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Menlo Park’s housing plans for 2023 through 2031 have received a stamp of approval from the state.
The city announced on Thursday, March 21, that the Department of Housing and Community Development certified the plan. The state conditionally approved the state-mandated plan for nearly 3,000 new units, at different levels of affordability, on Dec. 20, 2023.
“Certification is a major milestone for the city’s housing element and is essential to our efforts to meet the housing needs across all income levels,” said Mayor Cecilia Taylor in a statement. “This accomplishment was made possible through the hard work of the Menlo Park community.”
Every eight years, jurisdictions across California are required to update their plan under the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation program. The state approved Portola Valley’s plan, after nearly three years of planning, on Jan. 30. Atherton and Woodside’s housing elements are still in process.
According to HCD, eight out of 21 jurisdictions in the county are now in full compliance with their housing element. Besides Menlo Park, they are Brisbane, Burlingame, Colma, Millbrae, Portola Valley, Redwood City and South San Francisco.
Those that fail to get their plan certified are open to financial penalties, legal action and what’s called “builder’s remedy” — a state provision allowing developers to bypass local land-use regulations.
However, the state’s certification does not nullify the builder’s remedy proposals that the city already received before its housing element was fully compliant. The city has three preliminary applications filed under builder’s remedy, including the controversial project to construct towers of up to about 400 feet on the former Sunset Magazine headquarters on 80 Willow Road.
Those applications are expected to continue through the city’s review process.
Deanna Chow, Menlo Park’s community development director, described the state’s certification as a “validation of the hard work and dedication of the community, City Council and staff over the past several years.”
The city is now turning its “attention to implementing the programs to meet the needs of the Menlo Park community,” she said in an email to this publication.
The city has done some of those programs already such as rezoning for higher density in the El Camino Real and Downtown Specific Plan area and updating the Affordable Housing Overlay zoning standards, she said.
“Staff will continue to work on program implementation with the priorities being the creation of affordable housing on the city-owned downtown parking lots, the preparation of an anti-displacement strategy plan and an update to the city’s Below Market Rate Housing Program guidelines,” she also said.
Chow noted that the housing element does include “a midcycle review to evaluate housing-production levels, the effectiveness of zoning changes that have been implemented and potential governmental constraints. Depending on the findings, modifications could be recommended to improve effectiveness and reduce barriers.”
Jeremy Levine, policy manager for the nonprofit organization Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County, praised Menlo Park for a feat that only a few jurisdictions in the area have achieved so far.
“Menlo Park’s housing element reflects the commitment of staff and the City Council to promote housing affordability,” Levine said in an email to this news organization. “The housing element commits to a number of important policies that will enable more housing options in the community, including rezoning in its downtown, dedication of city-owned parking lots for deeply affordable homes and implementation of tenant protections. The rezoning especially is essential to produce the housing Menlo Park needs.”
However, Levine pointed out that further adjustments in the years to come may be necessary to keep on track with the housing goals.
Though the rezoning called for in Menlo Park’s housing element makes a difference, he said, “it still may not provide adequate capacity for the city to meet its affordable-housing goals, which can only be met by a mix of 100% affordable and mixed-income market-rate development.”
Depending on a mandatory midcycle review for the housing element in 2027, he also said, the city “may need to further rezone for more housing. The city’s housing element already includes a program recognizing this potential necessity.”
Additional policy changes may be required as well, he said.
“There are challenging questions for the city like does Menlo Park have the staff capacity to approve developments in a timely manner,” he said. “If not, the city may need to streamline entitlement processes so developments can move forward on a faster timeline. And that’s just one example. The housing element lessens some constraints to housing, but it leaves many more in place so we’ll just have to see if developments are able to overcome those barriers or if more changes will be necessary.”
Menlo Park has been working on its housing element for the current cycle since March 2021. The city submitted what was to be the first of four iterations in July 2022. The state sent back the last three drafts for further revision before granting conditional approval to the fourth, which the city filed in early November 2023.
The City Council adopted latest amendments to the housing element on Jan. 23, 2024.
The city’s housing plan is on its website at menlopark.gov/housingelement.
What does approval of the housing element by the state mean for the ‘builder’s remedy’ plan that was submitted for the Sunset magazine project?
Congratulations to the MP City Council on the approval of the housing element. Now that it is officially approved, what is your plan to thwart the monstrous development planned for Willow and Middlefield?