 1
Draft Verbatim Minutes: July 30, 2025 2
Council Chambers & Virtual 3
6:00 PM 4
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Call to Order / Roll Call 6
6:00 PM 7
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Chair Akin: Good evening, everyone. I call to order this July 30, 2025 meeting of the Planning 9
and Transportation Commission. Mr. Tavera, would you call the roll? 10
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ROLL CALL 12
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Administrative Assistant Samuel Tavera: Yes. Chair Akin? 14
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Chair Akin: Here. 16
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Samuel Tavera: Vice-Chair Chang? 18
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Vice-Chair Chang: Here. 20
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Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Hechtman? 22
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
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Commissioner Hechtman: Here. 2
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Samuel Tavera: Commissioner James? Commissioner Ji? Commissioner Peterson? 4
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Commissioner Peterson: Here. 6
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Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Templeton? 8
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Commissioner Templeton: Here. 10
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Samuel Tavera: For the record, we have quorum and 2 absent, marking Commissoner James 12
and Commissioner Ji absent. 13
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Chair Akin: So I was expecting Commissioner James to be attending remotely. Do we have him 15
online? 16
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Samuel Tavera: Not at the moment but if he does log on, we will let staff and the board know. 18
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Chair Akin: Thank you. 20
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Oral Communications 2
The public may speak to any item not on the agenda. Three (3) minutes per speaker.1,2 3
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Chair Akin: All right. So let’s begin. Do we have any public comment for items that are not on 5
the agenda? 6
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Samuel Tavera: Through the Chair, at the moment, I have not received any public comment 8
cards or any raised hands via Zoom. 9
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Chair Akin: Thank you. 11
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Agenda Changes, Additions and Deletions 13
The Chair or Commission majority may modify the agenda order to improve meeting management. 14
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Chair Akin: Assistant Director Armer, do we have any Agenda Changes, Additions, or Deletions? 16
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Assistant Director Jennifer Armer: No agenda changes this evening. 18
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Chair Akin: Then may I segue into your report? 20
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
City Official Reports 1
1. Directors Report, Meeting Schedule and Assignments 2
3
Jennifer Armer: Yes, thank you. So we will share the Directors Presentation now. While we’re 4
waiting for that to load, I will share that at this evening’s meeting, we have for the Attorney’s 5
Office − we have Tim Shimizu who will be joining us in Albert Yang’s place; he is online and will 6
be available to answer questions as needed. All right. So next slide for this evening’s Directors 7
Report. For our upcoming meetings, I’ve laid out here what we currently have for the next 8
month and a half. At this time, we don’t have any items scheduled for the August 13 meeting, 9
so we do anticipate that that meeting would be cancelled. But on August 27, we do expect to 10
have the tentative map for the project at 70 Encina Avenue and the next discussion of the 11
Stream Protection Ordinance. On September 6, we have selected as the tentative date for the 12
Planning and Transportation Commission retreat; that’s a Saturday morning from 10 to noon. 13
We are holding that spot as tentative as we confirm some logistical details but we will send you 14
more information as we get it, so if you can hold that on your calendar. And we will let you 15
know if it needs to be moved; otherwise, we will send you an agenda as we get closer to that 16
date. 17
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And then finally on September 10, I wanted to give an early heads-up that we are planning to 19
bring to you the first discussion of the San Antonio Road Area Plan Update on the initial work 20
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
that’s been done and outreach and next steps. Next page. For City Council, we are just finishing 1
up their summer recess and the first regular meeting in August – on August 4 is actually 2
cancelled. But on the 11th, there will be two pre-screenings for future housing development 3
projects that will − is the first step in their going through the PHZ process. One at − of them is at 4
4256 El Camino Real and the other at 332 Forest Avenue. And that concludes my presentation. 5
6
Chair Akin: Commissioners, any questions for A.D. Armer? Commissioner Templeton? 7
8
Commissioner Templeton: I don’t know if my signal works. I just wanted to double check − you 9
want us to meet twice that week, so the Saturday and the Wednesday for the retreat? I think 10
we should choose one or the other. 11
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Jennifer Armer: The retreat would be on the – on Saturday, the 6th. The meeting would be the 13
following Wednes-, regular meeting would be the following Wednesday, the 10th. Are you… 14
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Commissioner Templeton: That is what you showed. 16
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Jennifer Armer: Yeah. 18
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Commissioner Templeton: I’m suggesting that… 20
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Jennifer Armer: There’s concern with having two meetings in one week? 2
3
Commissioner Templeton: Well, given – I mean – I’m asking if we could take a look because it 4
doesn’t look like there’s a heavy agenda and it’s a lot of – we’re a commission that meets very 5
frequently… 6
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Jennifer Armer: Mm-hm. 8
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Commissioner Templeton: …already. And if we have a lightweight agenda one day and we need 10
time for the retreat, we may want to think about how to optimize everybody’s time, not just 11
ours but yours. 12
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Jennifer Armer: Yeah. 14
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Commissioner Templeton: So if you could… 16
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Jennifer Armer: Okay. 18
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Commissioner Templeton: …talk that over with the Chair, Vice-Chair, perhaps we can… 20
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
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Jennifer Armer: We can… 2
3
Commissioner Templeton: …figure something out. 4
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Jennifer Armer: …do that and maybe check back in with the entire Planning and Transportation 6
Commission to see if there would be a preference to keep to a regular meeting date. That may 7
be an option… 8
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Commissioner Templeton: Thanks. 10
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Jennifer Armer: …as well. Thank you. 12
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Chair Akin: Thank you. Any other questions? Seeing none, Senior Engineer Rius is with us. Mr. 14
Rius, could we have your report? 15
