The Menlo Park Planning Commission on June 26 approved architectural plans for Meta’s massive Willow Village development in the Belle Haven neighborhood.

The project, approved in December, plans to redevelop 59 acres with up to 1.2 million square feet of office space and up to 1,730 units. Meta, formerly known as Facebook, plans to build the ambitious mixed-use development. It calls for offices, housing, a 193-room hotel, plus retail and commercial space, a dog park and a publicly accessible park. The main development would be built along Willow Road between Hamilton Avenue and Ivy Drive, according to the application.

Of the proposed 1,730 housing units, 312 are being offered at a below-market rate ranging from moderate-income to extremely low-income. Willow Village will also have a 19-unit affordable senior housing building.

Paul Nieto, a representative of project developer Signature Development discussed building the grocery store and surrounding retail space, saying that they wanted to include both the tech campus and the surrounding neighborhoods in one cohesive design.

“We said how do we connect to the community, how do we create a great place with neighbors and shoppers workers and others where they can gather?” Nieto said. “We concluded we needed inviting architecture that has to be human scale.”

The campus’s architectural plan also includes raising the site and its buildings above the floodplain. People at the meeting spoke largely in favor of the housing options offered by Willow Village.

“This project replaces 1970’s outdated office space over 59 acres with a mixed-use project that includes 1,730 new homes … and will increase the city's existing affordable housing stock by approximately 60%,” said Alex Paperman of the Housing Action Coalition.

Commissioner Andrew Ehrich, a new planning commissioner, extended his thanks and compliments to fellow commissioners who had previously reviewed the Willow Village plan.

Willow Village plans to be entirely electric, but offer options for both electric and gas-powered appliances in office cafeterias and restaurants. The architects also said that they feel confident in the plans for the landscaping the project's elevated park, as they worked on the design for Salesforce Park, an elevated park in San Francisco.

The commission voted to allow the architectural plans to move forward on a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Henry Riggs dissenting due to his concerns about transportation, and Commissioners Ferrick and Schindler absent.