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Stanford Offers Billions In Benefits To Santa Clara County In Campus Expansion Talks

STANFORD (KPIX 5) -- Stanford University is making an offer to bring billions of dollars worth of community benefits to Santa Clara County in housing, transportation and education as part of its application for a new general use permit that will outline how the university will grow over the next 20 years.

"Stanford is making its largest investment ever in housing and transportation ever so our $4.7 billion dollar offer includes $3.4 billion dollars to support housing. Over one billion dollars to support transportation and $138 million dollars for our local public schools," said Catherine Palter, associate vice president for land use and environmental planning.

Stanford wants to add 3.5 million square feet of new office and classroom space, which will add 9,000 more people to campus.

Stanford's new offer includes a total of 1,300 new housing units, including 575 Below Market Rate units on campus and in the community.

"We are looking to see how to best meet the needs of our neighbors and we want to start that conversation soon," Palter said.

The plans must be approved by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. But the Board President shot down Stanford's plan, saying it's nothing new.

"This is a funny money calculation. A lot of these dollars are for a project that's already been built or efforts that are already underway," said Supervisor Joe Simitian.

"What we're talking about is this: will the university address the impacts of its development going forward?"

Simitian also criticized the plan, saying it requires the county to also approve all future plan revisions.

"You can't just hand over your responsibility like that to a private entity, even one that does good work," Simitian said.

Both sides will continue the discussion when the county's planning commission meets later this week.

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