Palo Alto council says no to 3-story addition on old downtown University Art building

The Palo Alto City Council on Monday night shot down a prominent developer's plan to expand the oversized University Art building, voting 8-1 to postpone consideration of his project to a later date if he returns with a revised proposal.

Vice Mayor Liz Kniss said although developer Roxy Rapp is known for doing "great buildings," his latest effort "doesn't seem to be a cooked project yet."

Rapp wants to remodel his historic four-story commercial building at 261 Hamilton Ave. and construct a three-story addition with 5,910 square feet of office space at the back. In exchange, he proposed to convert 6,305 square feet of basement space to an underground parking garage that would accommodate nine vehicles and up to 15 bicycles. The basement once was used by former tenant University Art for storage and space for such work as framing, according to city staff.

About a dozen residents spoke out against the plan, some saying the extra office space would bring in many more than nine employees. Others argued that staff misinterpreted a city ordinance to benefit Rapp's proposal.

The ordinance grandfathered in oversized structures built before zoning changes in the 1970s and 1980s that reduced the size of downtown buildings, but restricted any future remodeling to alterations that wouldn't increase the buildings' overall size.

Planning and Community Director Hillary Gitelman told the council that staff decided to allow an increase in the "buildable area" because the basement space was being eliminated.

A majority of council members disagreed with that logic, however.

"Is it correct that under staff's interpretation it's really about the floor area? That you can move basement floor area aboveground (and) it has not changed the envelope?" Councilman Patrick Burt asked. When Gitelman said yes, Burt replied that wasn't a "common sense definition."

Councilman Greg Scharff said staff seemed to be "twisting" the definition, and the result would be more office space without enough parking spots.

"This feels like one of those parking loopholes," he said. "That's a concern for the community and it's a concern for the council."

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Palo Alto council says no to 3-story addition on old downtown University Art building