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Senior Transportation Engineer Rafael Rius: Thank you. I’m Rafael Rius, Senior Engineer with the 17
Office of Transportation. Just a couple of brief updates for you. On June 2, our City Council 18
adopted the Safety Action Plan, which identifies the high-energy network and safety corridors 19
as part of the Safe Streets For All Action Plan, so that will help us moving forward with 20
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
identifying projects along those corridors. And then also on August 18, we are planning to bring 1
engineering and traffic speed surveys to the City Council for adoption and that’s part of the 2
process for establishing posted speed limits. The – we’ll have this one on the 18th, which is a 3
small batch of about 23 segments, then followed in a couple months by another batch. Both of 4
these are incorporating kind of newish or said assembly bills that were adopted that estab-, 5
give us new criteria for establishing posted speed limits. So we’ll – those new laws are being 6
incorporated into the process of developing these, so it will help us with posted – certifying the 7
posted speed limits and also establishing them – making them eligible for enforcement using 8
radar by our Police Department. That’s the only updates I have at this time unless you have any 9
questions for me. So… 10
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Chair Akin: Commissioners, any questions? Vice-Chair Chang. 12
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Vice-Chair Chang: Could you just expand a little bit on which laws it is that changes things, so 14
that I can do some reading up on my own. 15
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Rafael Rius: Sure. So the most, I guess, effective one is – it was Assembly Bill 43 from 2022. I 17
think that number’s been reused, so I know the 2022 year. And then another is Assembly Bill 18
1938. And kind of gives more flexibility to take an extra 5-mile-an-hour reduction and then also 19
like kind of other justifications, such as business districts or like high bike and ped corridors or – 20
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
and stuff. So it will be something – I mean we’re already incorporating it into these, and so it’s 1
going to be really beneficial for us. 2
3
Vice-Chair Chang: Thank you. 4
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Chair Akin: Any further questions? Seeing none, thank you, Mr. Rius. I saw we had a public 6
comment card arrive, is that for the action item or was that for an item outside the agenda? 7
8
Samuel Tavera: That’s for the – for [inaudible 8:58] the action item. 9
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Chair Akin: Okay. Thank you. 11
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Action Items 13
Public Comment is permitted. Applicants/Appellant Teams: Fifteen (15) minutes, plus three (3) minutes rebuttal. 14
All others: Three (3) minutes per speaker. 15
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2. 400 Mitchell Lane [25PLN-00006]: Request for a Public Hearing for a Conditional Use 18
Permit to Allow for a Private Educational Use Within an Existing Building. 19
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Chair Akin: All right, then let’s proceed to our action item tonight. This concerns a request for a 21
public hearing for a Conditional Use Permit to allow Private Educational Uses Within an Existing 22
Building at 400 Mitchell Lane. Does anyone have any disclosures to make? I see none. Okay. 23
Because we are hearing an appeal tonight, we may have a slightly different process depending 24
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
on our commenters. So I wanted to outline that first, so that everyone was up to date. Staff 1
presentation will be first and then we’ll follow that with clarifying questions for staff. After that, 2
we’ve reserved time for presentations from the Appellant and the Applicant, which could run 3
up to 15 minutes. And after those presentations, we’ll hear the public comments. Then, the 4
Appellant and the Applicant will each have the opportunity for rebuttals, which could run up to 5
3 minutes each. Following those rebuttals, if they take place, we’ll have a chance for clarifying 6
questions for the Appellant and the Applicant. And then we’ll return it to the Commission for 7
discussion. So that’s the process we expect, so let’s begin with the staff report. 8
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Jennifer Armer: Thank you. I would – I am pleased to introduce Steven Switzer, who’s our 10
historic planner; he’s actually been with the City for a while but this is his first Planning and 11
Transportation Commission Meeting. So I wanted to welcome him. 12
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Chair Akin: Thank you. 14
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Jennifer Armer: And he skipped right over and had an item go into Council. So pleased to have 16
him joining us here this evening. And I’ll pass it off to you. 17
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Historic Preservation Planner Steven Switzer: Oh, good evening. Bear with me while I share my 19
screen here. All right. Well let’s take a trip to 400 Mitchell Lane. This is a request for a 20
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Conditional Use Permit. We can orient ourselves here − the project location. This is a snippet of 1
the property. Indicated in yellow is the subleased portion as indicated in the staff report. And 2
here is a zoomed-in version. Just some basic information. It is in the Public Facilities Zoning 3
District. It is on a subleased portion of approximately .551 acres. It’s on the same parcel as El 4
Camino Park. The property is under Williamson Act Contract. And adjacent land uses are 5
detailed in the staff report as well as on the screen. To provide a little background and lay out 6
the process for tonight’s evening, this was a request for a Conditional Use Permit to allow a 7
private university use within the existing building at 400 Mitchell Lane. Staff had conducted a 8
review of the submitted application as well as some interior improvements to the structure. 9
And on June 9, the Director of Planning and Development Services tentatively approved the 10
said conditional use permit. Following that, during the 14-day appeal period or request for 11
hearing period, if you will, on June 17, a written request was filed with the City for the 12
application. And following tonight’s recommendation from the Planning and Transportation 13
Commission, the project will then be forwarded to Council for final decision. So project 14
overview; this is a private university use. 15
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Stanford will utilize the space for their school of sustainability and it’s located within an existing 17
building on the property that was formally used by the American Red Cross and Urban Ministry 18
of Palo Alto. And more recently, the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce occupied the space until 19
about 2014. And the structure has remained vacant since 2018. As detailed in the project plans 20
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
and the staff report, there are some other physical improvements; those are limited to ADA 1
upgrades, some HVAC, electrical and lighting, and fire safety improvements. And that is 2
contained in Attachment E. So I can walk us through here, the plans, pretty quick. So here is 3
the site plan or the first floor plan, should I say, of the property. The areas indicated in yellow 4
would be sustaining some change. So predominantly, the restrooms as well as some partition 5
walls and reorganizing of the space. This is the proposed new floor plan to accommodate the 6
collection, storage and some field and staging offices. Here are some elevations. Some of the 7
perspective might be a little off on these images but bear with me. So here’s the northern 8
elevation and the proposed changes. The eastern elevation with a new proposed metal door in 9
