Dear Mayor Mueller, Mayor Pro Tem Taylor and Council members Combs, Nash and Carlton, I respectfully request the current environmental impact report (EIR) for the proposed Facebook “Willow Village” be stopped immediately based on the following: 1. The Air Quality District is initiating an update to its current California Environment Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines. http://www.baaqmd.gov/plans-and-climate/california-environmental-quality-act-ceqa/updated-ceqa-guidelines . “There have been substantive changes to the data and assumptions underlying the analytical methodologies, thresholds, and mitigation strategies since the last update of the CEQA Guidelines in June 2010 (revised May 2017).” 2. There is has been no consistent monitoring or requirement to monitor air quality within the adjacent residential neighborhood of Belle Haven Menlo Park. Air quality monitoring must be done by precinct rather than zip code. 3. Failure to ensure an environmental justice approach as outlined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/learn-about-environmental-justice 4. No publicly available count of the total number of Facebook and contract employees on their current fifteen (15) campuses in the Bayside area. Estimates run between 12,000 and 18,000 occupying over 3 million square feet of owned or leased property. 5. Conducting an EIR prior to completion of all current construction and full occupancy of buildings will fail to include all associated human environmental impacts and cause substantial increased traffic congestion. 6. Failure to fully implement and assess current traffic congestion solutions for residents within District 1. 7. Failure to conduct a current housing displacement study that includes property ownership including LLCs. 8. Failure to conduct a current housing study that identifies number of apartments and homes unoccupied, reserved for Airbnb, reserved for corporations, or otherwise unavailable to the public. The above issues must be addressed prior to an EIR rather than included in EIR. Including the above issues will naturally tend to favor the applicant. We have experience with EIRs during the past five years. Continuing the current environmental impact reporting for Facebook “Willow Village” indicates that public concerns have been ignored. The EIR is the type of report that provides only levels of mitigations that can be satisfied by making minor adjustments, such as widening Willow Road between O’Brien Street and Bayfront to allow access to the so-called village. This will cause additional hardship and possibly irreputable harm to residents living in the Belle Haven and surrounding neighborhoods. Again, I strongly urge you to cease all Facebook “Willow Village” activities until the Air Quality District has completed the update to CEQA and an environmental justice approach is embedded into the process. Additionally, the ConnectMenlo/M2 General Plan zoning changes must be studied to ensure it meets all legal requirements of a General Plan. Thank-you Mayor Mueller, Mayor Pro Tem Taylor and Council members Combs, Nash and Carlton for your commitment to the best interests of the City of Menlo Park. Respectfully, Pamela D. Jones -- *The impossible dissipates when **I* *becomes **WE**. * Received on Tue May 21 2019 - 15:29:20 PDT
