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City of Menlo Park staff have deemed the builder’s remedy application to develop the 6.7-acre parcel that was once home to Sunset Magazine to be incomplete due to “multiple required items missing from the application.”
Renderings show that the controversial project, dubbed Willow Park, located at 80 Willow Road in Menlo Park, would consist of three towers that contain more than 350,000 square feet of office space. It would also have nearly 40,000 square feet of retail space, a Montessori school, a 130-room hotel and 665 housing units.
Twenty percent of the housing units would be affordable to low-income households earning less than 80% of the area median income, as required by state law for projects submitted under builder’s remedy. This would amount to 133 affordable housing units in total for the project.
If the buildings are approved and built as currently proposed, the tallest of the three towers planned for the site would be the tallest building in the Bay Area outside of San Francisco, standing at 431 feet tall.
This ruling from Menlo Park’s planning department does not mean that the development cannot go forward, however. The applicant, real estate developer N17, will have the option to resubmit a formal application to bring it into compliance with city requirements. Once the city receives another application, it will have 30 days to review the proposal for completeness.
Oisín Heneghan, the founder of N17, confirmed that the company would respond to the city’s comments and resubmit the application.
“We are progressing through the typical SB (Senate Bill) 330 application process,” said Heneghan in an email to this news organization. “Cities always have comments on applications, we respond to any additional information they request as part of the normal approval process.”
Once the city deems the application complete, the city can then begin reviewing the plans for compliance with development standards, environmental regulations, city requirements and any other applicable standards.
The large development has stirred up controversy in Menlo Park. Community members have petitioned against the development due to the scale of the proposed buildings.
What is builder’s remedy?
Builder’s remedy, also known as SB 330, is a state provision that allows developers to streamline building application processes and bypass local land-use regulations if a city does not have a compliant housing element.
Menlo Park’s housing element was certified by the state on March 21 of this year. However, state certification does not prevent builder’s remedy proposals that were submitted prior to the certification date from moving forward.
N17 filed their preliminary builder’s remedy application last summer, before Menlo Park had a compliant housing element, and filed the formal application on May 24 of this year.
Menlo Park has received one other formal application filed under builder’s remedy, for a 140 unit multi-family residential building located at 104 Constitution Drive. This building would be located on a portion of the Vasara project site, which is nearing initial occupancy. Menlo Park must decide whether the 104 Constitution Drive application is complete by July 4, 2024.
You can continue to follow along with the project process on Menlo Park’s website. To learn more about the proposed development, visit willowpark.life.
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Just No! How can anyone even look at the illustration and not be appalled? Total disrespect for the community cloaked in the feel-good rhetoric of solving social problems. (Check the N17 website and gag.) N17 could provide an equal number of affordable units (133 out of 665) in a design that honors the Sunset legacy, i.e., incorporate the building and gardens as a park surrounded several 2-5 story buildings, not glass and steel monoliths. Oh, I forgot, “It doesn’t pencil.” I hope MP can find a way to save its soul and not give in to the financial needs of a private developer and its investors.
This is a rare case where I like the idea that the city insists on a perfectly complete application before they will consider it – as long as they ultimately reject it. It ties down a developer when they clearly know they are proposing a project grossly inappropriate to the neighborhood. Even with all of the development in Downtown Redwood City, nothing approaches this. If it’s not appropriate there, it’s certainly not appropriate in Menlo Park.
Perfectly situated spy perch.