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It turns out the standard double-vote process the Menlo Park City Council uses to approve projects isn’t ironclad.
After approving a proposal by Stanford to build a 40,000-square-foot office building at 2131 Sand Hill Road, the council voted 4-0 at its Nov. 7 meeting, with Rich Cline absent, to reconsider that vote.
The request to reconsider came from Councilwoman Catherine Carlton, who said the council didn’t have all the information it needed when it approved the project on Oct. 17 on a 3-2 vote with Ray Mueller and Kirsten Keith opposed.
The missing information, Ms. Carlton said, has to do with another proposal by Stanford to build an office building for medical school faculty near Quarry and Arboretum roads and nearer Menlo Park than originally planned.
That project in combination with the Sand Hill Road development raises concerns about worsening traffic on that road.
The Quarry Road development was brought to the city’s attention by Councilman Ray Mueller only days before it was scheduled for action by the Santa Clara County Planning Commission.
At Menlo Park’s request, the commission agreed to postpone the matter until its Nov. 16 meeting, thus giving Menlo Park time to weigh in.
The numbers for the Quarry Road project – 155,000 square feet of office space and 585 new parking spaces – were already approved in the university’s 2000 general use permit, Barbara Schussman, a lawyer representing Stanford, said.
However, Stanford’s proposal to construct the building near Quarry and Arboretum roads involves moving some of the allowed office square footage closer to Menlo Park than originally planned.
Why is it legal for the council to reconsider a project it has already approved? According to Menlo Park City Attorney Bill McClure, the council can reconsider if the request comes within 30 days of the original approval and there’s significant new information to be considered.
The council is scheduled to discuss the matter on Tuesday, Nov. 14.
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As a homeowner in a neighborhood, which will become a “pass through” for the proposed offices on Sand Hill, I welcome the reassessment of development of the Buck Estate. Yes, it’s NIMBY, but it’s also applying some sense to ever increasing “pass through” traffic in our residential neighborhoods.
Thank you council for revisiting this approval. Be sure to get accurate information. When Santa Clara County approved the GUP, Sand Hill Rd did not connect directly with El Camino Real, the Stanford Medical Center and shopping center expansions had not been approved. So it is imperative to look at accurate traffic information at Sand Hill Road intersections, cut-through traffic, etc. that includes these significant changes. The Med Center expansion isn’t complete yet, so the current traffic conditions should assume its impacts as if it were open.
Needless to say, it would be astonishing to conclude that the intersection at El Camino Real fit the GUP’s projections when that intersection didn’t exist.
Menlo Park doesn’t need to approve this request. Far better would be to annex in order to get playing fields and housing than yet more offices.
This project should be rejected there is already too much traffic on Sandhill Road and this office building would just add too much traffic to the already congested situation.