Anyone planning to watch the entirety of the Menlo Park City Council’s June 19 meeting should be ready for a long night.
Meetings often stretch more than four hours, but the June 19 meeting is likely to last much longer, as council members tackle a long list of controversial topics and ask for public comment on several key issues.
Among the topics on the June 19 agenda:
• Figuring out how to go about revitalizing El Camino Real.
• Setting the city’s utility tax rate.
• Balancing the 2007-08 fiscal year budget.
• Discussing David Bohannon’s proposal to build a hotel and office complex near the intersection of Marsh Road and U.S. 101.
The meeting is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. — not the usual 7 p.m. start time — in the council chambers at the Civic Center, between Laurel and Alma streets.
The meeting’s early start will allow the council to hold a two-hour study session dedicated to El Camino Real before the regular session. The council is seeking input on what types of development should be considered for abandoned auto lots, and how the council can revitalize the look and feel of downtown Menlo Park.
The council is expected to continue discussion of revitalizing El Camino Real during the regular meeting, which starts at 7 p.m.; the topic is the first regular business item on the agenda. Council members are expected to decide how to use a combination of consultant work, public meetings and city staff hours to create a process that will eventually lead to a specific plan to revamp El Camino Real and the city’s downtown area.
Hotel/office complex
Council discussion on Mr. Bohannon’s proposal to build an eight-story, 235-room hotel and 695,000 square feet of office space in east Menlo Park is scheduled as the night’s last major topic.The council will hold a scoping session on the proposal, asking for public input regarding what should be included in environmental studies of the project.
The project is proposed for two sites totaling 15 acres in Bohannon Industrial Park.
A Marriott hotel and associated athletic club, one office building and a five-story parking garage are planned for 110-190 Independence Drive. The hotel could be up and running by 2009.
Two more office buildings, two smaller parking garages and a 400-space parking lot are proposed for a site two blocks away, at 101-155 Constitution Drive.
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