Menlo Park is supposed to plan for more homes, and City Council members say they’ll soon be asking residents how much housing — if any — belongs on properties along El Camino Real.
Environmental groups and housing advocates say the city should build high-density, multi-story homes along El Camino Real, putting residents close to downtown shops and the Caltrain tracks.
Critics say the city’s roads, schools and infrastructure can’t support the added impacts of hundreds of residents moving to the city’s downtown.
At the Oct. 24 kick-off meeting for the city’s El Camino Real visioning process, keynote speaker and urban planning consultant Michael Dyett said the city needs to tackle the housing debate early on in order to create a successful plan to revamp El Camino.
“You have to address the tough issues early,” Mr. Dyett said, noting that the height, density, and associated traffic of new homes have been hot-button issues in Menlo Park for many years.
Past efforts to revamp El Camino have put off tough issues like the housing debate for later in the planning process, often presenting the matters as policy questions for council members. This time around, council members say public input will shape the housing discussion early on in the process.
“We need to hear from the residents what type of housing they think would be in tune with the community,” said Mayor Kelly Fergusson. “That includes talking about senior housing, affordable housing, apartments and condos.”
Councilman Heyward Robinson said Menlo Park’s talks about housing and transit should coincide with each other — something he said hasn’t happened at the state level.
“We’ve been asked by the state to increase our housing levels, and we’re being asked by other regional groups to work that into our El Camino Real planning,” he said. “But at the same time, $1 billion was pulled from last year’s state transit programs. … If we’re going to talk about housing, we have to provide transit to go with it.”
