The Issue: 

• An upstart developer from Los Gatos, formed as “Steel Bridge Homes Palo Alto, LP”,  proposes to build sixteen (16) dwelling units in a one-acre lot at the intersection of Arastradero and Old Trace Road. They have dubbed this project “The Oaks”.
• This proposed project is actually in the Esther Clark Park neighborhood, which is a semi-rural neighborhood which does not have the street ingress and egress capacity to handle an additional 55% increase in dwellings.
• The sixteen car-dependent residences proposed for “The Oaks” will be concentrated at the sole ingress / egress for the neighborhood, and the developer’s myriad waiver requests include extensive abatements of the city’s parking requirements.
• This will inevitably result in an overflow of dozens of cars at a very narrow intersection and it will create a new intersection on Arastradero between Old Trace Rd and Manuella Ave, which will further exacerbate the existing daily gridlock in that stretch.  Emergency vehicles will be blocked, and timely evacuation will not be possible.  
• The concentration of 16 car-dependent residences at this intersection presents an unavoidable safety hazard for the residents of Esther Clark Park and the surrounding areas, one that cannot be mitigated without reduction of the proposed density. 
• In view of the objective and un-mitigatable adverse impacts the proposed project will have on the safety of the residents of Esther Clark Park and those in surrounding neighborhoods, the developer’s request for Streamlined Housing Development Review should be denied. 

We, the undersigned, submit this petition to the Architectural Review Board, the Planning and Transportation Commission  and City Council of Palo Alto to ensure that the safety of Palo Alto residents is not jeopardized by the project dubbed “The Oaks”. Steel Bridge Homes’ unwarranted request for streamlined review under Palo Alto Municipal Code (PAMC) Section 18.77.073 should be denied.  

This project is disingenuously abusing the State Density Bonus Law to evade appropriate regulatory review, placing the health and safety of the residents of Esther Clark Park and surrounding areas at unwarranted risk, while dramatically increasing local automobile density and dependency. The proposed plans for “The Oaks” evince little genuine regard to make the BMR and JADUs dignified, habitable residences. 

We ask that the members of the ARB and City Council grant the safety of the Esther Clark Neighborhood and other affected Palo Alto residents due consideration, rather than maximizing expediency and financial returns for “Steel Bridge Homes.”