existing opening and some of the electrical panels indicated. The southern elevation. And lastly, 10
the western elevation. So into the reason why we are here. This is a request for hearing. Some 11
of the concerns are detailed in Attachment E. 12
13
The letter did not specify any specific concerns with the project in the written request that is 14
included. However, staff does want to note that there was a separate email from the Appellant 15
that expressed some concerns with the processing of two separate applications on the same 16
property. The said application before the Commission tonight, the Conditional Use Permit, as 17
well as a tree removal permit that was filed on the property. And that was detailed in the staff 18
report and staff would just like to note that both applications have independent utility and – 19
meaning the approval is unrelated to and not dependent on one another for these items. Some 20
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
key considerations for the Commission tonight would be the request for hearing concerns, the 1
Conditional Use Permit findings contained in Attachment B, Williamson Act as well as 2
conditions of approval in Attachment C. Walking us through these two findings here. In finding 3
1, this is to ensure that the proposed use at the location will not be detrimental to the public or 4
injurious. So the project would be located within an existing building on the property and would 5
be conditioned to comply with applicable standards for tenant improvements contained in the 6
project request. Staff would like to add a point of clarity here. It is listed as a private education 7
use and the zoning code does provide a little bit of − more detail for university uses, so adding 8
the word ‘university’ is being recommended to that finding. 9
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So just one word addition to add some clarity to the finding. Finding #2: That the proposed use 11
would be located and conducted in a manner in accord with the Comprehensive Plan as well as 12
the Zoning Ordinance. As noted before, staff would like to clarify and add the word ‘university’ 13
in the findings and as permitted and conditioned, the project would be conducted in a manner 14
that is in accord with the code. The property is under Williamson Act Contract. Stanford 15
University as well as the City of Palo Alto entered into contract with the said property in 1973. 16
Contained in that contract, there is a list of compatible uses and this is detailed as a compatible 17
use since it is listed as a use in the Zoning Code for the Public Facilities Zoning District. So onto 18
the recommendation. So staff is recommending that the Planning and Transportation 19
Commission provide a recommendation on the proposed project to City Council based on the 20
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
findings in Attachment B as modified with the addition of the word ‘university’ and subject to 1
the conditions of approval in Attachment C. And the Planning and Transportation Commission 2
may also recommend approval of the project with further modified findings or conditions. They 3
may continue the project to a date uncertain or please provide some specific direction or 4
recommend the project denial based on revised findings. And with that, I can entertain any 5
questions. 6
7
Chair Akin: Commissioners, any clarifying questions for staff? Commissioner Hechtman. 8
9
Commissioner Hechtman: Thank you. And thank you for the report. Welcome to the PTC. And I 10
was very impressed with how adept you were moving through the slides and having one slide 11
migrate into another. I enjoyed the presentation. So keep up the good work. I had a question 12
on the staff recommendation. Often, if not usually, when we have a staff report, something 13
that’s going to Council, staff has kind of an affirmative recommendation, like our 14
recommendation is that the PTC recommend that the Council approve this ordinance or that. 15
Here, staff doesn’t go that far, at least my reading of it, and I was wondering if that is because 16
of this context that our Chair described. This is an appeal and so the staff recommendation on 17
Packet Page 8 is what I would describe as a little more neutral. Is that the reason for that? 18
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Jennifer Armer: I would clarify that staff’s recommendation is to recommend that Council 1
approve the director’s decision. 2
3
Commissioner Hechtman: Thank you for that clarification. 4
5
Jennifer Armer: Sorry. I’m going to jump in there. Through the Chair, I think technically this isn’t 6
an appeal; it’s a request for hearing. So let me reword that. Staff’s recommendation would be 7
to forward a recommendation for approval of the Conditional Use Permit. 8
9
Chair Akin: As modified. 10
11
Jennifer Armer: Correct. 12
13
Chair Akin: Correct. Commissioner Peterson. 14
15
Commissioner Peterson: So a quick question. The decision that we vote on here, is that thing 16
going to Council next and then Council votes on it? 17
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Steven Switzer: Correct. It would be moved to the consent calendar on Council with option to 1
be removed or for further discussion. But yes, the recommendation here would be sent to 2
Council for final decision. 3
4
Chair Akin: Further questions? I see none. So I believe we’re ready to see if either our Appellant 5
or Applicant are present. Mr. Tavera, do we have any requests from the Appellant or the 6
Applicant? 7
8
Samuel Tavera: So I don’t have any online requests from the Appellant. 9
10
Steven Switzer: The applicant is… 11
12
Samuel Tavera: Yeah. 13
14
Steven Switzer: …in the chambers with us. 15
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Chair Akin: Very good. Normal procedure is for the Appellant to speak first but if the Appellant 17
is not present, then we would be happy to hear from the Applicant. 18
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Diana O’Dell, Director of Land Use Planning, Land Use and Environmental Planning: Good 1
evening, planning commissioners. My name is Diana O’Dell, Director of Land Use for Stanford 2
University, and with me tonight is Stacy Yuen, also from Stanford. And on our Zoom line, we 3
have Ramsey Shuayto, who is our Director of Asset Management. And we’re here to answer any 4
questions you might have. As staff discussed in their excellent presentation, the property is an 5
existing building that has been unoccupied. And we are pleased to propose reuse for our 6
Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. The school has a mission of advancing sustainability 7
through interdisciplinary research and education, and the proposed use fits within our 8
academic mission and the City of Palo Alto’s requirements and Comprehensive Plan goals. But 9
the building will be used for field education services with working and training services and will 10
host a portion of our geoscience specimen collection. And it will enhance the educational and 11
research capabilities of our faculty and students. We request that the Planning and 12
Transportation Committee uphold the Director’s tentative approval in concurrence with the 13
findings and subject to the conditions of approval. We’re available to answer any questions you 14
might have. Thank you for your time. 15
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Chair Akin: Thank you very much. 17
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PUBLIC COMMENTS 19
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Chair Akin: I will move on to public comment just in case there is a comment for which the 1
applicant chooses to – which the Applicant can choose to address in the rebuttal. So, Mr. 2
Tavera, do we have public comments? 3
4
Samuel Tavera: Through the Chair, we have one public comment. At this time, I’m going to 5
invite Lynn C. to the mic. 6
7
Lynn C.: Good evening. I’m Lynn Cappella and I walked down to see the site. I read about it in 8
