Planning commission approves St. Simon School preschool and plaza improvements at 1860 Grant Road

The Los Altos City Planning Commission unanimously approved a design review (DR25-00006) and a modification to an existing conditional use permit (CUP25-00002) for St. Simon School at 1860 Grant Road, allowing the construction of a new preschool classroom and plaza improvements.

Senior planner Britney Whiteill told commissioners the project would add an approximately 1,700-square-foot classroom near the site's southern corner, renovate an adjacent play yard, and reconfigure on-site parking to create 12 dedicated preschool spaces. Whiteill said the campus currently contains 220 parking stalls and the project would remove three, leaving 217 stalls; a 1995 CUP parking study required 212 spaces and an updated peer review by a licensed traffic engineer (dated Jan. 16, 2026) confirmed the proposed supply is adequate. She said staff recommends keeping the campuswide 580-student enrollment cap while removing the separate cap on preschool-age students to give the school flexibility.

Michael Benninghousen, chair of the facilities committee at St. Simon Parish, said the preschool expansion responds to high local demand and a long waiting list and that the campus expects roughly 530 students next year, about 60 of whom would be preschoolers if the project proceeds as planned. The applicant's architect described design details including cohesive stucco-and-stone materials, a shaded plaza with seating and decorative paving, a fenced gated preschool entrance and window film to maintain sightlines and security.

Commissioners spent substantial time questioning the applicant and staff about trees. Whiteill reported the site contains 29 trees, 26 of them protected, and that the project originally listed nine removals due to a plan/arborist inconsistency. Staff confirmed that eight protected trees are proposed for removal for the new building and associated stormwater and parking improvements, and said tree number eight (a protected carob tree originally flagged for removal) will be preserved; to mitigate removals the project will plant 20 new 24-inch box trees and additional shrubs and ground cover. Commissioners asked for clearer maps of which trees would be removed and expressed concern about losing established canopy.

During deliberations a commissioner moved to approve the design review and CUP modification with the staff-recommended findings and conditions and with suggested edits to conditions 24, 25, 26 and 28 to reflect preservation of tree number eight; the motion also included a finding that the project is categorically exempt from environmental review under CEQA Guidelines section 15314. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously in a roll call vote (Commissioners Steinley, Mensinger, Ross, Benonado, Vice Chair Roach and Chair AI all voted yes).

The approval includes the parking and operational conditions reflected in the staff report to reduce off-site queuing on Grant Road, the condition preserving tree number eight as proposed, and the mitigation planting of 20 24-inch box trees. The commission’s discussion also asked staff and the applicant to continue coordination on final landscaping and replacement tree sizes as the project advances through permits.

The commission moved on to other business after the unanimous vote.