Dear Mayor Combs, Vice Mayor Nash and Council Members Schmidt, Taylor and
Wise,
Menlo Park has seen considerable development of commercial and office space
in recent years without a corresponding increase in our housing stock. This
likely played a role in establishing the ambitious State mandated RHNA
target that the City is now working to meet. Unfortunately, the City has
been unsuccessful in encouraging significant development of affordable
housing on private property so it has had to turn to City owned land
instead. Obviously, theres a limited supply of that, which has resulted in
some suggesting that the City may be forced to consider parkland. If things
continue as they have in past, that will only be a matter of time. Doing
so, though, would be counterproductive as with more housing the City will
actually need more parkland, not less.
Id like to suggest that the City consider adopting a housing neutral
development (HND) policy that requires developers of commercial and office
space to provide a commensurate amount of new housing, including an
appropriate percentage of affordable housing. An HND policy could also
provide for establishing conservation easements for our existing parks and
any new ones that are being planned.
Sincerely,
Bob Dickinson
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it--Winston
Churchill
