Design charrette planned to shape Menlo downtown Design charrette planned to shape Menlo downtown (February 23, 2005)

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

For 50 architects and other design professionals, this will be an intense 12 hours.

As part of a charrette, the group of four design teams will meet April 9 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in downtown Menlo Park to sketch out and draft ideas for improving the city. They'll focus on the area surrounding the Caltrain station, including the street frontages of El Camino Real, Ravenswood and Oak Grove avenues, and Alma Street.

While this area is separated from the Santa Cruz Avenue shopping district by El Camino Real, it has historical significance and the potential to become more "vital and vibrant," city business development manager David Johnson wrote in a staff report.

So the design teams will brainstorm on everything from designing street landscaping and lighting to making the whole area feel friendly for pedestrians.

They'll try to create "an overall sense of place" that connects this area to Santa Cruz Avenue, Mr. Johnson wrote. And they'll take on one of the quintessential challenges for today's cities: dreaming up a suitable parking solution for the busy area.

Charrettes have become popular ways for cities to get outside design perspectives. Last year, Portola Valley had a charrette on designing a new Town Center complex. In addition, Mr. Johnson wrote, Menlo Park's event will not have a "direct out-of-pocket cost to the city."

At the February 15 City Council meeting, though, resident Roxanne Rorapaugh voiced concern about the amount of staff time the effort would take: "The city staff is truly overworked."

City Manager David Boesch said he estimated that the charrette would use about 150 staff hours. Pacific Gas & Electric has provided a grant of $6,250, and the Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce and the San Mateo County chapter of the American Institute of Architects are also helping plan the event.

Councilwoman Lee Duboc was more eager for the charrette, noting that it had long been a favorite idea of former Councilman Chuck Kinney's. "It's a fitting tribute to him," she said. "I wholeheartedly support it."

The charrette also has heavy uncertainty hanging over it: The downtown area could radically change if the council one day approves building grade separations to separate train tracks from roads at Menlo Park's four rail crossings. So the teams' options may include raising the tracks or lowering the roads, or both, Mr. Johnson wrote.

The council voted 4-1 on February 15 to allow the charrette, with Andy Cohen dissenting. Mr. Cohen does not support the type of grade separations the city is now considering; he instead favors putting the train tracks down in a deep trench. He said after the meeting that he felt voting for the charrette would be a vote of support for the grade separation method putting the train tracks above the roadway.

Once the design teams' work is complete, the local American Institute of Architects chapter will prepare a formal report, and the design ideas will be presented at a later council meeting.
INFORMATION

To read the staff report, go to menlopark.org, click on "City Council" and go to the February 15 agenda.

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