May 11, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Mayfield deal triggers worries over south Palo Alto traffic

by Jocelyn Dong

Last week's Mayfield deal to bring soccer fields and housing to Palo Alto has been hailed throughout the community, but there is one part of the city where residents' reactions are more tempered: south Palo Alto.

There, neighbors are worrying about the traffic that the plan will generate along the Charleston/Arastradero corridor.

The Mayfield agreement, struck between Stanford University and Palo Alto, will add the athletic fields to the corner of Page Mill Road and El Camino Real, and the housing -- including affordable units -- along California Avenue. But it also allows Stanford to build 300,000 square feet of commercial development in the Stanford Research Park south of Page Mill Road, a trade for the land that's being converted from commercial to residential development and recreational space.

Some of that expansion is already in the works. EMC Corporation last week requested permission to build on 29 acres of Stanford Research Park land at Hillview Avenue and Foothill Expressway, the new headquarters for a subsidiary, VMWare.

The plan calls for 460,000 square feet of buildings, which includes 100,000 square feet of Stanford's allowed 300,000. It replaces buildings once occupied by Syntex Corporation.

Residents fear the new headquarters will add traffic to the already dangerous stretch of Charleston and Arastradero roads. The EMC application estimates the site will have 1,435 parking spaces.

The fears are not unexpected. The Mayfield agreement's environmental-impact report predicted the new development would have a "significant" traffic impact. To ease the problem, two new traffic signals will be added along Arastradero -- one at Hillview and Arastradero, the other at Deer Creek and Arastradero.

"I expect (the development) will have a big impact," said Deborah Ju, president of the Charleston Meadows Neighborhood Association, who added she is happy to have the soccer fields.

She was one of many community members who helped develop the Charleston/Arastradero Corridor Plan in 2003, which addresses traffic along the road from Fabian Way to Miranda Avenue. Due to the landmarks, it has also been nicknamed the "Sun (Microsystems) to Gunn (High School) Corridor."

Although the traffic-management plan was approved in January 2004, the city is still seeking funding to put in a one-year trial. The corridor plan calls for "smart" signals that allow traffic to flow more smoothly, pedestrian-safety islands in the middle of the road, and replacing two of the four lanes for part of the road with left-turn lanes.

The stretch is used by thousands of children attending private and public schools along the corridor.

Chief Transportation Official Joe Kott said his staff has unsuccessfully applied for numerous grants to fund the project, but will continue to seek funding.

"We're ever hopeful," he said. The city has not provided money for the traffic plan.

But time is of the essence, residents say. Allowing the development at Hillview, which could bring more traffic along Charleston/Arastradero due to employees coming from U.S. Highway 101, will only exacerbate the problem, Ju said. "One half is moving forward; the other half isn't."

Betsy Allyn, another neighborhood leader, frets over the two signals that will be added along Arastradero as part of the Mayfield deal.

"I wish I could be positive," she said. "I do think that the traffic signals at Hillview and Deer Creek Road are nothing but ominous."

Currently Arastradero south of Foothill is a two-lane road that connects Foothill to Highway 280. Allyn fears the signal installations will lead to the widening of the road to four lanes -- drawing more drivers down to Charleston/Arastradero from 280.

She believes it is important to get the Charleston trial project funded as soon as possible before even more traffic is added to the area.

Palo Alto residents are not alone. Los Altos Hills resident Collette Cranston also voiced her objections to the signals in a letter to the Palo Alto City Council last week.

"I do not believe that dumping the traffic on the smallest collector (street) and impacting the adjacent residential area further is the answer," she wrote. "Please know that those of us who live near this intersection do not want a traffic light there. We do not want the urban impact and we do not want traffic backed up in front of our houses."

Senior Staff Writer Jocelyn Dong can be reached at jdong@paweekly.com.

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