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As Menlo Park considers an expanded redevelopment plan for SRI International’s former campus that would add nearly 300 more housing units, Councilmember Jeff Schmidt is urging the city to conduct a broader review before approving it or other major projects in the area.
The redevelopment of SRI International’s 64-acre Menlo Park campus on Burgess Drive has changed significantly since Menlo Park-based developer Lane Partners began work on the project, called Parkline, in 2018.
The revised Parkline plan would reduce office and research space by 25,000 square feet to 900,000 square feet and add 282 homes, bringing the total to 1,082 units. The housing would include 754 rental apartments, 108 townhouses and 220 single-family homes for sale, including 98 small-lot homes.
Fifteen percent of the homes would be designated below market rate. Lane Partners would also reserve 1.6 acres for an affordable housing developer, which could build an estimated 154 additional affordable homes.
The revised proposal would replace an office-oriented amenity building with a retail village of more than 40,000 square feet for neighborhood-serving businesses, including restaurants, fitness providers and other services. The project would provide nearly 27 acres of open space, including more than 13 acres open to the public, and dedicate a 2.7-acre city-owned recreation parcel that could accommodate a regulation-size soccer or lacrosse field.
To accommodate the denser development, office buildings could rise as high as 10 stories, or 150 feet, which is 40 feet more than the previous 110-foot maximum.
While the city had approved the previous Parkline proposal, the revision went before the Menlo Park City Council for the first time at a study session on Sept. 22. Councilmembers expressed concern about how the project would impact the Lindfield Oaks neighborhood (the area between Middlefield Road, Ravenswood Avenue, the Palo Alto border and the train tracks) and the city as a whole, especially with the pending redevelopment of the former U.S. Geological Survey campus on Middlefield Road and the controversial skyscraper proposal at the former Sunset Magazine headquarters on Willow Road at Middlefield.
Councilmember Jeff Schmidt, who represents Lindfield Oaks, said the city needs to take a broader look at how proposed developments would affect the city collectively rather than individually. He said he would not vote to approve any project until the city completes a more comprehensive study.
“I’m not inclined to vote to approve any project, including SRI and USGS, until we figure out a comprehensive transportation and circulation plan,” Schmidt said at the Sept. 22 council study session. “We’re looking at these things in isolation, project by project, and it is the wrong way to do it.”
Schmidt said the city should prioritize a broader transportation study, even if doing so slows work on other projects. Schmidt added that his concerns are not a reflection on Lane Partners or the Parkline project, but about how Menlo Park handles development projects.
“I see the SRI project as part of a whole group because we are surrounded by three projects in our small neighborhood,” said Lindfield Oaks resident Nancy Hosay. “It’s SRI, the former USGS site, and the big one on the Sunset Magazine site. Parkline has a huge amount of housing.”
While she supports more housing, Hosay said nearby streets could not absorb the combined growth.
“Great to have more housing, but we in this small neighborhood do not have the infrastructure to be able to handle that,” she said. “I really fear that it’s going to be gridlocked for most of the time.”
“These streets are already major thoroughfares,” Hosay added. “Do we want an Oregon Expressway going through our neighborhood? That’s not appealing.”
Peter Lezak, who represents the owners of a Middlefield Road office building near the SRI campus, said they generally support the updated Parkline proposal, particularly the townhouses, but worry that the new housing and office space would make their property harder to access.
“Traffic is already bad and now with all of the additional housing and office space, it’s going to be a big problem to access our offices,” Lezak told The Almanac.
Lezak said the city should consider alternatives, such as extending Willow Road through the area.
“We feel like the individual single-family neighborhoods have done a very good job of expressing their concerns, and as a result, have stopped those kinds of things,” Lezak said. “But therefore we’re going to end up with very significant traffic on Middlefield.”
Council members also questioned how the evolving project could affect nearby homes, particularly those in the Burgess Classics subdivision across from Burgess Park.
Councilmember Drew Combs said changes to the proposal and unresolved setback questions had left residents uncertain about how close the planned buildings could be to their properties.
“It has been a bit of a moving target: What exactly are the setbacks?” Combs said. “I appreciate that the project has changed … but they’ve gotten different figures for setbacks and also some statements that, ‘Well, that’s going to be finalized at a later stage.’”
Lane Partners is preparing to submit a revised Parkline proposal that incorporates feedback from residents and the council. City staff said that once the revision is complete, it will undergo review under the California Environmental Quality Act.
