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Eager to generate community support for its forthcoming growth permit, Stanford University launched this week a series of community meetings that it hopes will smooth its path toward a new development plan.
The meetings, which began with a Wednesday night open house at the Lucie Stern Community Center, represent a new approach for the university, which opted to withdraw its last expansion plan in 2019 after Santa Clara County officials and community members demanded more housing and stronger transportation measures, including assurances that reverse commutes to and from campus would not increase daily vehicle trips.
At that time, Stanford was looking to add 2.275 million square feet of new academic space, 2,600 student beds and 550 housing units for faculty and staff. To achieve this growth, it applied to the county for a new “general use permit” that would enable the additional campus development and establish mitigation strategies to ensure that the growth won’t worsen traffic, exacerbate the regional housing shortage or endanger the open spaces west of the university campus.
This time, Stanford is taking a more cautious approach. It is conspicuously refraining from stating its growth goals and its first foray into the planning process prioritizes listening over talking. The Lucie Stern event didn’t have any formal presentations from Stanford. Rather, residents had an opportunity to walk around the room at their own pace, to focus on the topics that are most important to them and to provide feedback on sticky notes.
For Stanford, the meetings are designed to get public feedback before it files a new application, which it expects to do in August 2026. They also give the university an opportunity to make a case to residents that what’s good for Stanford is also good for them.
To that end, the boards that were displayed around the room at the Lucie Stern Community Center on Wednesday touted Stanford University’s recent achievements on environmental sustainability, housing and traffic: its adoption of a 100% renewable electricity portfolio; its success in reducing the drive-alone rate on campus from 67% in 2024 to 38% in 2024; the $3.4 billion that in invested in housing over the past two decades.
The main objectives of the new growth plan are to allow Stanford to increase its undergraduate class and to accommodate its evolving academic and research programs, university officials said during the open house.
“As technology changes or as science changes or academics change, we need to make sure that the space is designed for and can accommodate that science,” Whitney McNair, Stanford’s senior associate vice president and GUP project executive, told this publication.
She emphasized that the university is currently in “100% listening mode” as it considers its next application. And rather than focusing on raw numbers when it comes to growth, university leaders hope to do a better job explain to residents exactly why the changes are needed.
“I think this time we should really be focusing on the ‘Why?’ Not just what Stanford is proposing, but why it’s needed and really explaining the ‘Why?’ behind it. I think that was missing before,” McNair said.
About 50 people attended to the first Lucie Stern event, where Stanford staff answered questions about its recent efforts on land use, transportation and environmental sustainability. The mood was largely cordial, with numerous residents voicing optimism about potential new partnerships between town and gown. One of the guiding principles of the new planning effort, which is known as StanfordNext, is the cultivation of “stronger local and on-campus relationships to ensure that new development benefits both Stanford and its surrounding communities.”
McNair said that she has been hearing interest from the community about having more access to Stanford and its offerings. Stanford already touts its work to support surrounding cities, from working with Project Safety Net to improve youth mental health in Palo Alto to testing AI-powered robots that would help the residents of the Channing House senior community get around. The new outreach process aims to solicit other ideas from residents for improving community collaborations.
“How do they experience Stanford and what is important to them – whether it’s classes or museums or music or theater?” McNair asked. “How do you experience campus? Is there something we can do to expand that experience?”
Some attendees proved receptive to the idea. Dulce Maria Gray, a literature professor at a community college, said she would like to see Stanford share its wealth of educational and cultural amenities with the surrounding communities, which may involve holding events outside campus or making more classes available a broader population.
“I think it’s really important to have more collaboration between Stanford and regular folks,” Gray said.
McNair and others at the meeting highlighted the changes that have taken place in academics since the last GUP application, with Covid-19 upending work habits and new disciplines like AI ascending in prominence both on and off campus. The one thing that hasn’t changed is the region’s housing crunch, which Stanford would need to consider as its plans its next phase of growth.
Kelly Kline, Stanford’s associate vice president for government affairs, said that while the community outreach is just getting started, housing is already emerging as the highest priority for area residents.
“The housing crisis has only become more acute,” Kline said.
Menlo Park Mayor Betsy Nash, who attended the Wednesday open house, shared that assessment. She told this publication that her top priority is ensuring that Stanford builds enough housing to accommodate its growing student and staff populations. If Stanford fails to do so, university students and staff will need to look for housing in the surrounding communities, further straining housing supply.
“We love to have them here, but when they come here, they take away housing from others in the community,” Nash told this publication.
Jim Cornett, who works at athletic events on Stanford University campus, said he believes transportation should also be a high priority for the university. While Cornett rides a bicycle to campus, many of his friends and fellow “red coats” drive to work. Parking, he said, is limited and expensive.
Others said they want to see Stanford think big. John Wertman, a researcher and member of the Stanford Historical Society, said he hopes the university will continue to pursue unique and ambitious campus projects that emphasize its role at the cutting edge of science and technology.
“They should never stop looking far into the future,” Wertman said.
McNair said that as part of the new application, Stanford plans to look at the spaces it already has and make sure it is using them as efficiently as possible. It will also consider the future of academics and assess Stanford’s priorities on innovation, technology and science.
“As technology changes or as science changes or academics change, we need to make sure that the space is designed for and can accommodate that science,” McNair said.
The next StanfordNext community meeting will take place at 1 p.m. on Dec. 13 at Lucie Stern Community Center, 1305 Middlefield Road.
