Sand Hill: Council members to meet with Stanford Sand Hill: Council members to meet with Stanford (April 10, 2002)

By Pam Smith

Almanac Staff Writer

The Menlo Park City Council agreed last week to have two of its own sit down with Stanford representatives and see if differences between the city and the university can be resolved on a proposal for roadway improvements that includes the widening of Sand Hill Road.

But some council members _ namely, Paul Collacchi and Mary Jo Borak, the two liaisons to meet with Stanford _ are still clearly opposed to such a project.

"We will be eager to cooperate with them, but we are not encouraged by the comments made by Paul Collacchi and Mary Jo Borak," said Stanford spokesman Larry Horton.

"I have the sense that they're going to be tough to bargain with," said Councilman Nicholas Jellins, who of the five council members has spoken most in favor of Stanford's proposal, especially as a way to address traffic diverted onto neighborhood roads.

Mayor Steve Schmidt and Councilman Chuck Kinney, though stating they have some problems with Stanford's proposal, said a compromise is possible. "There are unresolved issues. If we go about this in a systematic way, they can probably all be resolved," said Mr. Schmidt.

As a condition of approval to develop projects along the Sand Hill Road corridor, Palo Alto required Stanford University in 1997 to pay for certain roadway mitigations in Menlo Park and unincorporated San Mateo County, if those jurisdictions agree. The offer calls for widening the San Francisquito Creek bridge on Sand Hill Road, adding lanes from the bridge to Santa Cruz Avenue, and modifying the Sand Hill Road/Santa Cruz Avenue and Santa Cruz Avenue/Alpine Road/Junipero Serra Boulevard intersections.

The university would pay for the total estimated cost of the projects ($11.8 million when the offer was made in June 2000) plus inflation, but would not pay anything above those estimates since the school would have no control over construction, said Stanford's Mr. Horton.

Stanford's offer expires on December 31, 2007, and the university is obligated to pay only for work completed by the end of 2009.

City staff and some council members brought up a long list of concerns, from the safety and efficiency of Stanford's design for the Santa Cruz Avenue/Sand Hill Road intersection, to the cap on the money Stanford is offering, and other Stanford-related bones of contention in Menlo Park, such as the university's trail alignments, and Palo Alto's refusal to open up Alma Street at its intersection with El Camino Real.

Mr. Collacchi and Ms. Borak said the suggested traffic mitigations might work for a short time, but wouldn't make an appreciable difference in the long term.

"This is not that high a priority for me," said Mr. Collacchi.

Even a workable design would be too big, ugly, and unfriendly to bicyclists and pedestrians to fit her vision of Menlo Park, said Ms. Borak.

Mr. Horton said Stanford is open to working with the city on refinements to the offer that might be acceptable to Menlo Park, Palo Alto and the university.

But, he added, Stanford is not interested in funding a piecemeal project that might lead to an off-balance project or unsafe conditions.

Though a few residents at last week's meeting encouraged a leave-it-alone policy, the majority who spoke encouraged the city to move speedily toward accepting the Stanford offer.

Congestion entangles Menlo Park drivers, and sends cars onto neighborhood streets to avoid the snarl, they said.

The city should manage traffic efficiently, instead of simply "choking it and hoping it will go elsewhere," said resident Mark Louie.

Two residents suggested that if the council can't make up its mind, it should put the matter to a vote of residents.

"The people will tell you what to do," said Milton Borg of Oak Knoll Lane.

Reg Rice, a transportation commissioner, said he knows of "three separate groups" of residents who are looking into the possibility of bringing the issue to voters.

Ten percent of registered voters must sign a petition to get an initiative (to propose a statute or amendment) or a referendum (to appeal a statute or amendment) on a ballot, said City Attorney Bill McClure.

Without a proposal in front of him, he added, he is not sure what law residents could propose or try to appeal to force the city into accepting Stanford's offer.

San Mateo County would have to sign off on any plan, even if Menlo Park agrees to the Stanford proposal, because designs would affect unincorporated parts of the county, noted Mr. Schmidt.