Dear Mayor Combs and City Council members,
Given our city’s need for affordable housing and the hazards posed by an excess of office space, it would be utterly irresponsible of you to approve SRI’s Parkline project in its current form.
Lane Partners can’t be blamed for seeking a deal that benefits their bottom line at the expense of our residents. That’s why city councils have the power to refuse to grant development rights to plans that are not also favorable to the city. In fact, negotiating plans that benefit the city is merely your right, but your duty.
Keep in mind that if SRI’s Parkline development creates over a million square feet of office space, our city’s RHNA requirements for the next Housing Cycle will skyrocket in the mad dash to accommodate the jobs/housing balance requirement.
And consider this: SRI’s property spans 64 acres. Downtown parking plazas 1, 2 and 3 cover just 4 ½ acres. Of its 64 acres, SRI has proposed a mere 1.6 acres for 100% affordable housing. In other words, SRI has offered 2.5% of its 64 acres for 100% affordable housing, while such housing would occupy 100% of the 4 ½ acres of the three downtown parking lots on the north side of Santa Cruz Avenue.
But here’s an even more crucial difference: apartment complexes in Parkline, in contrast to the downtown parking lots, would not put anyone out of business! Not only that, but they’d provide far more pleasing surroundings for future tenants, nestled among greenery and adjacent to parks, rather than being crammed between buildings in a downtown business district.
Consider too that including low- and very low-income units in the SRI site would enable teachers’ aides who work at Menlo Atherton High School to be literally across the street from where they work. The same goes for other MA staff members with modest incomes, such as custodians and cafeteria workers, among others.
Why should 345 units for low-income tenants be squeezed into the parking lots of our one and only downtown shopping district in approximately 4 ½ acres, when they could be placed in a much nicer location surrounded by green space, parks and bicycle paths in the 64 acre SRI site? There will be parking structures onsite as well, Caltrain is just a couple of blocks away, and El Camino and Menlo Park’s business district are also in easy reach whether by bike, car or on foot.
This can be a win-win for the city, Council members, if you use your prerogative to negotiate a plan for Parkline that better serves the needs and interests of Menlo Park, both current and future.
Sincerely,
Cherie Zaslawsky
