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The Menlo Park City Council is moving forward with zoning changes to dramatically increase building density, as required by the state, according to discussion at an Aug. 22 City Council meeting.
Menlo Park’s housing element was resubmitted to the California Department of Housing and Community Development in June, after being sent back for revisions in April. Since the housing element was not certified by the Jan. 31 deadline earlier this year, the city now has until Jan. 31, 2024 to adopt the zoning changes.
The state-mandated plan must show how the city will accommodate its target of new new home development over the next eight-year housing element cycle. If the city does not meet the deadline, its housing element risks being decertified even if the state approves it.
City staff suggested a higher base density for eight zoning districts throughout the city, mostly concentrated around downtown Menlo Park. The proposed zoning would more than double the existing housing density allowed in downtown, from 25 units per acre to 60. With density bonuses available to developers, that number could go as high as 100 units per acre.
The zoning changes are meant to remove barriers to developing affordable housing in the city.
Residents came out largely in support of moving affordable housing projects forward. Julianne Hansen, an eighth-grader, spoke about a fifth-grade teacher who had talked about her struggles with housing in Menlo Park.
“It made me sad that the people in our community who do so much for the next generation, which is my generation, get less than people who don’t contribute as much,” Hansen said. “And that if we just let people that are more wealthy come into Menlo Park, then there will be no diversity.”
Olivia Grimes, policy intern at advocacy organization the Housing Leadership Council (HLC), said that HLC supports increasing base densities to at least 100 units per acre and up to 250 units per acre after density bonuses.
The affordable housing overlay (AHO) is a density bonus that aims to ease barriers to affordable housing, allowing bigger and taller projects with affordable units, beyond what is otherwise allowed for market-rate housing projects.
Grimes said that an AHO of 150 units per acre is just a start to create a compliant housing element. “Menlo Park needs to promote both 100% affordable housing and mixed-income market-rate housing, these things can’t come at the expense of each other,” she said.
Projects within a half-mile of a transit stop fall under another type of density bonus offered under state law that allows unlimited density and up to 33 feet of additional building height if the development is entirely composed of affordable housing. Projects with so-called ‘unlimited density’ are still limited by height and development parameters, however.
Developing housing big enough for families was also critical to the Menlo Park City Council’s discussions on Aug. 22. A “step up floor area ratio” aims to incentivize developers to include two- and three-bedroom units, rather than create projects of entirely studios or one-bedroom units. This benefit would allow for increased density if a development that is at least half residential includes either 50% or more units of two bedrooms or larger, or is entirely for-sale units.
Jacqui Cebrian, a Menlo Park resident and teacher, said that she is the recipient of a below-market-rate home. She shared concerns about the future of the city if the housing supply remained stagnant.
“Our school district demographer has told us that we can expect fewer kindergarteners with younger siblings in the future because young families can’t afford to live here until their kids are older,” Cebrian said. “And so we need to plan for housing that families can live in.”
Heights would also change drastically with the proposed new zoning regulations. One zone, called Station Area East that encompasses Cafe Borrone and Kepler’s books, will allow up to 10 stories. Council member Drew Combs said he wanted to make sure that 10-story buildings would not be allowed next to existing one- or two-story apartment buildings and homes in the area.
Resident Brittany Baxter, speaking at the meeting, cited the Redfin analysis of Menlo Park, saying that the city’s median single-family home price is $3.46 million. According to Baxter, in order to afford a median-priced home in Menlo Park, a household will need to make $876,000 per year.
A recent report by the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors found that San Mateo County requires the highest minimum qualifying income in the state. A buyer would need annual income of $504,400 to purchase a median-priced home at $2.01 million.
The Sharon Heights shopping center could also experience vertical growth, doubling its current 30-foot height limit to 60 feet. Combs suggested that the shopping center would likely be redeveloped and should therefore have an allowable height of 80 feet, like Willow Village.
Willow Village is a Meta development east of U.S. Highway 101 that includes community amenities, offices and residential complexes up to 80 feet tall. Combs said that it was “shocking” that 30 feet was ever the height limit for Sharon Heights Shopping Center.
“We get credit for doubling because (the maximum height) was set way lower than it should have been there,” Combs said. “And way lower than what we have said is okay at the other end of the city.”
At the meeting, city staff took direction from the council and will study both 60- and 80-foot height limits. The proposed zoning changes will return to the City Council at a future date after being reviewed by the Menlo Park Planning Commission.
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