On Jan. 24, the city of Menlo Park released a request for proposals from environmental consultants to prepare a California Environmental Quality Act review of the controversial development proposal for the site of the former Sunset Magazine Headquarters at 80 Willow Road.
Final proposals from environmental consultants are due Feb. 28, and the public will have a chance to comment on consultant selection at a subsequent City Council meeting.
If built as proposed, the project, dubbed “Willow Park,” would consist of three towers that contain 665 housing units, more than 350,000 square feet of office space, a Montessori school, a 130-room hotel and nearly 40,000 square feet of retail space.
CEQA review is a legally required analysis that must be undertaken for any project of this size. Environmental review under CEQA typically covers a wide range of subject matters that may be affected by a project, including air quality, biological resources, cultural and archaeological resources, hazardous materials, water quality, public services, transportation and traffic, population and employment, aesthetics and more.
During the environmental review process, the city will also determine if any special historical statuses apply to the property. The site has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places by the Menlo Park Historical Association. The State Historical Resources Commission will consider the nomination at its May 9 meeting. The meeting was originally set for Feb. 7 but was postponed.
The public will have a chance to weigh in on the project at multiple points during the CEQA process. If an environmental impact report is determined to be necessary for the project, there will be a public scoping session where community members can comment on topics that they believe should be addressed in the environmental review process. There will also be multiple opportunities to comment on the environmental impact as it is being prepared and finalized, including public hearings with the Planning Commission and City Council.
Environmental impact reports for other similarly sized projects, such as the one for the SRI Parkline development, have taken over a year to prepare.
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Is it sad to see amateur hour proposal like this one. California needs developers who understand and care about local needs, not foreign developers driving bizarre proposals like this one. I can’t imagine investors will be lining up.
Menlo Park needs affordable housing, but NOT a skyscraper complex with a pool, hotel, and retail space. This proposal satisfies the absolute minimums requirements for the legal definition of a “housing development affordable to lower- or moderate- income households”. If built as proposed, it would worsen the already serious imbalance between our city’s housing and jobs.
Be sure to should watch the video posted on the developer’s webpage (search online for “Willow Park life” and scroll down to the video). It bizarrely claims that the proposed development would integrate “seamlessly” with its surroundings. Seamless integration? The development proposes the tallest towers between San Francisco and Los Angeles in a neighborhood made up of 1-2-story houses and apartment complexes. And if integration with the existing neighborhood is a real goal, why on earth is a pool part of the plan? The site is a short bike ride away from the public pools at Burgess Park. Menlo Park does not need a cluster of skyscrapers designed to be our new “center of gravity”.