Dear Mayor Combs, Vice Mayor Nash, Councilmember Schmidt, Councilmember
Taylor, Councilmember Wise, and City Manager Murphy,
*I’m writing to you on behalf of the members of the First Church of Christ,
Scientist at 201 Ravenswood to advocate for moving ahead toward a timely
approval of the Parkline project.*
Our membership feels that the Parkline project has strong support in the
Menlo Park community, and that it is deserving of moving forward so that
Menlo Park citizens can realize the benefits of the increased housing, open
space, and other community features that Lane Partners has built into the
plan.
In January of 2024, our church entered into a formal purchase option
agreement for our property with Lane Partners after more than a year of
discussions. A major factor in selecting Lane as our potential purchaser
was that the inclusion of our property in the Parkline project could help
facilitate much needed housing, including affordable housing.
While we are in full support of the Parkline project, we have been growing
increasingly concerned as the timing of various project approvals continues
to push further and further out.
To protect our interests, our contract with Lane Partners includes limited
time frames for Lane to achieve entitlements and proceed with the purchase
of our property. Over the past year, every update we have received from
Lane based on their discussions with city personnel has included new delays
in the estimated timeline for achieving project approvals. While
completing our transaction with Lane Partners remains our goal, our
membership cannot wait indefinitely for the outcome of the Parkline
project. At some point, we will have to explore other options with
respect to the sale of our property.
*Thank you for listening to our concerns.* As chair of our ad-hoc church
committee for the sale of our property, I’d be happy to discuss any of this
with you if it would be helpful to your decision-making process.
Sincerely,
Bob Macdonald
(I have copied the current members of our Church Board.)
mailbobmac@gmail.com
mobile: 650-575-2512
