October 16, 2023
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
70 W. Hedding St.
San Jose, CA
Re: Stanford Community Plan Update (Item #9, 10/17/23 agenda)
Dear Board President Ellenberg and Supervisors,
The Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter, the California Native Plant Society Santa Clara Valley Chapter, and Green Foothills are environmental organizations with a strong interest in the protection of open space, wildlife, native plants and natural resources. Together, our organizations represent tens of thousands of members in Santa Clara and County and the region.
We have previously supported the preparation of an update to the Stanford Community Plan (please see attached letter dated February 7, 2020). We believed then, as we do now, that an update was needed in order to encompass mitigations for environmental impacts, and to extend the supermajority vote requirement to modify the Academic Growth Boundary for 99 years in order to protect open space in the foothills beyond 2025, when current protections expire.
The proposed Stanford Community Plan Update, to be incorporated into the County's general Plan, includes robust and important protections of open space in the foothills. The update also requires full mitigation of Stanford's expected growth impacts on transportation and housing. Our organizations therefore support Staff recommendations and encourage you to approve the Stanford Community Plan Update.
It is important to note that the proposed 99-year extension is NOT a ban on development. Rather, it merely extends for 99 years the current supermajority (4/5) vote requirement to allow Stanford to develop in the foothills. In other words, for the next 99 years, if Stanford wishes to develop beyond the Academic Growth Boundary (which demarcates the line between the campus footprint and the open space of the foothills), 4 out of 5 Supervisors will need to vote in favor of that development.
Furthermore, since this requirement is part of the General Plan which by law can be amended with a simple majority vote, the supermajority vote requirement can itself be changed or eliminated with a mere 3/5 vote of the Board of Supervisors. Thus, the supermajority vote requirement is merely a procedural and symbolic barrier, not a total prohibition on development.
In addition, we previously asked for protections for birds, the dark sky and ancient oaks (please see attached letter dated September 23, 2019). We understand that staff intends to create County-wide ordinances for bird safety and dark sky but, until such time that these ordinances are in effect, we ask for your support for including, in the Stanford Community Plan Update, policies that address these additional impacts of development and growth:
- Light pollution. Please include a Dark Sky policy that 1) limits light pollution and the use of fixtures with a prominent blue-light component of the spectrum; and 2) requires a lights-out program for bird migration seasons
- Bird Collision. Please include a Bird Safe Design policy to effectively protect birds from harm caused by collision with man made buildings and other structures
- Ancient oak trees. Please include a policy to protect and care for ancient oak trees, especially oaks older than the university itself.
We thank you for your attention to our letter. Please approve the Stanford Community Plan with the additional policies requested above.
Sincerely,
Shani Kleinhaus, Environmental Advocate
Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society
Alice Kaufman, Policy and Advocacy Director
Green Foothills
Sue Chow, Co-Chair,
Peninsula Regional Group
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter
Judy Fenerty
California Native Plant Society, Santa Clara Valley Chapter