John Taylor, Professor of Economics at Stanford University and developer of the "Taylor Rule" for setting interest rates | Stanford University
John Taylor, Professor of Economics at Stanford University and developer of the "Taylor Rule" for setting interest rates | Stanford University
Stanford's plans to build faculty and affordable community housing in neighboring Portola Valley advanced significantly with the release of the town’s final environmental analysis of the project. The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) indicates that Portola Terrace adequately addresses potential environmental impacts, a crucial finding that sets the stage for final public meetings and a town council vote on the project application.
Portola Terrace will include 27 single-family homes for faculty and 12 affordable housing units for members of the Portola Valley community on a portion of "the Wedge" property along Alpine Road, near Westridge Drive. Configured as a cluster development, Portola Terrace will occupy only 10.8 acres of the 75-acre property, including nearly five acres of buffer and setback space, thereby maintaining the large oak woodland on the property as open space.
The affordable units would be some of the first ever built in Portola Valley available to the general public through criteria established by the town and are part of a larger housing development. The new residences would also support the town’s plan to add new housing as part of its Housing Element.
Stanford first proposed Portola Terrace in 2016 following interest from town leaders in seeing housing built on "the Wedge" property. The university’s project team has since engaged with the community through site tours, public and private meetings, and digital communications to design a project responsive to community feedback.
“We’re proud that Portola Terrace will not only benefit Stanford but that it will provide significant benefits to the community through creating new affordable housing, improved wildfire resiliency on the property and for surrounding neighborhoods, tax revenue generation for the town and local schools, and much more,” said John Donahoe, senior director for planning and entitlements in Land, Buildings, and Real Estate. “And we’re accomplishing that in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way that avoids any significant impacts.”
When designing Portola Terrace, emphasis was placed on wildfire resilience—a topic important to Portola Valley residents. Features will include undergrounding utilities, bringing water service to the property, creating a new fire maintenance road, and using fire-resistant building materials.
The draft Environmental Impact Report was released in March 2022. Since then, both town officials and consultants have been reviewing public comments on it; these responses are included in its final version.
The EIR concluded that Portola Terrace would not create any “significant and unavoidable” impacts after implementing mitigation measures identified in the report—measures which Stanford has already agreed to undertake.
With this release of EIR findings comes a series of final public meetings before voting on approval can take place. The first meeting is scheduled as a joint session between various committees at 6 p.m., Tuesday Sept. 17 at Town Center's community room.
More information about Stanford’s housing inventory can be found at housinginfo.stanford.edu.
Prescribed burns return to Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma) as Stanford expands understanding land stewardship practices concerning wildfire risk mitigation.
Media contact: Joel Berman at University Communications (650) 208-8819 or joelberman@stanford.edu
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