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Mysterious letter challenges ECR project

by Sean Howell

In what one City Council member sardonically characterized as a terrorist/hostage situation, Menlo Park received a mysterious letter two hours before the start of last week's council meeting, challenging the legality of a development project the council was slated to consider.

Authored by a law firm representing a group calling itself "Concerned Citizens of Menlo Park," the letter addressed issues related to ozone damage, greenhouse gas emissions, traffic, and land use. It ran 29 pages, with 57 exhibits totaling "hundreds" of pages, according to Justin Murphy, the city's development services manager.

Despite the letter, the council approved the proposal for a 110,000-square-foot commercial development project at 1300 El Camino Real, the site of the defunct Cadillac dealership.

"I'm very disturbed by a letter arriving at five o'clock that has this number of pages, this number of exhibits, that clearly has been extensively researched and worked through, and that is completely outside the deadlines available," said Mayor Heyward Robinson, noting that the council calendar is tight. "We've got other big projects looming. Is this what we're gonna get?"

To council members, the letter represented an attempt to circumvent the city's process. They said they had faith in the consulting firm that wrote the environmental impact report, noting that the city received the letter long after the official period to comment on that report had closed (on May 7).

By state law, challenges to the report must come within the comment period if they are to be considered in the environmental review process.

John Curran, an attorney with the firm that sent the letter (San Francisco-based Lippe Gaffney Wagner LLP), defended his client at the meeting.

"We came in late, but that's fairly typical when you have unincorporated groups like this," he said. He said his client wanted to see a project with dense housing — not the retail and office space that had been proposed.

Mr. Curran did not disclose his client's name, and did not return a call from The Almanac by our press deadline.

Richard Draeger said Draeger's market was not involved in sending the letter. Though he agreed with the sentiment it expressed, he knew nothing about it until the council meeting, he said.

The Draeger family has warned the city that it might be forced to close its market if a grocery store occupies the retail space at the site.