Meeting tomorrow on downtown Menlo Park lots

BY AMELIA BISCARDI
Daily Post Staff Writer 

Menlo Park officials tomorrow will explain to the council and residents how the three downtown parking lots were selected to be converted into hundreds of subsidized apartments. 

The proposal has been met with resistance from downtown merchants, property owners and residents, with over 100 people speaking on both sides at a Jan. 14 meeting where the council voted to proceed with the idea of developing the lots, but not agreeing to any specific project. 

During the meeting, multiple residents asked why the city wasn’t considering building housing at the Burgess Park Civic Center complex at 701 Laurel Street. 

“We should definitely retain the city council’s commitment to not building on any green space in any of our parks,” Resident Brian Kissel wrote to council on Dec. 22. “We should consider building on the parking lots at the city center without impacting the green spaces.” 

Burgess Park was ruled out for housing during the council’s search for locations for a state-required housing plan because the buildings at the Civic Center are being used, wrote Principal Planner Tom Smith. 

The housing plan, called the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, mandated the city to plan for 2,946 new homes to be built by 2031. 

The city owns 49 parcels, with most being categorized by Smith in a report to the council as “in use.” This includes 19 parks, 10 parking lots, three parcels already used for housing, and five properties used for things such as a fire station, water pump station and a child care center. 

The only non-park properties the city owns that housing could be built on, are the parking lots, Smith concluded. 

One of the properties listed in Smith’s report is the office building at 1000 El Camino Real, at the corner of Ravenswood Avenue. County Supervisor Ray Mueller wrote in an email to council recommending it sell the 1000 El Camino property and use the proceeds to buy another property for affordable housing. 

City officials had previously ruled out developing 1000 El Camino for housing because its lease with its office tenants runs past 2031. 

Mueller, a former Menlo Park mayor, had previously recommended selling the vacant lot at 1283 Willow Road when the city was facing budget cuts in 2020. 

That property is the only one on Smith’s list as having no apparent constraints for housing. 

Other parcels in Smith’s list were determined unsuitable for affordable housing because they were too close to the creek or considered too small to build on. 

For a site to be used for affordable housing, a comprehensive study has to be completed, which takes a year to complete, Smith said. 

State guidelines require affordable housing to be in a “high resource area” near jobs and transit, Smith said. The sites cannot be too small and must be within residential zoning.

The downtown parking lot sites were determined to have met all the state requirements, Smith said.

Downtown business owners have been especially against the development, with 112 of them signing a statement saying they believe it will impede on their business and asking the council to find another site for affordable housing. Their petition has gathered 3,373 signatures. 

Others are ready to back the development.

“While I do understand there will be a period of disruption, these locations fit best… to add housing in greater-resourced areas that are close to public transportation.” Resident Edie Goldberg said in an email to the council today. 

Smith has previously said he expects developers’ proposals to be reviewed by the council sometime in the spring.