Dear City Council Members and developer,
Nearby Kavanaugh East Palo Alto residents will be affected by the new planned Campus.
- In conjunction of the project and in order to limit vehicle traffic, the Willow/O’Brien area should be redeveloped with
pedestrian/bicycle traffic in mind. As such, sidewalks, which at present are mostly nonexistent, should be constructed all along
O’Brien Drive and Kavanaugh Way in Menlo Park. Better lightning should be installed and bicycle lanes should be also developed on
O’Brien Drive.
- Paseos and streets in the Willow Campus should better connect to O’Brien Drive. As such, we would like the developer to work
with other nearby landowners and specifically CSBio which is currently redeveloping their property on Kelly Court and finalizing
their design. This would allow the possibility of new connections with O’Brien and the new Willow campus street grid proposal (for
example utilizing the current drainage channel between 1075 and 1105 O'Brien Drive and the previous connection between 20 Kelly
Court and 960/1350 Hamilton).
- East Palo Alto and nearby Kavanaugh residents will be highly impacted by the increased vehicle traffic especially with the
Campus parking on the eastern side and the O’Brien/Willow connection. Therefore, nearby East Palo Alto city streets (Kavanaugh,
Gloria, University, etc…) must be included in all current/future studies and some of the impact fees should really go towards the
city of East Palo Alto. Such fees should go towards safety and traffic mitigation such as:•Asphalt resurfacing/reconstruction of
Kavanaugh Drive with installation of ADA compliant crosswalks and burial of all overhead utility lines,•Installation of street
traffic/speed calming devices on Kavanaugh Drive and Gloria Way,•Installation of more lamp posts in the Kavanaugh neighborhood.
- During the planning and approval phases, the city of Menlo Park and the planning commission need to also step up the current
notification/feedback process and increase the outreach towards nearby East Palo Alto residents that will benefit and be affected
by the project.
Thank you very much for your consideration.Romain TaniereEast Palo Alto, Kavanaugh neighborhood resident.
