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Menlo Park voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to require a citywide election any time the city plans to sell, lease or make significant changes to eight city-owned downtown parking lots.
Measure P reached the ballot through a citizen initiative petition organized by Save Downtown Menlo, a group of businesses and residents opposed to the city’s plan to build affordable housing on three of the parking lots.
Supporters say the measure would give residents the final say over the future of publicly owned parking lots and protect access to downtown businesses. Opponents say it would hinder the city’s ability to meet state housing requirements, which could come with steep penalties, and block affordable homes for teachers, first responders and local workers who cannot afford to live in market-rate units.
The measure would require voter approval before the city could sell, lease, trade, donate or otherwise transfer all or part of a parking lot, or designate the property as surplus land under state law. Construction, alterations or changes in use that permanently reduce the “availability, access or convenience” of public parking would be put to a citywide vote.
Under current law, the Menlo Park City Council determines how city-owned property is used.
Menlo Park contracts with San Mateo County for election services and reimburses the county for its expenses. The county estimated that the city’s Nov. 3 election would cost $78,733 to $94,500, with no additional charge for including Measure P on the council election ballot. Campaigns for and against Measure P have raised a combined total of over half a million dollars, according to the latest fundraising reports.
The measure would not prohibit maintenance, repairs, renovations and improvements intended to preserve, improve or expand parking availability, access or convenience, even if construction temporarily affects parking.
It also would allow the measure’s proponents to defend the ordinance in court or appeal an adverse ruling if the city declined to do so. The city would be responsible for paying their legal expenses, up to the amount it would have spent defending the ordinance itself.
If adopted, the ordinance could only be amended or repealed by voters, not by the council. A yes vote would establish the restrictions; a no vote would leave the council’s existing authority in place.
The measure is endorsed by former Menlo Park Councilmembers Robert McNamara and John Boyle, 2026 Nobel laureate in economics Robert Hall, Richard Draeger and the Palo Alto Daily Post.
The “No on P” campaign is endorsed by a slew of current and former local politicians, including three current councilmembers: Drew Combs, Betsy Nash and Jennifer Wise. The San Mateo County Democratic Party, ACLU of Northern California, League of Women Voters of South San Mateo County, Silicon Valley Association of Realtors and Planned Parenthood Mar Monte all oppose the measure.
