Dear Mayor Nash and Councilmembers,
Thank you for the time and care youve clearly put into managing the 80
Willow application. I’m writing because I am concerned that the pressure
to avoid litigation may be pushing toward an outcome that exchanges one
risk for a much bigger one.
A few specific issues:
* The Attorney Generals July 29 letter doesnt even address two of
the citys strongest findings — the affordability-unit distribution
problems and the frontage violations documented by the city. Neither
is fixable with a Density Bonus Law waiver.
* The letter also argues that the project qualifies for AB 2011’s
streamlined process and thus is exempt from CEQA, contradicting the
city’s determination that a full EIR is required. If the city
concedes on this point, these towers -- built adjacent to a creek
with documented seismic and habitat concerns -- would probably never
get an independent environmental review.
* Our own staff found real, concrete defects in the application, such
as a drainage structure illegally split by the Applicants own
proposed parcel lines.
* I’ve been watching, as I’m sure you have, the disposition of other
builder’s remedy projects throughout the state. 80 Willow has become
the poster child for what can happen when the state, relying on
newly passed (and largely untested in the courts) legislation,
wrests control from local government to support a project that is
clearly out of scale with its surroundings.
I won’t bother enumerating the consequences of allowing this development
to proceed, as others have already covered those, but without CEQA, we
have no way of knowing what the cost to the city and its residents will
be. (We can reasonably guess that they will be monumental and
non-remediable. You cant Manhattanize a small city in one swoop.)
Thank you for your consideration and for your ongoing service to the
residents of Menlo Park.
JoAnne Goldberg
