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Menlo Park City Council should view the current petition for the Downtown Parking Plaza Initiative NOT as a challenge to either its civic responsibilities or legal authority but rather as an extraordinary opportunity for the Council to BOTH (a) adopt a much more promising course for meeting the City’s current affordable housing obligations using other public land for housing sites and (b) demonstrate it would not support affordable housing developments that would sacrifice the future economic health, physical characteristics, and general desirability of Downtown.
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A large and growing percentage of our community feels their interests have been ignored and now deeply distrusts the capabilities and motivations of both the Council AND the city planning staff. And many fear that once the City selects a developer, it might later sacrifice convenient public parking for more housing IF this trade-off were required.
And there is NO guarantee that an acceptable development could actually provide 345 housing units AND 556 public parking spaces. These are simply aggressive, untested City objectives.
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Like many others, I am alarmed by the Council’s…
- Failure to simply acknowledge the high risk that this project could significantly damage Downtown both during construction and after it is completed.
. - Lack of a credible contingency plan, something the state Housing And Community Development department would require IF the City were to acknowledge that Downtown possibly is not a feasible site for 345 housing units due to either strong community opposition, a prolonged legal challenge, or the success of this ballot measure petition.
. - Complete lack of community engagement, e.g., no two-way communications, no actual participation in City planning efforts.
. - Unhealthy dependence on a planning staff that clearly does not understand our community and often has provided poor guidance to the Council.
. - Building a 556-space, public parking structure might cost the City and voters at least $40M. If 345 apartments were built, the structure subsidy for this project would be $115, 000 per unit.
. - Willingness to provide four acres of “free public land” – a $38M+ land subsidy – without first (a) considering alternative public land uses and (b) gaining broad community support for this very large, “below market” housing project. If 345 apartments were built, the City land subsidy would be $110, 145 per unit.
‘ - Total City project subsidy for 345 apartments would be about $215,000 per unit. (Note: This does not include other City costs)
Important Notes:
- If 10% of registered voters, i.e., about 2100, sign this ballot measure petition, the city would be required to conduct a ballot that would enable voters rather than the city council approve any future development in the three parking lots. Then project-specific ballots would be decided by a simple majority vote. This requirement would motivate city councils to propose only those projects that were widely supported by voters.
. - Voters could decide to add affordable housing in the parking lots and determine both the amount and location (s). For example, less housing and a smaller parking garage than the current proposal could be constructed with a combination of sites, e.g., Plaza 3 and near the Civic Center.
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Where To Sign Petition Or Help Out
Learn more about this petition at the Save Downtown Menlo website.
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Chan Zuckerberg Initiative announces $10M donation for Menlo Park, East Palo Alto familiesApril 13, 2026 12:00 pm
You should probably briefly describe here what the ballot measure says.
Personally, I don’t think housing on Burgess is a good idea, and would prefer housing on the downtown lots.
The notion that citizens and not a majority of council should make important land-use decisions has always been true and has never been true. None of the following should be making land uses decisions: 1.) citizens, 2.) staff, 3.) a majority of council, 4.) the state, or 5.) the market, 6.) financiers, 7.) property owners.
Maybe we can subcontract to God, but the best I can come up with is that its a good idea to engage in public planning processes to produce land-use consensus that get remembered faithfully by future councils and staff. Menlo Park’s institutional memory fades with each new council. Palo Alto does the best job I’ve seen at this, and they are berated for the notorious “Palo Alto process.”
Some will try to say these projects are the product of a public planning process, but that process was coerced by the state and clearly doesn’t seem to represent the will of the local democracy.
“that process was coerced by the state and clearly doesn’t seem to represent the will of the local democracy.”
Bingo. The state is forcing this stuff down our throats with a one size fits all approach. Not all communities are the same. Nor are all communities conducive to “affordable housing” due to land and labor costs. Menlo Park happens to be one of those places.