Special to the Town Crier
David Packard's beloved apricot orchards will continue to bloom each spring in Los Altos Hills if the Packard Trust and Packard Foundation can work out the necessary details and win support of the town's residents.
"It's still in the planning stage," said Frank Roberts, who serves as counsel to the Packard Trust.
The trust owns all of Hewlett-Packard Company co-founder David Packard's land and assets and was managed by Packard during his lifetime, Roberts said. At his death in 1996, Packard's children became the trustees. With the exception of the Los Altos Hills property, nearly all assets of the trust have been transferred to the Los Altos-based David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Packard's children, the foundation and the trust would like to see Packard's home and orchards preserved as a memorial to him, Roberts said. However, as a private foundation, the Packard Foundation is regulated in its ability to hold property. It must be used either for investment purposes, he said, or for furthering the mission of the foundation.
"We would like to preserve the home essentially as it is," Roberts said. "It would be used just as it has over the last 5 years - for meetings of the foundation staff and its grantees. This takes an amendment to the Los Altos Hills zoning ordinance" since the house is no longer a private residence.
"We've also talked with city officials about putting in a public pathway" through the orchard between Taaffe and Elana roads, he said.
Los Altos Hills Planning Director Curtis Williams said there have been preliminary discussions with the Packard Trust about a conditional use permit for the 60-acre property. The permit would cover parking capacity on the site, he said.
"There probably would be little noticeable activity from off-site," Williams said.
Roberts said there was "no possibility" of relocating the Packard Foundation headquarters to the site, something once contemplated by David Packard. "No one anticipated the growth of the foundation," which now has more than 100 employees, he said.
It could be several months before details are worked out, including satisfying federal requirements for foundation use of the property, Roberts said.
"We expect there will be notice to neighbors and a public hearing process," Williams said.
"We are going forward as rapidly as possible in order to close the trust," Roberts said. "We very much want to do something that is acceptable to the town and are working closely with city officials."