Palo Alto Rezones Stanford Research Park to Allow Housing

The City of Palo Alto wants to open the hood on the “engine for Silicon Valley” at Stanford Research Park for housing development.

The City Council approved plans to remove “conditional use” zoning restrictions at the 700-acre park owned by Stanford University to build homes, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The new ordinance, outlined in the city’s state-mandated housing plan, would strip conditional use requirements for residential projects within the research park by the end of this month.

It would also collaborate with Stanford University on identifying potential housing sites by the end of the year. The city’s Housing Element, or blueprint for development, calls for rezoning for 6,086 homes, including 2,452 affordable units, by 2031.

The 10 million-square-foot business campus, created by Stanford in 1951 as the world’s first university research park, is the heart of the global tech industry and home to more than 150 companies, including Tesla, HP, Rivian and Google.

“I’m enthused about this and have been looking forward to it for years,” Councilman Patrick Burt told the Mercury News.

The change applies only to sites not covered by the city’s hazardous materials ordinance and mandates a conditional use permit for housing proposals within 600 feet of a hazardous facility.

New housing construction isn’t likely to begin until after the state housing element cycle ends in 2031.

In addition to rezoning the research park, the City Council unanimously backed a plan by Alta Housing to build an 80-unit affordable housing project on a city-owned lot on Lytton Avenue and Kipling Street, in Downtown.

The housing is part of Palo Alto’s broader effort to convert parking lots into homes, as outlined in the city’s housing plan.

— Dana Bartholomew