Dear Councilmembers and City Staff,
On Tuesday, January 21, Palo Alto City Council unanimously approved an affordable housing proposal on a city-owned parking lot in downtown Palo Alto, just one block north of University Avenue.
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/palo-alto-city/2025/01/22/council-backs-plan-for-housing-on-downtown-lot/
These new homes are just the first in a series of planned parking lot conversions in downtown Palo Alto: a program that is key to meeting the goals laid out in Palo Altos 2023-2031 Housing Element.
Notably, Council asked the developer for more units and encouraged the nonprofit developer to consider increasing the height from five stories to seven stories. They voted for the proposal that provides parking for residents. For visitors and workers, some parking spaces are provided for in existing plans for a new parking structure downtown. In addition, Palo Alto has a robust and effective Transit Management Program that provides transit passes and other incentives to encourage workers to leave their cars at home.
All Bay Area cities are facing the challenges Menlo Park is facing. We all need to build more affordable housing, and because of past land-use decisions, our options are quite limited. City-owned parking lots are a great resource, especially for meeting our goals of furthering fair housing in resource-rich areas like our downtowns.
I find it encouraging that our neighbors are moving forward with real solutions to our regional housing crisis. I am even more encouraged - and excited! - that Menlo Park City Council voted last Tuesday to take the next step toward new affordable homes on our citys downtown parking lots.
Best,
Katherine Dumont
Menlo Park D3
