Issue date: April 01, 1998
By JULIE RAWE
A newly formed citizens' group called Menlo Park Tomorrow filed suit last week against the city for approving a proposal to build a 52,000-square-foot office complex on the corner of El Camino Real and Encinal Avenue without adequately studying the environmental impact of the project.
The City Council Feb. 24 narrowly approved the 1600 El Camino Real project, which is expected to triple the number of daily car trips to the largely residential area across from Menlo College, after placing a traffic cap on the site and instituting a $10,000 fine for exceeding that limit. This is the first time the city has stipulated such a penalty designed to curb future traffic.
Opponents of the 1600 El Camino Real project, led by Stone Pine Lane residents Morris and Denise Brown, whose property abuts the development site, are suing the city for approving the project without first preparing an environmental impact report.
The lawsuit, filed March 27 in the San Mateo County Superior Court, claims that the city's mitigation measures are "experimental and inadequate and there is no certainty that they will reduce the impacts of the project to insignificance."
The petition asks the court to order the city to set aside its approval of the project until an environmental impact report has been certified.
The suit also calls for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to prevent development of the site while the petition is pending.
A settlement meeting must be scheduled within 60 days, said City Attorney Bill McClure.
"The city simply needs to follow state law and fully study the environmental impacts and feasible alternatives to this project," Mr. Brown said. "An EIR will provide an open, objective evaluation and will benefit our community by taking a hard look at traffic and other impacts."
In addition to the amount of traffic generated by the development, the project calls for the removal of several heritage trees and the demolition of the Home Savings Bank, which is one-fifth the size of the proposed building.
A handful of residents began organizing Menlo Park Tomorrow following the council's approval of the project, and Mr. Brown said he expects the 100 or so people who signed a petition opposing the project to join the newly formed association.
Mr. Brown also noted that the potential environmental problems have been acknowledged by the Planning Commission, which ruled against the project in January, and are reflected in the City Council's split vote of 3-2 in February.
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