The housing element requires cities to accommodate projected growth, with an eye toward balancing jobs and housing. Menlo Park's housing target, also known as the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), requires the city to plan for close to 3,800 new housing units by 2031.
Though Menlo Park submitted its housing element to the state in July, with a prediction that the city would not only reach its RHNA requirements but exceed them by over 2,000 units, the plan was rejected by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) on Oct. 9.
Among the late-stage changes to the plan, the city is looking to revise the housing element to change retail zoning to coexist with housing. Specifically, multiple sites along Willow Road were recommended for a change to neighborhood mixed-use zoning.
Another way that retail is intended to exist alongside housing is "carveout" sites, which allows for a horizontal mixed-use development. If applied, vacant areas of a lot and parking lots could be used for housing. Principal Planner Tom Smith said these carveout sites would be specifically used for affordable housing. One site where this is proposed is the First Republic Bank at 2500 Sand Hill Road.
One parcel identified as a carveout does not currently have office buildings on it, and was described as an "exception."
Council member Drew Combs was critical of the idea of the exception using the carveout overlay of up to 100 units.
"What is attempting to be achieved? And can we achieve it in a more transparent way?" Combs asked.
The subcommittee recommended expanding the state's just cause eviction and tenant protections, which have a one-year residency requirement, to residents who have lived in Menlo Park for any period of time. These protections include a requirement that a landlord must serve a tenant with a three-day written notice to cure an at-fault reason for eviction before proceeding.
The subcommittee also recommended increasing tenant relocation assistance to four months for all no-fault evictions and offering "know your rights" education, including legal aid, at no cost.
These measures are to be brought before the City Council by December 2023 or June 2024 at the latest.
"The intention is just to address displacement as quickly as possible," Taylor said. "Whatever is within the city's wheelhouse."
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