September 21, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Editorial: 'Trail fatigue' means Stanford gets its way

We've never quite figured out why Stanford University has been so vehement about keeping trails out of the large Dish ridge area or the Felt Lake region west of I-280.

Five years ago, the university seemed to agree to granting "dedicated easements" and create trail connections to the higher foothills to the west as part of Santa Clara County's approval of Stanford's 10-year general use permit -- which allows approximately 3 million square feet of expansion of campus buildings and housing.

University officials steadfastly maintain they never really agreed to dedicated easements but only to adding trail links to the foothills. On the south, the alternatives acceptable to Stanford were either up Old Page Mill Road to 280, or along the main Page Mill Road to Deer Creek Road, then up and over the "Ramos Ranch" parcel to link to a county trail where Arastradero Road crosses under 280.

On the north, there is only one acceptable alternative: expanding an existing narrow bike lane/path into a full multi-use bike, pedestrian and equestrian connection -- we hesitate to call it a trail -- right along the edge of Alpine Road. We have objected to this alternative, known as C1, because it is not truly a trail connection but a roadside bike lane, even though billed as a "multi-use trail."

Stanford now has linked the C1 alternative to approval last week by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to the Ramos Ranch trail option, over the objections of North County Supervisor Liz Kniss.

Stanford officials also reluctantly disclosed that their estimated costs are $5 million for the Ramos Ranch trail and $8 million for Alpine Road trail -- based on extensive engineering work by the Menlo Park engineering firm of Brian, Kangas and Foulk. That's on top of about a half million Stanford has already spent on the preliminary studies and designs.

The fact that Stanford feels it must spend $13 million to meet the general use permit conditions is a regrettable testament to a situation that became polarized and rigid, both on Stanford's side and on the part of environmentalists who favored direct internal routes along existing service roads -- at a fraction of the cost.

The Ramos Ranch trail will be a fine trail with sweeping views -- even if it is a poor connection to Palo Alto's Pearson/Arastradero Preserve and foothills trails. It will add another loop route for the many morning walkers and cyclists in Palo Alto.

But we continue to believe there is a better alternative to what we've called the "glorified bike lane" along Alpine Road on the north side -- one that truly is a trail.

It is regrettable that the majority of Santa Clara County supervisors -- worn down by years of dealing this complex issue and not wanting to see more staff time swallowed by it -- caved in to Stanford's use of its political clout and money to get its own way.

But the supervisors' action, if confirmed Dec. 13, may put an end to this chapter -- an unsuccessful outcome at a monumental price tag.

We predict that whatever Stanford "agrees to" in the 2010 general use permit process, just five years away, will be even more closely scrutinized for fine print than during the 2000 round.

Count the carports

The city Planning and Transportation Commission had tried to provide some relief for owners of small houses by recommending that carport footage not be counted. But this also freed up space in larger homes to add extra inside rooms, such as in the attic, creating a "three-story home" fear.

The real issue is that carports tend to morph into full rooms. That was why the planning staff initially recommended against the exclusion -- which reversed a count-the-carports policy of more than a dozen years.

It's one thing if open carports would stay open and remain carports. But they don't. Counting them removes one more enforcement problem.

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