the – I believe in The Post. Anyway, I was surprised that it’s − came up and very glad that the 9
Appellant did bring it up because I think this is occurring, not only on this property, but on many 10
other properties where a building is going to a new house; it could be a sewer project or 11
whatever. And the trees, which are supposed to be left, are protected. And then when the 12
project is finished, they have vanished. The on-site trees have vanished. The street tree has 13
vanished − or street trees have vanished. And there have been quite a few incidents where I 14
live at the 600/500 block of Colorado. And I think the way they are doing this is just this 15
particular mode − and I tried to look up this PL − 25PL131 on the City website. It’s almost 16
impossible to find. And I actually flipped over to the county and I had to really do a lot of 17
searching. In the end, after an hour, I gave up. I did not find any evidence – and I believe it 18
should have been attached at least so one could read what it says. So I have no idea what it 19
says or why. But I am here because I see this happening so often in South Palo Alto. 20
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_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
So down the street, they built a house and they protected the trees on the property. The street 1
tree was protected and a large tree was protected, which looked to me to be in the building 2
zone. When I tried to enquire, I basically got nowhere. When I tried to go on the City’s site to 3
see what they were proposing − it’s very, very difficult to navigate. I’m sure you’ve all tried – 4
may or may not. So I took myself to the site to see what was really going on last night. And it 5
looks like whoever the landlord is or the property owner has completely neglected that 6
building. I don’t see how you can do the inside without doing something on the outside. There 7
was peeling and broken pieces; I don’t know what the material is there. There were big cement 8
things sticking out of the ground; I don’t know what they’re for. Maybe it was a walkway; I 9
don’t know what it was. It wasn’t a walkway to anything I knew. I found homeless or garbage all 10
over the site. I was very careful where I stepped as was my dog. I found mounds surrounding 11
the site. I hope that you all went out and looked at it. 12
13
Samuel Tavera: This concludes your time. 14
15
Lynn C.: It’s extremely neglected. And so I felt that at least the trees and the building should 16
come together because it really is one project; it’s not two. And too, whoever the landlord is, 17
which I couldn’t find, clearly has not taken care of any of the property. There are Heritage trees 18
along the driveway where I believe the trucks will go. It mentioned there were Heritage trees 19
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
but also mentioned no tree protection. Usually, you have tree protection if there’s anywhere 1
near. 2
3
Samuel Tavera: Thank you. This concludes… 4
5
Chair Akin: I won’t need to… 6
7
Samuel Tavera: …your time. 8
9
Chair Akin: Yeah. I – because… 10
11
Lynn C.: So… 12
13
Chair Akin: …you’re the only speaker, I’m happy to give you a few extra minutes but it is time to 14
wrap things up, if you would, please. 15
16
Lynn C.: Anyway, it seems to be a modus operandi and it’s happening not only there but these 17
trees just disappear when a project’s finished. So at least – I think we’ve lost 4 trees; my 18
neighbor’s tree, another tree at a new building site − not a brand new building site but at the 19
building site, 2 trees disappeared off that property. Just recently, another tree disappeared 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
during a sewer project. Two trees disappeared at the pizza parlor. And what I’m saying is I can’t 1
find any record of why that happens. And it’s very hard to track these PL for the tree things 2
down. And I have called actually City Trees and still not been able to get an answer. So I’m here 3
appealing to you to think about this particular way of doing business. It’s clever. It works for 4
developers. I’ve even talked to real estate agents; it works. You get… 5
6
Samuel Tavera: Thank you. This concludes… 7
8
Lynn C.: …rid of anything… 9
10
Samuel Tavera: …concludes your time. 11
12
Lynn C.: …you don’t want. But it’s not really fair to the general public who believes what they 13
see is what they’re going to get. 14
15
Chair Akin: Thank you for your comments and your observations. We do have the opportunity 16
for the applicant to speak a second time, if you are interested in doing so. 17
18
Jennifer Armer: Through the Chair, I just want to confirm that we don’t have any members of 19
the public wishing to speak from online. Thank you. 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Samuel Tavera: We do not. 2
3
Chair Akin: There’s no obligation but you are free to speak if you wish. 4
5
Diana O’Dell: Thank you. I’ll just make a couple notes that we are planning to do a series of 6
external improvements to address some of the concerns that the speaker discussed on the 7
property and we are looking to improve those. And I will say that the City is not looking to 8
remove any tree without authorization from the City of Palo Alto and we are pursuing a tree 9
removal permit for those two bay trees in the courtyard. And we’ll follow whatever 10
requirements are made by the City of Palo Alto on those trees, so − that’s all I have at this time. 11
12
Chair Akin: Thank you. Yeah, in fact, I am just about to open it up. Commissioners, you’re free 13
to ask questions of the applicant. Commissioner Templeton. 14
15
Commissioner Templeton: Thank you. I really appreciate your presentation and I love the idea 16
of this project. I was wondering if you could speak to the intention of the Doerr School of 17
Sustainability regarding removing the trees unnecessarily and/or why you might wish to 18
remove the trees that you mentioned. 19
20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Diana O’Dell: Yes, just a couple points of clarification. As Planner Switzer mentioned – Mr. 1
Switzer, that the tree removal permit is a separate application; however, we did receive an 2
arborist report; it indicated that there is some hazards with the tree in the way that the trunk is 3
in terms of it being a concern from a safety standpoint. And so we, as part of our due diligence, 4
are pursuing that and are trying to manage that tree in a way that’s safe for everyone and also 5
that we can replace the canopy, which we understand is a requirement of the City of Palo Alto. 6
So we are pursuing that, though it’s on a separate track from the CUP. 7
8
Commissioner Templeton: Yes. And maybe 30 seconds about the feelings of environmental 9
stewardship shared by the school, perhaps. 10
11
Diana O’Dell: Yes, I believe that the School of Sustainability is doing a lot of really exciting field 12
research to make our environment and our community more sustainable. And I think that this 13
building being next to a train station, being on our Marguerite Line, is going to be sustainable in 14
a number of metrics and we’re looking forward to all the work that the school is going to be 15
doing on our university and in the region at large. 16
17
Commissioner Templeton: And it says in this packet that that’s going to be a facility, not only 18
used by the school, but also to educate members of our city through field trips and other kinds 19
of openness and engagement with the community, is that right? 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Diana O’Dell: The building will be used for field education services and it will have working and 2
training spaces and we will be hosting specimen collection. And I know that the Stanford 3
University is continuing to work with Palo Alto on ways to sort of activate the transit center and 4
find partnerships between the university and the City on matters of sustainability and other 5
ideas as well. 6
7
Commissioner Templeton: Thank you very much. Those are my questions. 8
9
Diana O’Dell: Okay. 10
11
Chair Akin: Vice-Chair Chang. 12
