Dear Mayor and Members of the Menlo Park City Council,
I am writing to express my serious concern about the proposed development
at 80 Willow Road and to urge the Council to reject the proposal in its
current form.
I support responsible development and the creation of much-needed housing,
particularly affordable housing. However, this proposal appears
fundamentally out of scale with the surrounding community. The proposed
towers (reportedly reaching 39, 33, and 19 stories) would place an
exceptionally large development on only 6.7 acres in a predominantly
low-density area.
I am particularly concerned that the project could add approximately 3,000
jobs while providing only about 665 homes, including roughly 100 affordable
units. Rather than addressing our jobs-housing imbalance, this mix could
make it worse.
The potential effects on traffic, parking, emergency access, and public
safety are also deeply troubling. Willow Road and Middlefield Road already
serve as critical transportation and evacuation routes. A development
expected to generate thousands of additional daily vehicle trips should not
move forward without a thorough, independent environmental review that
allows the community to understand and respond to these impacts.
The developer’s threatened lawsuit and self-imposed deadline should not
determine Menlo Park’s future. A project of this magnitude deserves careful
analysis, transparency, and meaningful public input, not approval under
pressure.
Please defend the City’s development standards and reject the current
proposal. I encourage the City to pursue a substantially revised plan that
delivers more housing, especially affordable housing, is appropriately
scaled, and adequately addresses transportation, infrastructure, emergency
access, and neighborhood impacts.
Thank you for listening to residents and for your service to our community.
Sincerely,
Rachel Jin
413 Gilbert Ave, Menlo Park
