News Subscribe  to Our Newsletter Sign  up for Email Updates CGF  In the News Press  Inquiries Past  Articles Calendar			Supervisors disappoint with final zoning for Stanford foothills by Jeff Segall In early June, the Santa Clara County Supervisors  handed down a disappointment - they failed to create zoning standards  for the Stanford foothills that fully live up to the open space protections  promised under the 2000  Stanford Community Plan. The Stanford foothills have been of special  significance for Committee for Green Foothills (CGF) for  years, and where we achieved an early victory for preservation  some 40 years ago. In 2000, CGF, along with others groups, again  advocated for long-term protection of the entire Stanford foothills  in exchange for granting Stanford the right to develop some five  million square feet on the core campus. In the end, Santa Clara  County redesignated most of the foothills area as "Open Space and  Field Research" under the Stanford Community Plan. This newly created  land use designation  allowed for only very limited uses in the area and promised to protect  its open space character and scenic viewsheds.  In early 2002, Santa Clara County planning staff  released draft zoning language for the Open Space and Field Research (OS/F)  district, which are the specific set of rules that would govern any development  in the area. Unfortunately, this draft zoning fell well short of what  was promised under the Community Plan. For example, the draft language  called for "reasonable protection" of viewsheds, with no definition of  what that might mean. Worse, the body to determine this and other matters  was the Architectural and Site Approval (ASA) Committee, a group usually  sympathetic to development.  Because of tireless  advocacy by CGF and others, County planning staff was persuaded to  consider the visibility of various portions of the foothills as it considered  potential development. Staff developed a creative approach that uses Geographic  Information System (GIS) software to rate regions on a scale of their  visibility from surrounding roadways. Sizeable projects proposed for more  visible areas will require special findings to demonstrate that the projects  could not be located elsewhere. Significantly, this determination must  be made by the Planning Commission, a body with a higher level of public  accountability than the ASA Committee.  This moderate success, achieved while the zoning  language was under consideration by the Planning Commission, gave us hope  that other flaws in the zoning proposal would be fixed by the Board of  Supervisors. Other remaining issues included low viewshed protection for  the "gateway" area of the Page Mill/Junipero Serra intersection, exclusion  of the proposed trails in the viewshed analysis, lack of specific protections  for biological resources, and allowing commercial antennas in the area.  Unfortunately, none of these issues were substantively addressed by the  Supervisors when they approved the OS/F zoning on June 3.  Once again, CGF has shown that careful research  and reasoned argument, an active and vocal membership, together with participation  from nearby jurisdictions and other community members can have a substantial  impact on how Santa Clara County governs development at Stanford University.  The remaining shortcomings in the approved foothills zoning means that  CGF must continue to carefully monitor development proposals in the foothills  in the years to come. Jeff Segall is a member of the Committee's Board  of Directors, as well as a member of the Stanford Open Space Alliance  (SOSA), and has been active in Stanford land use issues for several years. Published July 2003 in Green  Footnotes. Page last updated July 7, 2003

	Photo by Cait  Hutnik.