13
Vice-Chair Chang: Could either you or staff speak to the public commenter’s concern about 14
protection of the various Heritage trees. I understand the Bay Laurels are not but the Heritage 15
trees that would – that line – that are near the site and that trucks would drive along. 16
17
Diana O’Dell: So yeah, I don’t know. Mr. Switzer… 18
19
Steven Switzer: I might take a stab at that. 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Diana O’Dell: So let’s see here. So just a few things. The tree removal permit and talking about 2
that − I mean it’s a permit that the City has for providing required evidence per an arborist 3
report of removing a tree. If we’re talking about tree protection zones or work within say the 4
root area that could potentially damage a tree, that’s also captured in an arborist report. Since 5
this project is primarily regarding say interior work with, of course, some paint and some doors 6
being swapped out and existing openings, there is no ground-disturbing work that would 7
impact the protected trees on the property. So… 8
9
Vice-Chair Chang: Thank you very much. 10
11
Chair Akin: Any other clarifying questions for the applicant? Commissioner Peterson. 12
13
Commissioner Peterson: Thank you. Appreciate your time here. So one of the questions on this 14
site kind of – it was brought up by the question on the trees and the outside of the building and 15
the rest and the facility and the condition it is, is what ultimately is the purpose of the site? 16
Because it sounds like whatever we’re talking about right now is a transitory situation that the 17
site was used for something else. It’s – I’m guessing it’s within the Stanford easement, is that 18
the ownership of it? 19
20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Diana O’Dell: It’s on our property, yes. 1
2
Commissioner Peterson: And so – because it’s not really continuous; it’s over by the railroad. So 3
that’s why I was wondering. Stanford has a whole stretch of property along the railroad. 4
5
Diana O’Dell: Yeah. 6
7
Commissioner Peterson: Stanford has a whole stretch of property along the railroad. 8
9
Diana O’Dell: Yes. 10
11
Commissioner Peterson: So the – one of the questions is how does this fit into the bigger idea 12
of how this site – as Commissioner Templeton asked, is it part of the education facility that’s 13
going to tie in with maybe Palo Alto High School across the street? Is there any sense that you 14
can give us of a bigger idea of what’s the situation of this site? 15
16
Diana O’Dell: Yes, at this time, we really don’t have larger plans that we wanted to pursue at 17
this time. I think anything that we pursue long term, we would do in partnership with the City 18
of Palo Alto. I think this building has been vacant for a number of years and we saw a great 19
opportunity to use it for our academic facilities. It’s still a standing building. It’s still a fine 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
building. It’s a great location. And we thought that this was going to be a perfect place for a 1
little bit more space for our School of Sustainability. 2
3
Commissioner Peterson: Another quick question. I’m not completely familiar with the Geology 4
Department but is this part of a cluster of buildings – education buildings for Stanford that are 5
along the railroad track or on the other side of it? Or is it just by itself? 6
7
Diana O’Dell: It’s – right now, it’s really just a standalone building. And because it’s along the 8
Marguerite Line and next to Caltrain, there’s still a lot of connections between that and some of 9
the other facilities on campus. 10
11
Commissioner Peterson: And so that’s right now. And so then later on, it could be part of a 12
larger facility? 13
14
Diana O’Dell: We don’t have any kind of long-term plans for beyond what is before you tonight, 15
which is just the reuse of that building. 16
17
Commissioner Peterson: Okay. Thank you. 18
19
Diana O’Dell: Yeah. 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Chair Akin: Any further questions for the applicant? All right, then. Thank you very much. 2
3
Diana O’Dell: Thank you. 4
5
Chair Akin: I’ll bring the discussion back to the Commission. Any comments from 6
Commissioners? Commissioner Hechtman. 7
8
Commissioner Hechtman: Thank you. I appreciate the presentation by the applicant. I wish the 9
Appellant had been here to express a little bit of clarity as to what their concerns were beyond 10
the short email they sent regarding CEQA. And I appreciate the comment of the neighbor that I 11
think fleshed out a little bit of a good dialogue between us and the applicant. I’m supportive of 12
the project, so I’m supportive of recommending approval of the CUP to the Council. I do have a 13
few comments on the documentation. First, the – in the findings, this proposed use is an 14
educational use. It happens to be sought by a private university and so in the findings that were 15
on our screen, it said, “Private education university use.” I think what’s private is the university. 16
The education is not private anymore than – I mean you can go to a public school and you have 17
to enroll and be admitted. And not everybody can just walk into the class and take it. So I think 18
the appropriate order of language here is private university education use. So I would suggest 19
that staff think about that. And then I’ve got a couple comments on the conditions of approval. 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
First is Condition 13, which appears on Packet Page 19. So what’s being applied for is a 1
conditional use permit and conditional use permits can have an end date or no end date. 2
3
And it’s always a good idea for the conditions of approval to state which of those it is; it’s a 5-4
year term, a 10-year term, or no termination date. Here, this expiration provision is really only 5
focused on what happens if you don’t pull your building permit within a year. And so assuming 6
you do, it leaves open the question of is there a time duration for this use permit? And so I 7
would suggest as this moves toward Council, that staff make that provision a bit clearer – I 8
believe the intention is that it’s of unlimited duration; I would suspect that. I didn’t read 9
anything that would suggest otherwise. So I’d suggest that staff give that some thought. Also, I 10
do a lot of work in the unincorporated county where you would think you can get a building 11
permit and start work in a year but sometimes you can’t. And so I just want to flag that issue 12
because I think all that has to happen is you need to get the building permit issued. They got a 13
year to pull a building permit and then they can actually do the work after that. Of course, 14
hopefully all this will be done much faster but I just want to make sure that there are no 15
unpleasant surprises. So I think that language is fine with the thought about the duration. Then 16
I wanted to ask a question about Conditions 22 through 33. And these were all issued by the 17
Utilities Department, and so we may not be able to get an answer. 18
19
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
But as I read through these conditions, I can’t tell whether a member of City staff looked at the 1
plans and said, “This is an issue that needs to be addressed,” or if this is just part of a laundry 2
list of standard conditions, which may or may not apply to the project. And this is a personal pet 3
peeve of mine that I think every City staff should build conditions of approval only with 4
conditions that actually apply, not with some that may theoretically apply but don’t here. And 5
so I would ask that, as this moves toward Council, staff look at Conditions 22 through 33 and as 6
to any of those that are generic and will have no actual application here, those should be 7
removed. So those are my suggestions on how to improve this as it moves toward Council. 8
Thank you. 9
10
Chair Akin: I have a follow-up for you, Commissioner Hechtman. The use of the word 11
‘university’ arises in part because of my reading of the code. A private education use is 12
