Santa Clara County

Palo Alto School Leaders Weigh in on Proposed Stanford Expansion Plan

The Palo Alto Unified School District on Tuesday is expected to weigh in on a proposed expansion plan at Stanford University.

The Peninsula university is proposing a nearly 20-year-long development project, and the school district is just one of the nine different jurisdictions that could be impacted.

Stanford's proposal calls for 2.3 million square feet of academic space as well as 3,150 housing units for students, faculty and staff. Public comment on the project ends Friday.

The Palo Alto Unified School District on Tuesday will finalize its recommendations for the project. The recommendations may include construction of a new elementary school on the Stanford campus and even more on-campus housing to mitigate the impact of the project's overall growth.

The Palo Alto City Council finalized its recommendations on Monday.

Both the district and city council represent two jurisdictions weighing in with Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors being the one body with the power to approve or deny the project.

"As I hear from folks, what they’re saying is, 'Look, we want the university to flourish, but we also want to make sure that the traffic doesn’t get worse, the housing doesn’t get worse, that our schools are adequately planned for,'" Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian said. "These are understandable community concerns, and that’s part of the job in the coming months."

The Palo Alto Unified School District meeting is slated for 6:30 p.m. at the district office.

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