Palo Alto is considering banning inoperable vehicles from parking on public streets as part of a multi-pronged response to a recent wave of complaints from various neighborhoods about the growing number of RVs in residential areas. If Palo Alto takes action to limit RV parking, it would join Mountain View, which bans RVs from parking on the vast...
Palo Alto downtown aims to raise heights, spur residential growth
As Palo Alto leaders forge a new strategy for increasing housing in the downtown neighborhood, one edge of the 90-acre planning area is emerging as a promising site for a future residential boom. Downtown has seen virtually no residential growth over the past decade, even as other areas have experienced an influx of proposals. The...
Palo Alto approves 368-apartment complex on El Camino Real
One of Palo Alto’s largest and most ambitious housing projects, a 368-apartment complex proposed for the former site of The Fish Market on El Camino Real, has received the green light from the city, clearing the way for construction to begin. The proposal from Acclaim Companies for 3150 El Camino Real exemplifies more than any...
Stanford children’s hospital in Palo Alto opens new treatment spaces
Stanford Medicine has opened a new outpatient clinic and infusion center at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, adding six new exam rooms and 15 private infusion bays for patients and families. The Bass Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases outpatient clinic and Infusion Center’s new space allows privacy for all patients during treatment, according...
Palo Alto hopes to protect El Camino retail amid housing boom
When city leaders from all over the Peninsula pitched a plan more than a decade ago to transform El Camino Real into a “grand boulevard,” they ran into a gauntlet of skepticism in Palo Alto. The Grand Boulevard Initiative, a collaboration of 19 cities in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, was largely panned by...
Rule change to steer golfers away from Palo Alto wetlands
After fielding complaints about golfers damaging sensitive wetland habitat in the Palo Alto Baylands, the city has installed fences, added signage and instituted a new “local rule” in an effort to keep the area pristine. The issue of golfers trampling on Baylands plants surfaced in 2023, when a complaint from a local environmentalist prompted intervention from...
Palo Alto adopts $1B budget, revamps ambulance service
Facing a turbulent financial outlook, Palo Alto adopted on Monday a $1-billion budget that revamps the Fire Department’s ambulance service, expands funding for nonprofit groups and delays decisions on budget cuts until later this year. The spending plan that the City Council adopted by a 6-0 vote, with Councilmember Greer Stone absent, includes one major...
Palo Alto explores use of drones in police work
The Palo Alto Police Department is exploring the possibility of acquiring drones for a variety of uses in police work and for other city departments. Police Chief Andrew Binder said during a May 6 meeting of the City Council Finance Committee meeting that Palo Alto is one of the only police agencies in Santa Clara...
State orders Palo Alto to revise laws on backyard dwellings
In a city where building homes is famously costly and often onerous, accessory dwelling units offer Palo Alto’s housing advocates a small bit of promise. Bolstered by recent state laws, the backyard structures are quietly but consistently doing their part in helping the city meet its housing goals. Palo Alto had issued 125 permits for...
Palo Alto may lead efforts to restrict ‘builder’s remedy’
Palo Alto is preparing to lead the charge in support of a new legislative effort to limit builder’s remedy applications, which allow housing developers to bypass zoning regulations in cities that don’t have compliant housing plans. The city is working with Sen. Josh Becker to modify the Housing Accountability Act in a way that would...