permitted in a PF Zone if the land – if the property is owned by the government. There is a 13
separate category of private education use by a university, which allows the use on university-14
owned property, and that’s the one that applies here. So I had suggested that the word 15
‘university’ be made more prominent to avoid confusion over that issue. Does that affect your 16
recommendation for wording? 17
18
Commissioner Hechtman: Well since there’s a purpose to order the words as presented on our 19
screen, I’m fine with that. 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Chair Akin: And I have no objection to the other order provided that it’s acceptable to staff. 2
3
Steven Switzer: Yes, either way would be acceptable. So… 4
5
Chair Akin: Okay. Thank you for clarifying that. Any other discussion from the Commission? 6
Vice-Chair Chang. 7
8
Vice-Chair Chang: I just wanted to say that I too am supportive of this building being used 9
rather than vacant because leaving it vacant introduces many of the problems that were 10
highlighted by our public commenter. And so it’s good to see a building being used for an 11
allowed use, assuming that we approve the CUP. So – and I also appreciate all of Commissoner 12
Hechtman’s comments. I also agree with the reordering and think it’s pretty important to add 13
the word ‘university’, as stated, so it’s clear what the use is but also to avoid that legal 14
confusion. That’s it. 15
16
Chair Akin: Commissioner Peterson. 17
18
Commissioner Peterson: So I’m left with a question about the long-term use of the site, which I 19
think, as the applicant said, nobody knows. We know that the site is currently abandoned more 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
or less. The land’s owned by Stanford. Leased, I assume at some point. Not leased now. And 1
what is the future of that lot? I don’t have any indication whatsoever. If I think about a 2
standalone building in Palo Alto from the University, I can’t think of many others that fit that 3
profile. So it brings up some questions for Council. I think that our job is to untangle a little bit − 4
is what is the applicants asking for. Because it is a variation from what it’s – the uni-, the City 5
has already intended that space for. And then I think in the past, that parcel has been suggested 6
for affordable housing; possibly it could be again. So what I’m getting to is what is the long-term 7
plan for the university for their other lands like this land. And – or is it going to be individual 8
applications, one after another, brought before us that we’ll look at not in totality. Or is this 9
really just one-off. It’s a couple trees and there’s a vacant building with some kind of walkway 10
that’s a crumbling concrete and it’s all going to get fixed up. So it’s hard for me to hand this 11
over to the City Council and say, “Yeah, I feel completely comfortable with this. I feel like this is 12
a great use of this building.” And then the next month, we get another one. 13
14
Chair Akin: Do you need a response from anyone on that or is that just expressing your 15
concern? 16
17
Commissioner Peterson: Possibly a response [inaudible 46:36]. If there’s a comment on it 18
because it’s going to go on consent and potentially Council isn’t going to be thinking about land 19
planning. Not all the Council has been on the Commission, and so this could be a pretty heavily- 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
loaded project or it might be totally benign. It could be a tree, I don’t know, that’s already fallen 1
apart. 2
3
Jennifer Armer: Through the Chair, if it would be helpful, I could provide some additional 4
context. 5
6
Chair Akin: In fact, I was about to ask you. So, please do. 7
8
Jennifer Armer: So thank you for the observations and the questions. The context that I would 9
provide is that it is very common for us to get conditional use permit applications for existing 10
buildings. For example, if you think about the downtown, when we have new uses going in to 11
those existing buildings, in most cases, those conditional use permits say if you actually get 12
started within a reasonable amount of time, then you can have this use based on these 13
conditions. If you stop that use, the code states that if you cease that use for a period of time, 14
then the conditional use permit expires and you have to apply for a new one. So this does feel a 15
little bit unusual in comparison to that just because it is a standalone building that’s away from 16
other things. There are a couple of buildings on the site; it’s unusual given that there is a park 17
on a portion of this site. And so it’s multiple different uses in that and with the long-term lease 18
and all of those components. But in the end, it really is viewed in the same way that a 19
conditional use permit for a new restaurant with alcohol service… 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Commissioner Peterson: Quick question. 2
3
Jennifer Armer: …downtown. 4
5
Commissioner Peterson: What’s the difference between the conditional use permit and the 6
general use permit? I’m not 100 percent clear on that [inaudible 48:35]. 7
8
Jennifer Armer: So if an use is allowed by right, then they don’t need to go through a 9
discretionary permit for that use. A conditional use is something that has been identified based 10
on the zone it’s in. So, for example, a church in a residential zone, where to avoid impacts 11
between different uses, the City may want to consider specific conditions, like how late a 12
restaurant could be open to reduce the potential impacts and have some input from the public. 13
And so for a case like this where they are asking to have a use that falls out one step beyond 14
just the permitted uses, this is the process that we have that gives us the opportunity as a city 15
to have a little more control over how that is going to function in the long term. So in this case, 16
it is really just a request to reuse the existing building for this use that requires a conditional use 17
permit. There is no anticipation that there is any other plan except to just find uses for the 18
existing buildings in terms of redevelopment of the site or future changes. And so the review 19
really is focusing on whether this proposal at this time is appropriate. 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Commissioner Peterson: You raised a good issue. So one of the things – I think it was last 2
meeting or the one before, I’d asked about the university’s general use permit. So how does 3
this fit within that process? Because that one’s getting fairly close. 4
5
Jennifer Armer: That’s a separate issue. 6
7
Commissioner Peterson: So − because that one is intended to catch all these subtle, different 8
projects here, there, the other one. 9
10
Jennifer Armer: So the – that is actually a permit with the county for the university and most of 11
their land for the university itself is actually with the county and that is something that they 12
could apply to modify it but the county does not currently have any application for modification 13
to that use permit. 14
15
Commissioner Peterson: Right. And that’s our opportunity there for the public for transparency 16
where we can look at all the projects in totality over a period of time. So like I don’t really even 17
know if we have other projects with the university in front of the City right now. I don’t know 18
how this one – is there 6 or there’s 1 or there’s 12? 19
20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Jennifer Armer: Yeah, it – I mean it’s a different jurisdiction that issues… 1
2
Commissioner Peterson: Right. 3
4
Jennifer Armer: …that permit. And I would recommend that we make sure that we do keep this 5
consideration focused on the request in this individual application as we would for any 6
applicant. 7
8
Commissioner Peterson: But you do agree that the general use permit is the process where the 9
public maybe can ask questions about obscure ordinances that they can’t find. They have a – 10
