Council Members,
Thank you for considering these comments for the proposed Willow Village project.
Recommendations:
1. Require full housing mitigation or deny the project. Achieve full mitigation by approving a "reduced office" footprint that reduces housing demand to housing supplied.
2. Create and disperse more affordable units by having Meta purchase deed restrictions in suitable existing units throughout Menlo Park.
3. Develop a scheme to accurately monitor remote work densities to prevent job density inflation.
1.) According to the Keysar Marsten Housing Needs Assessment ("HNA") the project is not fully mitigated with respect to regional housing impact.
Attached is the Keysar Marsten Housing Needs Assessment (HNA) section 6.0.
* Table 6.1 shows clearly that the project produces a net regional housing deficit of 815 units.
* Table 6.2 shows it will also displace about 1100 low income families in the region.
* Tables 6.3 shows those same housing impacts localized to Menlo Park which is more favorable.
* (The net negative impact is swept under the regional carpet.)
* Re-use the Keysar Marsten counting formulas to compute full mitigation.
2.) Have staff compute the real net impact on Menlo Parks future RHNA obligations from the project.
* Will Menlo Park be forced to build future housing to overcome that deficit? And if so, how many units in which housing cycle(s)?
* Note that Menlo Park may have an existing housing cycle surplus or deficit. This calculation should consider the standalone impact of the project outside of existing deficits or surpluses.
3.) When mitigating any housing deficits consider these options.
* 3a) reduce office footprint without adding housing above the 1730 units.[1]
* 3b) to rebalance housing "affordability" toward lower income groups have Meta purchase additional deed restricted units as it did with Anton Menlo.
* 3b(1) Have Meta purchase those deed restricted units in "suitable" existing multi-family units throughout Menlo Park. This will both increase units for lower income families, and help meet AFFH fair share requirements. This method will not require further construction or rezoning in neighborhoods which has been controversial, it will simply rebalance existing multi-family housing stock by income without the need for intensification.
4.) Require all of the 1730 housing units.
* 4a.) As Santa Clara County did with the 2000 Stanford GUP, link Metas ability to build office to building housing. Require that housing be built prior to or at the same time as office.
* 4a1.) A "reduced office" configuration is within the envelope of the program EIR and would require no further environmental analysis.
5.) Now that Meta has formally adopted remote work how will Menlo Park monitor and impose "off-site" employment caps to limit future employment density inflation?[1]
6.) If Meta implements a TDM plan, how will Menlo Park measure and enforce trip reductions?
Sincerely,
Paul Collacchi
[1] Background: https://www.mv-voice.com/news/2022/11/03/meta-terminates-lease-at-san-antonio-center-in-mountain-view
Meta is undergoing these changes
* Its reducing its physical footprint in the Bay Area
* Its adopting remote work as a standard.
* Its laying off thousands of employees
Clearly, Meta is requesting more office than it currently needs. Nevertheless, Meta asks, via Developers Agreement, to vest rights to build out the office development it cannot now use or may never use
* It can afford to do so because Menlo Park office futures are an extraordinary, liquid asset. Meta is being allowed and encouraged to speculate because it can sell Menlo Park property assets or approvals in the event of future business failure. (As SRI is currently doing.)
* This is a proper justification for you as a council, to grant only a portion of the requested office at this time. That is why you should grant no more office at this time than that which is mitigated fully by the proposed housing.
* Meta can come back at a later date to acquire the remaining office development if that is appropriate.
* Meta may threaten the grocery store. Keep your poker face. It needs you more than you need it.
If Meta decides in the future to expand its local "remote work" footprint and sell or rent office at Willow Village, how would that impact employment densities, and how would Menlo Park monitor and mitigate this kind of employment density inflation?
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