BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
The city of Palo Alto is teaming up with Menlo Park to fight a Russian billionaire’s proposal for towers reaching 39 stories in height at the former Sunset Magazine headquarters.
Palo Alto City Council voted unanimously tonight (Oct. 19) to authorize City Attorney Chris Jensen to file a brief with the court to support Menlo Park in a lawsuit.
Menlo Park City Council was sued by developer Oisin Heneghan of N17 Development after rejecting his application for an expedited review on Sept. 29. Heneghan demanded in August that the city approve his project by the end of October, which is what the city denied.
Read the lawsuit here.
Heneghan’s proposal calls for three towers at 80 Willow Road in Menlo Park, including the tallest building between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The development would have 665 apartments, a hotel, office space and a preschool.
The property is owned by Russian billionaire Vitaly Yusufov, who is the son of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s energy minister.
Heneghan claims he has the right to build the development under state law, and he’s supported by a letter to Menlo Park from Californian Attorney General Rob Bonta.
The development is up against the San Francisquito Creek, which is the border between Menlo Park and Palo Alto.
Palo Alto Councilman Pat Burt said he has three major concerns about the project: slowing down firefighters and ambulances, harming the creek, and adding traffic on Middlefield Road and University Avenue, which already get backed up during commute times.
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.
This article has been updated to include the fact that the city denied a request for an expedited review of the project.
Good. Palo Alto seemed overdue in its reaction to this towering sunset sunblock project. Area access is limited currently; the added traffic with such limited access will look for as many options as available. San Francisquito Creek has only Middlefield Rd. and Pope St. access to Menlo Park from Palo Alto. Also, the most-adjacent part of Palo Alto is older, more affluent, quiet neighborhoods…not ho-hum. This intended tower complex is a horrific imposition on a unprecedented scale, with unprecedented repercussions.
PALO ALTO — “Some people see problems. I see solutions with optimal revenue extraction opportunities,” said the city’s Chief Transportation Official, unveiling a $475,000 consultant study of “demand management” for Middlefield Road.
The plan, formally the Middlefield Dynamic Access Optimization Initiative, would install a “vehicle throughput facilitation portal” spanning all lanes. Renderings show a booth. “It is absolutely not a toll gate,” he said. “A toll gate charges drivers to pass. This is a priced mobility interface that invites a contribution calibrated to real-time demand.”
One resident asked whether the city had considered simply not building a toll gate on a residential street. The mayor said the visioning phase comment period had closed in August.
Menlo Park officials salivating on charging for downtown parking lots are watching closely. “The portal is just parking with velocity,” one said.
The study concludes in 2028, after which the council will study the study.
Menlo park bringing in the expert in delaying projects, pat burt!!!!!!
I’m not holding my breath here.