California Avenue Repaving This Friday

As construction on University Terrace nears its completion, Stanford is required by the City of Palo Alto to repave California Avenue along the entire frontage of the project (see map below). That work will take place starting at 7am this Friday, December 14, and will make California Avenue beyond Dartmouth Street inaccessible to vehicles until around 5pm.

Residents living on California Avenue in the affected area are encouraged to park their cars Thursday night on one of the adjacent streets so that they can be used while the paving is underway. If you’re in the affected area, please read the complete Construction Advisory for further details.


Key Community Input Meetings Next Week

Two projects with potentially huge impacts on our city and neighborhood are having community input meetings in the coming week. These are excellent opportunities to share your ideas and voice your concerns.

Rail Crossing Grade Separation
Wednesday, November 28 at 6pm (Mitchell Park, El Palo Alto Room)
The city is hosting a community meeting to discuss ideas for separating the street from the railroad at Palo Alto’s four existing railroad crossings. This particular meeting will focus on the Charleston Road and Meadow Drive crossings; another meeting on January 23 will cover the Churchill Avenue and Palo Alto Avenue crossings.

For more information on the Palo Alto rail corridor, visit cityofpaloalto.org/ConnectingPaloAlto.

Stanford GUP Community Benefits
Thursday, November 29 at 6:30pm (City Hall)
Santa Clara County Supervisors Simitian and Chavez will host a Community Listening Meeting to hear from the public about community benefits the county should consider in a negotiated Development Agreement regarding Stanford’s application for a General Use Permit for its proposed 2.3 million square foot academic expansion.

For more information on the Stanford GUP Development Agreement, visit www.countystanfordda.org.

And one more thing… on the City Council’s agenda for Monday, November 26, is a series of revisions to the zoning code intended to make it easier for residential developers to get their projects approved. These revisions, which range from new density bonuses to reduced parking requirements for residential projects, are likely to generate a spirited debate. Read the proposal (or at least the Weekly’s summary) and then decide if you want to add one more meeting to your civic/social calendar.

Local News Roundup: September 10, 2018

Here are some recent news stories of interest to College Terrace and the surrounding area.

California Ave Public Safety Building and Garage Meetings
A community meeting will be held Wednesday, September 12, to discuss the project and upcoming street and parking changes to the area during the construction. The Public Safety Building will also be presented to the City Council and Architectural Review Board in the coming weeks.

Study: Stanford Can Triple Its Density (September 5)
How big can Stanford truly become? According to a study commissioned by Santa Clara County planners, Stanford can roughly triple its density and expand to 44 million square feet without infringing on the foothills.

Caltrain Launches Construction in Palo Alto (August 29)
After a year of work in other parts of the line, work on the electrification of Caltrain has finally started in Palo Alto. Local impacts include work performed at night (between 7pm and 7am), some weekend service disruptions, and the removal and pruning of trees.

College Terrace Parking Permit Program, Year 9: $10 Increase

The ninth year of the College Terrace Residential Parking Program (RPPP) begins on September 1, the day after existing parking permits expire.  A letter from the city regarding the program began to arrive in College Terrace mailboxes today.

Note: We have received reports from residents that materials in some of the letters are incomplete

The letter should include 3 items: a cover letter (“Dear College Terrace Resident”), a Permit Renewal form, and a First Time Permit Purchase Form. If you are missing an item, email or call Jonathan DeSilva (Jonathan.DeSilva@cityofpaloalto.org / 650-329-2544).

If you do not have time to renew before the end of the month and you have a current parking permit on your vehicle, don’t panic, your sticker will keep your vehicle from being cited during a grace period running through September 30, according to the program’s rules.

As per the new municipal fee schedule, part of the overall fiscal year budget approved by the city council in June, the fee for each annual residential parking permit in College Terrace rises to $50 from the current $40 per vehicle. The cost of yearly guest permits will also go up by $10 to the new fee of $50. Daily guest permits will remain at the current price of $5.

The current $40 fee for annual permits has been in effect since 2011. Fifty dollars is also the new standardized price for residential parking permits in other neighborhoods, which much more recently became part of parking permit programs. Those include Downtown, Evergreen Park, Mayfield, and Southgate. Note that all these newer Palo Alto parking programs do not run under the same regulations as ours.

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