it’s a public forum. We have Town Halls where we discuss the totality of the build-out for one of 11
the largest landowners in the Western United States and how it impacts the community that’s 12
right next to it; the traffic, emissions. And I know each one of those individual project 13
conditions, every square foot, seems small but it adds up fairly quickly. And so that’s − we’re 14
operating outside of a general use permit right now, so that’s why I’m asking more careful – I 15
think we’re – the last application was 6 years ago. 16
17
Jennifer Armer: So I don’t know if the City Attorney, who’s here with us – joining us online, has 18
anything else to add but I would repeat that this is not part of that general plan use… 19
20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Commissioner Peterson: Right. And that’s exactly the… 1
2
Jennifer Armer: …permit. 3
4
Commissioner Peterson: …question. 5
6
Jennifer Armer: But this is a separate thing on separate property that is not covered by that and 7
so it doesn’t involve review of that permit. 8
9
Commissioner Peterson: Right. 10
11
Jennifer Armer: That would be something… 12
13
Commissioner Peterson: That’s exactly… 14
15
Jennifer Armer: …at a different time. 16
17
Commissioner Peterson: …the question I’m asking is that it’s not included and it doesn’t have 18
that question, which is the whole purpose of a general use process. I guess, City Attorney, 19
that’d be interesting to hear. 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Assistant City Attorney Tim Shimizu: So, good evening, Commissioners. So the county general 2
use process really only applies to Stanford’s lands that are in unincorporated Santa Clara 3
County. The parcel that we’re dealing with here at 400 Mitchell is within the City of Palo Alto, 4
which is why the City Zoning Laws and the CUP process is before you. So it’s sometimes not well 5
understood that Stanford – Greater Stanford Campus is actually within several jurisdictions, 6
including unincorporated Santa Clara County, the City of Palo Alto, and also unincorporated San 7
Mateo Couty, not to mention all of other Stanford’s – and the satellite offices and they’re also 8
in Redwood City and other places. So the GUP process is county − only applies to the 9
unincorporated county land that Stanford owns, which this is not part of. 10
11
Commissioner Peterson: So just a quick follow-up question since we have you on here. Is – and I 12
appreciate that answer. That’s fairly concise. Is – when the general use permit does come up, I 13
assume the Palo Alto City Council will be having some input on that process either through the 14
normal county system, public comment, or something like that and they’ll have some kind of 15
position on this. I don’t see any way that that process will happen with the City of Palo Alto 16
having absolutely no comment whatsoever. Is that the gloss of it? 17
18
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Tim Shimizu: So that – the City through – ultimately through the City Council decides how it 1
would – voices its opinion on the county general use permit process. And it’s really ultimately 2
up to them how they would like to get involved. 3
4
Commissioner Peterson: Is there currently a city position on that? Actually legacy from the – 5
where the discussion left off? 6
7
Tim Shimizu: That, I’m not sure. That’s a much greater question depending on kind of what 8
issue you are talking about. But I am sure we can bring you up to speed on where this – what 9
the City’s previous communications with the county has been on that process. 10
11
Commissioner Peterson: Thank you. 12
13
Jennifer Armer: And I can jump in and say that the City staff will coordinate with the county if 14
and when the university does apply for modification to that permit. And at that time, we would 15
be checking in with the Council at that time since it is different members on the Council than 16
the last time we went through that process. And so it would – rather than defaulting to a 17
previous determination, it would involve checking in with them to see what level of 18
participation they want to have in that process. 19
20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Commissioner Peterson: Thank you. Because yeah – because my understanding − what I heard 1
was that the university is out of square footage in their current permit. And so I think that’s 2
where when I see an abandoned building being converted into a rock museum, I have questions 3
of why. 4
5
Chair Akin: And I think those are reasonable questions, although beyond the scope of what we 6
can address tonight. So maybe we can follow up with that outside. 7
8
Commissioner Peterson: So if there is a way for staff to have even a half-page brief for the City 9
Council, just raising the issue and making them aware that a staff is completely comfortable 10
with that and that Commission raised the issue. And then that way, you’d be ready for the 11
questions like what I asked if the Council asks. 12
13
Jennifer Armer: So we’ll have – since this conditional use permit will be going to Council, we do 14
always in that report reference the recommendation from the Planning and Transportation 15
Commission as well as providing links to the staff report recording meeting minutes when those 16
are available. So that information is all available to the Council. 17
18
Commissioner Peterson: Right. But there’s no comment on it in the staff report now. 19
20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Jennifer Armer: If – correct. So if it was the will of the Commission to give a specific 1
recommendation for further consideration or discussion by Council, that could be part of the 2
motion. But bringing forward a single comment – I mean it’s – in terms of these consent 3
calendar items from a staff’s perspective, we do want to be cautious about going into detail on 4
individual things that really are beyond the scope of the permit that’s before you. And as I said, 5
when the larger permit does get submitted to the county, that is definitely something we will 6
be checking with the Council on. They will be able to see that the applicant for this is Stanford 7
University. And so that will be clear in that report. 8
9
Commissioner Peterson: Do we have another round of questions or is this pretty much… 10
11
Chair Akin: I think we have at least 2 Commissioners pending, so maybe we should move on. So 12
think about what you might want beyond what’s already been discussed. So Commissioner 13
Templeton and then Vice-Chair Chang. 14
15
Commissioner Templeton: Thank you so much, Chair. I really am excited about this project. I 16
too am thrilled to see that we’re converting something that has been unused into a vibrant 17
center of local environmental education. I’m not sure I would categorize it as a rock museum 18
but I do like the idea of using the space, using it better, and certainly furthering education in the 19
areas that are going to be necessary for the future. So I want to just refocus on the project in 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
front of us and say that I think this is a well-designed project. I think that approval requirements 1
have been met; the staff has clearly outlined that. I understand that we have heard public 2
comment, we’ve heard Commissioner comment, that there are other areas that are adjacent or 3
outlying that perhaps need to be looked at more closely but that’s not the scope of this project. 4
So I think it’s really important for us to focus on what’s in front of us and that in a delightful, 5
concise, clear presentation from both staff and the applicant, I’m absolutely delighted to 6
support this. Thank you. 7
8
Chair Akin: Vice-Chair Chang. 9
10
Vice-Chair Chang: I just wanted to say that while we may have concerns about the GUP, general 11
use permit, that is not our job as the Planning and Transportation Commission since the GUP 12
itself is not in question right now. There’s no application for that. And so what we are being 13
