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PTC appoints representatives for Urban Land Institute review of Palo Alto Transit Center
Summary
At its Sept. 10 meeting the Planning and Transportation Commission selected representatives to participate in an Urban Land Institute weeklong study of the Palo Alto Transit Center and heard staff describe the ULI schedule and stakeholder process.
The Planning and Transportation Commission on Sept. 10 appointed two commissioners to represent the commission in an Urban Land Institute (ULI) weeklong study of the Palo Alto Transit Center, and staff outlined the ULI process, schedule and planned stakeholder interviews.
Deputy City Manager Chantelle Cotton Gaines, who introduced the effort, told the commission the ULI team will be in Palo Alto Oct. 19–24 and will hold stakeholder interviews and focus groups on Oct. 21, followed by a public presentation of findings on Oct. 24. "They will be here for an entire week with us in Palo Alto," Chantelle Cotton Gaines said in the presentation to the commission.
The nut of the work is to bring outside development and design professionals together with local stakeholders so the city and its partners — the Valley Transportation Authority and Stanford — can test how to reactivate and plan for the transit center site in both the near and long term. Gaines said the ULI visit will include a tour, one-on-one stakeholder interviews, group workshops with up to about 100 participants and a Friday presentation to the city. She asked the commission to choose one or two representatives to participate in the focus-group sessions.
Chair Aiken asked for volunteers. Commissioners Forrest Peterson and Commissioner Gee volunteered and were appointed by Chair Aiken to serve as the commission’s representatives; both accepted. The commission heard brief comments from members who said they volunteered based on their transportation experience and connections to institutions involved in downtown and campus planning.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions about the scope of the ULI work (whether the study would include adjacent parcels as well as the immediate transit-center footprint) and about how the commission’s input would be reflected in the stakeholder sessions. Gaines said the map provided to the ULI panel focuses on the station strip and adjacent bus areas, and that the commission’s representative could speak personally or convey a formal commission view if the commission provides guidance in advance.
No public comments were submitted on the item. The city staff noted it will provide more detailed schedules and times to the appointed commissioners as the October dates approach.
The commission’s appointment was procedural and does not itself bind the commission to specific policy actions; staff will return with ULI findings after the October workshop. The ULI presentation is scheduled to be made in the council chambers at the end of the visit on Oct. 24, when the commission and the public will be able to review ULI recommendations.
