BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Palo Alto City Council is wading into a lawsuit between the city of Menlo Park and a developer representing a Russian billionaire who wants to build towers rising 39 stories.
The development is proposed at the former Sunset Magazine headquarters at Middlefield and Willow roads, next to the San Francisquito Creek, which is the border between Menlo Park and Palo Alto.
Menlo Park City Council voted on Sept. 29 to reject the application from developer Oisin Heneghan of N17 Development. The property is owned by Russian billionaire Vitaly Yusufov, who is the son of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s energy minister.
Heneghan sued the city of Menlo Park on Oct. 2, claiming he has the right to build the development under state law.
Palo Alto City Council will discuss Heneghan’s lawsuit in a closed session on Oct. 19.
Councilman Pat Burt said that he can’t speak to the closed session discussion, which is allowed to be private because it’s about a pending lawsuit.
“But I can say that Palo Alto has a strong interest in the impacts the project would have on our city,” Burt said.
Palo Alto’s objections
He listed three major concerns about the project: slowing down firefighters and ambulances, harming the environmentally important San Francisquito Creek, and adding traffic on Middlefield Road and University Avenue, which already get backed up during commute times.
Heneghan’s proposal calls for three towers, the tallest at 39 stories. That would be the tallest building between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The development would contain 665 apartments, a hotel, office space and a preschool.
Congressman Sam Liccardo asked the U.S. Department of Treasury on Sept. 24 to look into the funding sources behind the development.
“Public sources raise serious questions about Vitaly Yusufov’s ties to the Russian government and individuals linked to organized crime, warranting immediate review,” Liccardo said in a letter.
Yusufov is under sanction in Ukraine, while his father, faces sanctions in Ukraine and in Canada.
Liccardo argues in his letter that because the property is in Silicon Valley, with many major tech companies in the vicinity, Yusufov should be looked into due to national security concerns.
I’d like to know why any local politicians are looking the way on this one.
San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller provided this quote for a recent mailer, “Drew has been a regional leader opposing the 80 Willow Road tower. His voice is respected and trusted by state and local leaders engaged in this fight.” That’s a strong statement, but apparently Combs is too embarrassed to publish this on his website. It could also be that Mueller asked it not be published anywhere else. Mueller was also on council along with Combs when the failed housing element was drafted, so it can be expected that he wants to limit his exposure here to Menlo Park District 2 recycle bins.
Palo Alto needs to start NOW, not wait until later, to investigate remedies that would mitigate safety and health issues that would come from the vastly increased cut-through traffic if Willow Park is built at even one-tenth of its proposed size. One potential remedy is to close Middlefield, Chaucer, and possibly Woodlawn to vehicular traffic across the creek (allowing pedestrian and bike traffic since the developers of Willow Creek have asserted the vast majority of their residents and office and hotel guests will bike or walk the mile to CalTrain). While this would create an imposition to Palo Alto residents and workers it would be necessary for safety – insuring that University Avenue and other east-west streets don’t become immovable, providing an eastern outlet to downtown. One can reasonably assume that Willow Road will become absolutely immovable (it already is bumper-to-bumper for 3-5 hours each work day) and University and all east-west streets would likewise become immovable once Willow Park is built. We need a safe way to leave downtown Palo Alto in case of emergencies and for safety vehicles to access downtown.
Great – locals fighting building buildings. All the landlords want to rent out their old moldy places for the same price as a luxury mansion.
The key word here is “MAY” and one wonders why Palo Alto has waited so long to address a looming crisis so close to our border with Menlo Park.
And WHY will this be considered behind closed doors. Are our “leaders” afraid to alienate their deep-pocketed developer donors and the Santa Clara Democratic Party that only endorses the “build, baby, build” candidates regardless of their experience or lack thereof?
Tick tock. Tick tock.
(I remember attending a talk on this at the PA Art Center YEARS ago where our “leaders” were happy to grandstand — and do nothing.)