Dear City Council,
As a longtime property owner in Menlo Parks downtown, I strongly encourage you to reconsider the proposal to develop housing on the downtown parking plazas.
From both a fiscal and planning perspective, I believe the proposal begs serious reconsideration. Downtown parking is already at a premium, and reducing the available parking supply will certainly create additional and unnecessary challenges for local businesses, merchants, customers, and the overall vitality of our commercial district.
Affordable housing is an admirable pursuit, but the location proposed is not an appropriate fit for the heart of our downtown, both from a functional and historical perspective. Converting these parking plazas to housing will fundamentally change the character and functionality of the commercial district while imposing costs and impacts that deserve much closer consideration. There are better locations within our city to pursue new and affordable housing.
I urge you to abandon the proposal as currently conceived and instead pursue a more appropriate and fiscally responsible site for downtown housing that advances the Citys housing objectives without undermining the businesses and commercial activity that is so important to our downtown.
Best,
Henry Kuechler
Henry N. Kuechler IV
secretary@hihp.com
1143 Crane Street, Suite 200 (650) 328-0820
Menlo Park, CA 94025 (650) 323-5390 fax.
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