Palo Alto City Council Changes Zoning Language to Make Software Companies Legal in the City

Strange as it may sound, the city in the heart of U.S. software country had an ordinance that made such companies were illegal, even though such companies are common in the city.

May 9, 2017, 8am PDT | Casey Brazeal | @northandclark

HP's corporate campus is located in Palo Alto.

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"The council supported including language specifying that software firms are a legal land use in downtown Palo Alto in the city's guiding Comprehensive Plan," Gennady Sheyner, reported on an action by Palo Alto's city council for Palo Alto Weekly.

Three of the city’s nine council members wanted to go further and specify that running such a company out of a single family home would also be permissible, but that was beyond what Mayor Greg Scharff or the rest of the council was willing to support. Councilman Greg Tanaka pointed out that the practice of starting a company in a single-family home is very common in the city.

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In shifting land-use vision, city embraces its tech roots

Published on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 in Palo Alto Weekly