Property owners in Menlo Park could see their payments rise significantly starting in December 2022, if the Menlo Park City Council opts to move forward with plans to boost the bond measure funds it collects for improvements at city parks.
The council was tasked Aug. 17 with discussing whether to issue Measure T bonds only to cover the costs of certain improvements at the Menlo Park Community Center in Belle Haven, including a new pool, for $8.8 million (Facebook is paying for the rest), or to go for all of the money remaining from the 2001 bond measure, a total of $14.3 million.
In 2001, Menlo Park voters approved Measure T, a $38 million bond measure for park improvements. The first two series of the bonds raised $23.7 million.
During a study session Aug. 17, the council favored moving forward with plans to collect the full remaining amount. A majority of council members favored putting the remainder, about $5.5 million, toward existing projects in the city’s plan for park improvements.
The matter is expected to be come back before the City Council in September for a formal vote.
Opting to generate all of the remaining bond funds in one round instead of two is expected to save the city between $200,000 and $300,000, as it costs about that much per bond issuance, according to Assistant City Manager Nick Pegueros.
Council members were divided in their Aug. 17 discussion over how to spend the remaining $5.5 million. Mayor Drew Combs and Councilman Ray Mueller said that the previous Measure T funds hadn’t been split equally between the city’s five districts, and their districts in particular had been left behind.
Combs said that Willow Oaks Park is only one park in District 2, and parts of it, particularly the park’s walking path and basketball court, have worn down in comparison to other city parks.
“If all the money went to other parts of the city and Willow Oaks looked great, I would have no complaints,” he said. “(But) you do see the lack of funding.”
Improvements to Willow Oaks are already in the works, and Combs said he favored drawing on bond funds for the project instead of paying for it with the city’s general fund money.
“I’m supportive of going for the full amount we can draw down — and essentially sticking with the projects that have been essentially teed up and identified,” he said.
Mueller said that District 5, which has Sharon Park, Sharon Hills Park and Stanford Hills Park, hadn’t received a fair investment of the Measure T funds so far.
“I am very concerned the council won’t even consider allocation some portion of the remaining Measure T bonds to Sharon Park improvements at the same time the chair of the Housing Commission is advocating eliminating a portion of the park,” he said in a statement.
He was referring to comments from Menlo Park resident and Housing Commission Chair Karen Grove, who, speaking as an individual participant in a recent community meeting to discuss where to put new housing, has suggested that the city consider adding Sharon Heights in the upcoming housing element, perhaps in the Safeway parking lot at the Sharon Heights Shopping Center or in the unmaintained portion of Sharon Park near Klamath Drive.
In the city’s 2019 Parks and Recreation Master Plan, upgrades to Sharon Park’s infrastructure, paths, landscaping and lighting were recommended, but so far staff is only working on plans to rebuild the park pathway. That project is expected to be completed by the fall. The plan also includes many other recommendations for other parks that are not yet funded or started, according to a staff report.
The district-based election system was enacted in Menlo Park in 2018, the result of a threatened lawsuit, and since then, there has been a growing interest on the City Council to ensure that dollars and services are split fairly across the districts.
The bulk of the Measure T funds spent so far, $22.6 million or about 90%, has gone toward the city’s Civic Center campus at Burgess Park, funding renovations to the Menlo Children’s Center, pool and pool house, the Arrillaga Family recreation center, gymnasium and gymnastics center, and the park itself, all of which are located in District 3, represented by Councilwoman Jen Wolosin.
As of the most recent city staff report on Measure T spending, in 2017, aside from the Civic Center projects, about $1.5 million has been spent in Councilwoman Betsy Nash’s District 4 to pay for projects at Nealon, Tinker and Fremont parks, and $864,000 has been spent in Mueller’s District 5 to pay for projects at Oak Knoll and La Entrada schools as well as Stanford Hills, Sharon and Sharon Hills parks. Other spending included $28,000 for a project at Encinal School in Atherton and $185,000 in other general parks and facility improvements. None had been specifically spent in districts 1 or 2.
Currently, additional projects that the Measure T funds could go toward are improvements to the Bedwell Bayfront Park entrance, improvements at Willow Oaks Park, and playground equipment at Burgess and Willow Oaks parks.
Increasing the bonds to the remaining value of $14.3 million would increase the tax burden for property owners to $125 per $1 million of assessed value, or an increase of $45 per $1 million value over the current $80 per million. The maximum amount the bond measure permits is $140 per $1 million in assessed value. With a median home sales price of around $2.5 million in Menlo Park, according to the home sale website Redfin, the median homeowner household would expect to pay around $310 per year in Measure T bond funds.
If approved, the bond rate increase would take effect in December 2022.
Email Staff Writer Kate Bradshaw at kbradshaw@almanacnews.com.
