A vibrant destination? Palo Alto dreams big on Cubberley

After decades filled with false starts and shattered expectations, Palo Alto’s elected leaders on Tuesday took their first step in what promises to be a long journey to repair, rebuild and enhance Cubberley Community Center.

By the standards of local planning efforts, which typically feature years of debate and numerous iterations, the current Cubberley effort is a sprint. The City Council hopes to have a draft in place by the end of the year, with the goal of officially adopting it in spring 2026 and then asking voters to pass a bond in November of that year.

For many residents, the exercise will have a familiar feel. The city has already made numerous attempts to reimagine Cubberley, a former high school that has fallen in disrepair but that remains a community hive, with soccer leagues, artist studios, nonprofit organizations, childcare organizations and performing arts groups all basing operations on the sprawling campus. City leaders have been talking about fixing up Cubberley for decades and have already completed several planning efforts, including one as recently as 2019.

This time, however, city leaders have some reasons to feel optimistic. Past efforts required close cooperation between the city and the Palo Alto Unified School District, which owns 27 of the 35 acres at Cubberley. The 2019 effort envisioned the city and the school district jointly rebuilding the entire center and then sharing Cubberley gyms, performances spaces and other amenities. The plan imploded when school district officials made it clear that they have neither the ambition nor the legal ability to fund many of the proposed improvements, some of which don’t directly relate to education.

That equation changed last October, when the city and the district reached a deal allowing the former to purchase 8 acres of land from the latter for $65.5 million. If the bond passes, the city would have 15 acres of Cubberley space with which they could do as they please.

In discussing their vision for Cubberley on Tuesday, council members made it clear that even if the footprint of the redeveloped center has shrunk, their ambitions have not. During a special meeting at the Mitchell Park Community Center devoted to the new plan, council members and a team of consultants from Concordia brainstormed the qualities, amenities and features that they want to see in the new Cubberley Community Center.

They concluded the meeting by adopting a vision statement describing the future Cubberley as “a vibrant and beloved destination with activities, amenities and offerings that promote learning, joy and well-being where all cultures and generations belong.”

What exactly does this mean? That is expected to become clearer in the months to come, as community members weigh in on this vision and make their own proposals for Cubberley uses. But unlike in 2019, the plan will not consider housing or require the school district’s cooperation. It also will not require a learning curve, given that Concordia also spearheaded the 2019 plan.

“We’re not starting from scratch,” said Elizabeth Chen, a consultant with Concordia, at the Tuesday meeting.

The planning effort will accelerate in the coming month, with the council scheduled to approve on Feb. 24 a pair of contracts with a polling firm and with a communication consultant. The city plans to commission Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates, which worked with the city on the successful 2022 business tax measure, for polling services and the Lew Edwards Group, which helped out with the 2008 library bond and the business tax measure, for communication consulting.

The two contracts will cost $264,000, according to a report from Community Services Director Kristen O’Kane.

Concordia is already in the midst of recruiting a squad of about 20 ambassadors to assist with public outreach, a tactic that it also deployed in 2018. It plans to hold three community meetings before presenting a plan based on the feedback. Under the terms of the city’s deal with the school district, the purchase of the 8 acres is contingent on a successful bond measure in 2026.

“It is a tight timeline,” said Council member Julie Lythcott-Haims, who chairs a subcommittee that will help guide the Cubberley master plan. “There is a ton to do and it’s going to take all of us to carry this ball over the line.”

Council members broadly agreed that the future Cubberley should be playful, vibrant and have a low barrier to entry. It should continue to welcome nonprofit groups and artists, and it should be open to Palo Altans of all generations. It is expected to have a gym and a performing art center.

“I think we want to make sure organizationally that it is set up to invite people to come and pursue various things as opposed to a rigidity, a formality and a limitedness,” Lythcott-Haims said. “We want it to be a lot of things to a lot of different people.”

Vice Mayor Vicki Veenker suggested that Cubberley should include a mix of activities that could work in synergy.

“If you drop off your child at a  practice, you might go in for a swim,” Veenker said. “If you go in for a painting class, there might be childcare. There are things that go together.”

Council members also acknowledged that they may not be able to have everything they want. Veenker suggested that Concordia return with a range of options – good, better and best while Council member Keith Reckdahl said the plan should be “ambitious but realistic.”

Council member Pat Burt, who will sit on the Cubberley Committee with Reckdahl and Lythcott-Haims, suggested that the scope of the project will be based on voters’ appetite.

“I’ve seen a lot of world class projects, mostly left on the drawing board,” Burt said. “And I don’t want to see this left on the drawing board again.”

This story originally appeared in Palo Alto Weekly. Gennady Sheyner covers local and regional politics, housing, transportation and other topics for the Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Online and their sister publications.