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Palo Alto Weekly Less than two
months after wrapping up the intense process of planning Stanford's future--and the political brawl over the Stanford hills--those hills will be back as a topic of discussion by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. The
issue this time is a 21,000-square-foot building the Carnegie Foundation wants to build near two other think tanks. The county Planning Commission voted 4-2 last November to approve the application, but the Committee for
Green Foothills appealed that decision to the county board, which will hear the matter at 2 p.m. next Tuesday. For Stanford University and Carnegie officials, the issue is straightforward: A prestigious education foundation
wants to build a facility. For others, however, the project site is on the wrong side of Junipero Serra Boulevard in the Stanford foothills. It's also in habitat that may be used for California tiger salamanders, a
protected species. There are significant concerns about building in the hills. Local environmental groups like the Committee for Green Foothills, the Stanford Open Space Alliance and the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra
Club are strongly opposed to the site's location. Palo Alto sent a letter to the county saying that the location was "a major concern" and "inappropriate." Menlo Park sent a letter which had 37
questions and concerns. The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District sent a letter which noted that alternative sites were available. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and
Game also sent letters objecting to the site. Those two agencies are part of the 1998 agreement, along with Stanford and the county, which established the California Tiger Salamander Management Zone at Stanford in an attempt to
protect the habitat of the small amphibians. The salamanders are listed as a "species of special concern" under California law and are a candidate to be listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The Carnegie site is believed to be salamander habitat, although surveys by biologists have failed to locate any at the site. The county Planning Commission' approval of the Carnegie application has several measures
to protect the amphibians, including a setting aside habitat near Lake Lagunita to keep it free from development. Carnegie may also have to restore 1.5 acres of what's called degraded salamander habitat, also near Lake Lagunita.
"The location is unclear and that amount of uncertainty is unacceptable," said Denice Dade of the Committee for Green Foothills. "Carnegie and Stanford are refusing to do the right thing by the salamander in
protecting the habitat to the extent that Fish and Game and Fish and Wildlife suggested." If the salamander became listed under federal law, that would probably have an effect on the Carnegie application and anything
else in the salamander habitat, but that won't happen soon. There is currently a moratorium preventing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency from adding any new animals to the list of threatened or endangered species under the
federal law, said David Wright, a senior biologist at the agency's Sacramento office. The moratorium has been established "because we have too many court-ordered deadlines now," Wright said, adding that the moratorium is
likely to last at least a year. The Carnegie project would be located near two existing think tanks in the hills-the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The Carnegie application, by the way, is not affected by the 25-year academic growth boundary the county board placed along Junipero Serra Boulevard in December as part of its approval of Stanford's 10-year general use
permit. Instead, the project is being grandfathered in under the university's previous permit, because the Carnegie application was submitted before the Stanford general use permit application. So the Carnegie facility
won't count against the square footage limit the county is has imposed on Stanford for building in the foothills. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching was established in 1905, is the third oldest
foundation in the country and the only advanced study center for teachers in the world. The foundation moved to Menlo Park from New Jersey in 1997 when Lee Shulman, a Stanford education professor emeritus, was named
foundation president. The Palo Alto Carnegie foundation will have 40 full-time employees and five to seven visiting scholars at any time. Stanford is granting it a 51-year lease at $1 a year. "We gave a lease to
the Carnegie Foundation because of the important work they do," said Larry Horton, Stanford's director of government and community relations. With the mitigation measures for the California tiger salamander settled by
the county, "We're ready to roll," said Gay Clyburn, spokesperson for the foundation. Whether they will roll is up to the county board. Newly elected Supervisor Liz Kniss kept careful watch over the
Stanford general use permit process last year as Palo Alto mayor. "The lines drawn by the Board of Supervisors in November and December are very clear, and I'm going to pay a lot of attention to those lines," Kniss said,
referring to the academic growth boundary the county set along Junipero Serra Boulevard. Kniss said she will consider that as she makes her decision. "I have to be cognizant of the county's position," Kniss added.
Noting that Palo Alto sent a letter to the county last June calling the site inappropriate, Kniss said, "I'm very cognizant of that, too. Page last updated November 4, 2001. |
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