The Latest Plan to Fix the Silicon Valley Housing Crisis Is to Build on Top of Trash. Housing in the Santa Clara region of California is insanely expensive. Tech companies have taken to building modern day versions of mill towns just so their employees have a place to live. The latest solution to pick up traction in the area is to build on top of disused landfills and regulators are warming to the idea. The housing situation has gotten so ridiculous in Palo Alto, the original home of Facebook andRead more Read. Back in August of last year, Bloomberg reported that the median price of a home in the Palo Alto area had risen to 2. Thats thirteen times the national average. Showtime Full Palo Alto Online Free' title='Showtime Full Palo Alto Online Free' />Tech workers making six figures complain that they have to get roommates to afford to live. And residents have waged war against the homeless. Now, a developer named Related Companies is bidding to build a 6. It will be called City Place, exactly the kind of name youd expect from an organization called Related Companies. The site is no longer used for dumping. A golf course and a BMW track were built on top years ago. But thats not the same as proposing that 1,6. Toxic vapors, dangerous gasses, and ground water contamination are all issues that have to be accounted for. The regulators were pretty skeptical at the start, I have to say, Stephen Eimer, an executive vice president with Related tells Mercury News. After much back and forth, Bay Area regulators have finally accepted Relateds technical document that outlines how the site would be made safe. A foot thick concrete barrier would be laid over 3. Watch Step Up Dailymotion. Showtime Full Palo Alto Online Free' title='Showtime Full Palo Alto Online Free' />Housing would be built over shops and restaurants to create more distance between the residents and the waste. Sensors and alarm systems would monitor gasses and a separate system would collect and dispose of it. The Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health, California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board have all accepted Relateds proposal but that doesnt mean that its a done deal. The green light to build never really happens until you get the last permit, Ruth Shikada, Santa Claras assistant city manager tells Mercury News. While other landfills in the area have been used for retail, nothing on the scale of what Relateds asking for has been approved before. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg publicly claims he is not preparing to run for president, despite the fact he has spent an awful lot of time traveling around the country. Optical communications online journal with significant optical MEMS technology focus. Although huge in terms of offerings, San Francisco is physically quite compact. It is located on a sevenbyseven mile 11 x 11km square of land at the tip of a. Keith Roberson, senior engineering geologist with the water quality control board, called Relateds proposal a solid plan, and he worries about setting a precedent. He emphasized that all proposals will have to be evaluated on a case by case basis. More research and monitoring will be necessary before any approvals will be made. The City of San Jose is also suing the City of Santa Clara over the project. San Jose claims that the imbalance of 2. That argument certainly makes it sound like fixing one problem would just be creating another. If all goes to plan you could be living on top of a City Park Starbuckswith totally safe drinking water that definitely isnt going to explodewithin 5 7 years. Mercury News. Archives Philly.