Menlo Park council to vote on converting downtown parking into affordable housing

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At its meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 19, the Menlo Park City Council will decide whether to allow three city-owned parking plazas just off Santa Cruz Avenue in the city’s downtown to be converted into affordable housing developments. The council will also provide feedback on a request for qualification to find an affordable housing developer to develop the sites. 

A feasibility study prepared by city staff in August 2024 highlighted these three lots, which are located between Santa Cruz and Oak Grove avenues, as being the most suitable locations for low-income housing development out of the eight city-owned lots downtown. Building affordable housing on city-owned lots is one of the strategies that Menlo Park is using to meet its state-mandated housing allotment. 

The city council will be voting on something called an “Surplus Land Act exemption” in order to begin the process of designing and building housing on the three lots. The city can find the land to be “exempt” from certain state requirements for surplus public land if the land is to be used for affordable housing with specific affordability requirements. 

If the council declares the properties to be exempt surplus, it will need approval from the California Department of Housing and Community Development before the city can sell or lease the land for affordable housing.

The council will also be giving staff feedback on a request for qualifications, a document that lays out the minimum requirements for project proposals from potential developers. According to a staff report prepared for the meeting, the request for qualifications will allow developers to express interest in using any or all of the three parking plazas to meet the following criteria:

• Create at least 345 units affordable to very low-income households;
• Replace at least 506 of the current 556 public parking spaces that exist across the three lots;
• Comply with development standards laid out in the city’s downtown specific plan.

Using various state and city density bonuses, the selected developer could construct up to approximately 483 units of housing on the three sites, targeted at the lowest income brackets. The city’s housing element plans require that at least 345 units of housing must be built over the three lots. 

Building housing on city-owned parking plazas is one of the strategies for meeting state housing goals that was laid out in the city’s 2023-31 housing element. This plan is a roadmap for how the city will meet state housing quotas. Menlo Park is required to build 2,946 units of housing, 740 of which have to be affordable to very low-income residents, by 2031. 

The housing element also states that the city will prioritize “difficult-to-achieve housing priorities” for the development of downtown parking lots, such as very low-income housing and preferential units for people with special needs such as developmental disabilities, as the city has complete control over these properties. 

At its Aug. 27 meeting on the issue, council members were supportive of prioritizing very low- and extremely low-income housing for these lots. 

“I am supportive of going as low as we can,” said Vice Mayor Drew Combs at the meeting. “I know on the other end of that, the developers have to get financing. … But what you hear time and time again from developers, specifically affordable housing developers in this area, is that land acquisition … is a barrier to entry. But in this case you are getting the land for free.”

Council member Maria Doerr agreed. “Given that (some) city staff … they make $44,000 to $60,000, or our child care workers make even less,” she said. “Making sure that even our city staff can afford to live here is a big priority for me.” 

Some residents have expressed excitement about the possibility of additional affordable housing in the heart of the city, while others are reticent. 

Parking concerns

On Nov. 14, city staff held a public information meeting on the project for the downtown business community. Approximately 40 downtown business owners, property owners and interested residents attended the meeting. 

Some downtown business owners expressed concern over the loss of parking for the downtown business district. However, at its Aug. 27 meeting, the council and city staff tried to reassure residents that parking for businesses will be considered in the city’s plans. 

“Any redevelopment should balance the city’s housing goals in the housing element with current downtown parking needs,” said Tom Smith, Menlo Park’s principal planner. “So the study recommends including some level of replacement parking as part of any new development to make up for lost public parking spaces on the plazas.”

Though the City Council indicated it will require any development built to provide replacement parking, the business owners at the meeting said they worried that parking structures provided within or underneath the developments could be considered inconvenient, resulting in a loss of business. 

Business owners also stressed that replacement parking should be considered separately and in addition to parking created for residents of the developments. Additionally, business owners said that they would like to see downtown parking needs calculated based on pre-pandemic levels of growth. 

In September 2024, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission conducted preliminary parking utilization counts of the downtown parking plazas to understand current demands. The data suggests that the developments would need to provide 506 replacement public parking spaces to serve existing peak parking demand. There are currently 556 parking spaces across the three lots slated for development. 

These results are considered preliminary, and the parking study will continue into early 2025, according to a staff report prepared for the meeting. 

During the Aug. 27 meeting, the City Council stressed that it was considering the parking needs of downtown visitors, residents and businesses while planning for these new developments. 

Though the city will leave the specifics of parking redevelopment planning to the developer it chooses, possibilities include the construction of a parking structure on one of the city-owned lots or the inclusion of parking as part of the housing developments.

Timeline

Menlo Park’s housing element outlines an ambitious timeline for conversion of the parking lots to affordable housing. The city aims to have a request for proposals sent out to developers by the end of this year, transfer rights to developers by the end of 2025 and build at least 345 units of affordable housing by the end of 2027. 

At the Aug. 27 meeting, many residents were excited about the possibility of low-income housing on these lots, and urged the council to move the project forward quickly. 

“This is an example of a project that intersects housing, transportation and climate, and so I think the level of urgency and speed with which we need to continue to move is really important,” said Environmental Quality Commission Chair and District 3 City Council member-elect Jeff Schmidt said. “I would encourage accelerating the process … and not turning it into a nine- or 10-year project.”

However, at the Nov. 14 community meeting, several attendees said they felt the project is moving much too quickly without time to complete adequate community engagement. Residents asked that the city complete more robust community engagement and expand the noticing radius for meetings about the project to all city residents to provide ample time for city residents to plan for attendance at future project-related meetings and events. 

Several community members mentioned that they feel as though the single City Council meeting and single community meeting that have been held since the feasibility study for the project was completed in August are not enough to receive community input before sending the project to developers for proposals. 

“As a resident, and someone who has volunteered countless hours for the Menlo Park Design District and Menlo Park Wine Walk, I am disheartened by our city government’s willingness to sacrifice the downtown businesses,” said Alex Beltramo, a local business leader in an email to this news organization. “I hope our City Council will slow down and think this through, and find out what all Menlo Park residents think, before taking us down a path of no return.”

Kevin Cunningham, a property owner in downtown Menlo Park, said that he and other business owners understand that the city is under immense pressure to create new housing stock quickly and are not anti-housing, but they hope the city will consider additional community meetings and commissioning impact studies before proceeding. 

“Of particular concern are the financial consequences for long-standing businesses and properties in downtown Menlo Park,” Cunningham wrote in an email to local business owners recapping the city’s Nov. 14 meeting. “With retail already struggling on Santa Cruz Avenue, the loss of (adjacent) parking and increased congestion will drive customers away. … Make no mistake — customers will not walk 2-3 blocks from a new parking garage to buy a garbage can at the hardware store, grab their takeout dinner, or order their morning latte, they will simply go elsewhere.” 

The City Council will discuss the project at its Nov. 19 meeting, which will take place at 6 p.m. in Menlo Park’s City Council Chambers at 701 Laurel St. Learn more and read the agenda for the meeting on the city’s website, menlopark.gov/agendas-and-minutes.

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