The possibility of a decrease in height doesn't sit well with developer Owen Byrd, who has proposed a $60 million retail-commercial project on a 2.5-acre site along the Donahue Corridor, one of East Palo Alto's biggest intersections. Byrd's University Palms project has been in the planning stage for two years. Byrd argues that changing the height and design scale that has been set is unfair, as he has already spent $100,000 designing his project based on that scale.
Councilmembers did not resolve the issue at the meeting last week. They will discuss it again in a few weeks and possibly scale back the 80-foot limit that they set last year.
A similar issue came up months ago with the IKEA proposal, which the city vetoed because of its size, even though it was 75-feet tall (less than the 80-foot limit). The issue still has not been settled for IKEA and will go before voters on March 5.
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