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After nearly three years and four attempts, Menlo Park has finally drawn a thumbs up for updating a state-mandated long-range housing plan.
In a letter that the city received Wednesday, Dec. 20, the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) granted conditional approval to Menlo Park’s plan for nearly 3,000 new dwellings at different income levels over an eight-year span from 2023 to 2031.
“HCD is pleased to find the revised draft housing element, including minor edits, meets the statutory requirements,” HCD Senior Program Manager Paul McDougall said in the letter.
The updated housing element will gain full certification once the City Council adopts it, which is anticipated to happen in January, and HCD bestows final approval.
“The housing element will substantially comply with state housing element law when it is adopted, submitted to and approved by HCD,” the department said.
Vice Mayor Drew Combs was pleased that the city has cleared a big hurdle but noted that the effort to actually build new housing is still ahead.
“It’s great that the city has the foundation for additional housing,” he said. “But we’re just one part of it. The other part is the property owners and developers picking up the baton and building the housing units.”
‘It’s great that the city has the foundation for additional housing. But we’re just one part of it. The other part is the property owners and developers picking up the baton and building the housing units.’
Drew Combs, Menlo Park vice mayor
Mayor Cecilia Taylor gave recognition to the fact that the city’s housing element process involved much community engagement.
“I want to thank our community for helping achieve this milestone with our housing element,” the mayor said in a statement. “Now we can focus on moving our plan forward. There will be much more good work to come to create housing opportunities for all — and especially affordable housing.”
Menlo Park has been working on its housing element for the current cycle since March 2021. The city submitted what was to be the first of four iterations in July 2022. The state sent back the last three drafts for further revision before giving a nod to the fourth, which the city filed early November.
In the last response to the state, the city worked to beef up analysis of development sites and programs, show adequate protections for residents facing displacement and balance housing opportunities on the east and west sides of town, among other concerns.
The council also approved rezoning parts of the city for increased density, including up to 100 units per acre in downtown and 150 units per acre under certain conditions allowed by the state.
Every eight years, jurisdictions across California are required to update their plan under the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) program. Many on the Peninsula and elsewhere — including Atherton, Portola Valley and Woodside — continue to work on their housing element that will comply with what the state wants.
Those that fail to get their plan certified are open to financial penalties, legal action and what’s called “builder’s remedy” — a state provision allowing developers to bypass local land-use regulations.
But Combs pointed out that Menlo Park’s pending certification for its housing element apparently won’t nullify two proposals already filed with the city as builder’s remedy projects.
One of those is the controversial mixed-use project to build towers on the former Sunset Magazine headquarters at 80 Willow Road. The other is for 19 residential units at 1305 Hoover St. These applications are expected to continue to wind their way through the city’s review process.
Although city leaders still have many questions about builder’s remedy, Combs said, projects using that designation are still subject to local environmental analysis. “That’s still in play,” he said.
Evelyn Stivers, executive director of the nonprofit organization Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County, saw Menlo Park’s achievement as an example for other Peninsula cities that they too can get their housing element approved despite seemingly insurmountable challenges.
“Sometimes it seems the feedback from HCD is impossible to comply with,” she said. “But Menlo Park did a good job of working through the issues and making it possible. I’m hopeful that as more jurisdictions are able to get their housing element (s) certified, the cities that are struggling recognize specific things they need to do and will be inspired to get it done.”
Stivers noted that RHNA is not so much a requirement for local governments to build the units laid out in their housing element as for them to eliminate barriers to and foster new residential development.
“We’re thrilled Menlo Park has conditional approval and look forward to them getting full approval,” she said. “We’re so glad they took the state’s feedback seriously.”
Hillsborough has also received conditional approval for its updated housing element, the HCD said in a Nov. 30 letter to the town.
According to an HCD compliance report, the only jurisdictions in San Mateo County that currently have fully state-approved housing elements are Redwood City, South San Francisco and Brisbane.
The Menlo Park Planning Commission will consider recommending adopting the updated housing element to the council during a Jan. 8 meeting.
You can view the city’s housing plan on its website.