Thank you to the city council for taking the time to collect public input on this important measure.
It is essential that efforts to expand housing in the area also take into account opportunities to enrich the community as a whole and benefit the existing homeowners and residence of the area, especially when public resources like land or being offered at a dramatically reduced rate. There’s no better example of the importance of this than downtown Menlo Park, where there’s an opportunity to reimagine and invigorate the downtown corridor with this project. However, comments from the Council appear to be solely focused on cramming as many units as possible into the space, rather than trying to find a balanced approach that also considers parking, public spaces, and existing downtown businesses. The council has a responsibility to serve the existing residents and homeowners as much as future homeowners and the state mandate. No developmental opportunity should be put forth that do not have constraints such as impact on traffic, local schools and other community resources, and the existing community. This cannot be done in a rushed fashion. Clear guiding principles of design and expansion need to be put in place before land is offered to any developer. If not, this project has a high likelihood of dramatically altering the heart of Menlo Park in a negative way, some of which are hard to foresee.
