Dear City Councilmembers,
First, thank you for your work on behalf of the residents and city of Menlo Park to advocate and advise for wise new development — while mitigating the severity of the many impacts on existing residents.
Our neighborhood is most impacted by ParkLine, and also by the massive 80 Willow/Sunset and USGS developments so close to us.
I ask that you please imagine if this large new development is in your own back yard, looking into your own bedroom.
We appreciate that you need to balance the need for housing — which Burgess Classics residents support — but we ask your help to reduce the largest negative impacts on us.
I support the points in the group letter from Burgess Classics, and I want to clarify the importance of the biggest concerns for those of us who share fences with ParkLine:
1. Keep Promised Buffer for Privacy and Safety
Our neighborhood has worked for years with Mark Murray/Lane Partners and SRI to mitigate the significant negative impacts on Burgess Classics, and especially those who share property lines with SRI (a THIRD of the homes in Burgess Classics!).
Mark has worked with us to build in safeguards for us. He promised a buffer zone, which he confirmed again in the 8/31 Community Meeting on Phase 2. The buffer zone also protects the natural pittosporum privacy screening that SRI planted and maintains along our back fences.
The buffer zone is agreed to be fenced in with a locked gate for access for care and maintenance of the trees by ParkLine — and to provide important security for our homes. We want to have that enshrined in the Developer Agreement and also name Burgess Classics as the “Third Party Beneficiary” to protect it after Lane Partners is done and it moves to a property management company, or if any part of the development is performed by a different developer.
It’s important that this buffer zone, fencing and tree care is owned and maintained by ParkLine — and not the HOA for the new homes. It has taken 25 years for these trees to mature. Giving the new HOA have the right to cut them down and replace with smaller trees, if at all, is a significant threat to our privacy — especially since the new homes are so close (10 feet in the plan?) to us, looking directly into our bedrooms and private spaces (kitchens, family rooms, and back yards).
2. Limit Roof Height and Windows of Homes Next to Us for Privacy
Please require that the 2-story homes — just the ones right next to each of our homes — are no taller than ours. The new plan calls for considerably higher elevations and rooflines. I believe they exceed current two-story home elevation limits in the Menlo Park building code.
Please limit the number of windows on the second floor. Even after 25 years of growth, the pittosporum bushes/trees still have many gaps between them.
In the Phase 2 plans, there are 2-story homes which have only TWO narrow windows upstairs. Since those rooms have larger windows on the other walls, these windows are “extra.” We’re requesting that the 2-window plan is used for homes facing our private rooms so close to them. Also, we’re requesting that those windows are set higher/clerestory, so they are above eye level while still giving light.
3. Keep Burgess Drive Closed to Car Traffic
Mark has promised Burgess Classics that the current closed access to Burgess Drive will remain closed to car traffic, while providing safe bike and pedestrian path. We’re concerned you will get pressure to open that access, but this will push dangerous levels of traffic onto Laurel Street, which is supposed to be a Safe Bike Path. The traffic on Laurel is already high, and there are long lines of cars and gridlock already on Laurel at Ravenswood. This presents a danger to children riding to school and those biking or walking downtown to shop or commute on CalTrain. With the additional traffic from 80 Willow/Sunset and USGS, it’s even more critical to prevent more cut-through traffic from ParkLine and USGS residents and employees.
4. Reduce Office Height
While we at Burgess Classics support the shift to more housing — the new office height is too tall at 10 and 8 stories. The number of employees they bring still creates a Housing Element deficit. Please consider reducing their height, which will reduce employees and traffic, while fixing the housing-to-worker imbalance for which our city is paying such a heavy cost with the Builders Remedy.
Thanks so much for your help on these safeguards for our privacy.
Best regards,
Sue Connelly
Burgess Classics resident