asked to look at is specifically a conditional use permit. And for that, I believe we can’t treat 14
any one applicant differently from any other applicant in the City. And for conditional use 15
permits, we have to make two findings. And so we need – that’s the guide that we can use to 16
always make sure that we’re staying kind of inbounds. And if we can make the findings or can’t 17
make the findings, then we can pass those made or unmade findings onto City Council because 18
that’s what the l-, that’s our role in this process. That’s what the law dictates that we do as a 19
Commission. And so I can make the findings for this. Like later on, if I’m asked separately 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
regarding the GUP, sure, the fact that we have – if we – the fact that we approve a conditional 1
permit may affect how we look at a general use permit but if the owner were anybody else that 2
wouldn’t – isn’t subject to a GUP, we’d have to – we would treat them the same way. We 3
should treat Stanford the same way. And so that’s how I’m looking at the issue. Thank you. 4
5
Chair Akin: Commissioner Hechtman. 6
7
Commissioner Hechtman: So I appreciate the dialogue that Commissioner Peterson has raised 8
and I think I understand his sort of bigger point that Stanford is a huge next-door neighbor and 9
what they plan affects us and interests us. If I’m understanding the general use permit process, 10
if it’s activated again, that’s a County - Stanford process and Palo Alto is asked for input. It’s a 11
little bit like Caltrans’ projects where they ask us what we like; they don’t have to do it but they 12
ask us. But I’m also understanding that when that input request comes, whenever it is, the 13
dialogue is really with staff and the Council and then it’s communicated to Stanford and the 14
County. And so I think what would be useful to us, because the PTC has no role in that process, 15
if it ever happens, if staff just notifies the PTC that it’s happening, and then those of us who are 16
interested in our private capacity can attend whatever Council meeting this gets discussed at 17
and provide our input and concerns there. 18
19
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
And that’s how I think our individual concerns can be heard at the Council level and 1
communicated. I do agree with the other Commission comments that it’s outside the scope of 2
what’s in front of us tonight. And so that’s why I think maybe that’s a good way to handle it. It 3
doesn’t need to be a part of the motion. It’s just staff is here, they’ve heard it and I’m sure if it 4
comes up, they will just, as an informational item during an assistant director’s report, let us 5
know. 6
7
Jennifer Armer: Yes, thank you. 8
9
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. So when everybody’s done with comments, I’m prepared to 10
make a motion. 11
12
Chair Akin: Any further comments? Okay. I’ve reserved to last, but in fact, I think everything 13
that I was concerned about has been covered, so I won’t add to the list. We are ready for a 14
motion. 15
16
Commissioner Hechtman: I will move the staff recommendation that the PTC recommend to 17
the Council approval of the CUP as modified, with those modifications being in the findings, 18
whatever ordering of those four words staff determines to be appropriate; regarding Condition 19
13, whatever modification of that condition staff deems appropriate to clearly articulate the 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
duration of the permit; and with staff’s review of Conditions 22 through 33 to determine if any 1
of those do not apply to this particular use permit, and if so, remove those. 2
3
Vice-Chair Chang: Second. 4
5
Chair Akin: Mr. Tavera, will you call the vote? 6
7
Samuel Tavera: Yes. Commissioner Templeton? 8
9
Commissioner Templeton: Yes. 10
11
Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Peterson? 12
13
Commissioner Peterson: Yes. 14
15
Samuel Tavera: Vice-Chair Chang? 16
17
Vice-Chair Chang: Yes. 18
19
Samuel Tavera: Chair Akin? 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Chair Akin: Yes. 2
3
Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Hechtman? 4
5
Commissioner Hechtman: Yes. 6
7
Samuel Tavera: Motion carries 5-0-2. Commissioners James and Ji absent. 8
9
Chair Akin: Thank you very much, everyone. Much appreciated comments from everyone who 10
attended. Thank you. 11
12
APPROVAL OF MINUTES 13
14
3. Approval of Planning & Transportation Commission Draft Summary & Verbatim 15
Minutes of May 14, 2025 and May 28, 2025 16
17
Chair Akin: All right. Our next item is approval of the Draft Summary and Verbatim Minutes for 18
May 14 and May 28 of 2025. Mr. Tavera, do we have any public comments? 19
20
Samuel Tavera: Through the Chair, I have received no comment cards and no raised hands on 21
Zoom. 22
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Chair Akin: Just as expected. I believe we were all present for both meetings, so we can all vote. 2
So may I have a motion? 3
4
Commissioner Hetchman: Move approval as revised. 5
6
Vice-Chair Chang: Second. 7
8
Chair Akin: All right. I believe we need to call the roll for this this time. 9
10
Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Hechtman? 11
12
Commissioner Hechtman: Yes. 13
14
Samuel Tavera: Chair Akin? 15
16
Chair Akin: Yes. 17
18
Samuel Tavera: Vice-Chair Chang? 19
20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Vice-Chair Chang: Yes. 1
2
Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Peterson? 3
4
Commissioner Peterson: Yes. 5
6
Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Templeton? 7
8
Commissioner Templeton: Yes. 9
10
Samuel Tavera: Motion carries 5-0-2. Commissioners James and Ji absent. 11
12
Chair Akin: Thank you very much. 13
14
Commissioner Questions, Comments or Announcements 15
16
Chair Akin: I believe we’re onto Commissioner Questions, Comments or Announcements. Does 17
anyone have anything they’d like to share? Commissioner Hechtman. 18
19
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Commissioner Hechtman: Thank you, Chair. So early last week, at lunchtime, I went for a ride in 1
the Baylands and as I was coming back over the Oregon Bike Bridge, I came across an older man 2
crumpled on the ramp next to his bike. I called 911 and while I was completing that call, 2 more 3
bicyclists rode up. One of those bicyclists was named Dominic Vincentini. And Dominic knew 4
CPR. This fellow was in really dire condition and I later learned that Dominic was a trainer at 5
Stanford for its student athletes. So Dominic assessed the situation; he had us turn this man on 6
his back and Dominic provided CPR for a full 5 minutes, including breath of life, until the 7
paramedics arrived. The paramedics tried a number of things before bringing out the 8
defibrillator, and on the third attempt, they got his heart started. And so they took him away in 9
an ambulance; I could not see that he regained consciousness. And so I have been wondering if 10
he survived. Earlier today, I heard from Deputy Fire Chief Lindsey that, in fact, he had survived, 11
that he is walking, talking, and recovering. So that was greatly comforting to me. 12
13
But after it occurred, it made me think. I’ve done a lot. I’ve experienced a lot of things but I’d 14
never been in a situation anything like that. I’ve never seen that before. But it occurred to me 15
that that kind of thing happens in Palo Alto all the time. Every time you hear a siren that is not a 16
police car, there’s a good possibility that it’s something like that, that’s happening. And so I just 17
wanted to take a minute to reflect on and appreciate the lifesaving efforts that the men and 18
women of our Fire Department provide, as do private citizens like Dominic Vincentini. 19
20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Chair Akin: Thank you. That was an inspiring comment. And I hope we all can take it to heart. 1
Any further comments? No, that was not intentional. Very well, then. If there are no further 2
Commissioner comments, we are adjourned. 3
4
Adjournment 5
7:09 PM 6
7
/ls 8