Dear City Councilmembers,
On behalf of my neighbors and myself in Burgess Classics, we ask for your help in getting key protections — for which we have agreements from Mark Murray and SRI — specifically listed in the Developer Agreement.
After many productive meetings with Lane Partners and SRI, we were satisfied with the safeguards they were providing to reduce some of the negative impacts of ParkLine on Burgess Classics families.
However, we recently learned that unless they are codified in the DA, we lose those safeguards — especially if parts of the development are ultimately done by a different company.
Importantly, even if Lane Partners develops the entire project and honors our agreements, the actual property management of ParkLine will be by a DIFFERENT company. So we again risk losing all safeguards and protections!
I’m sure you can imagine if you were living next to the largest demolition and construction project in Menlo Park, with the added pressure on our neighborhood with the USGS and 80 Willow developments, you’d share our legitimate concerns.
We will be contending with many years of major demolition and construction debris, toxic materials, hazardous air quality, dangerous lab biohazard (BSL 3 and 4) removal, and signifant noise levels. Plus, we will have the new loop street right behind our previously quiet homes that will carry busy traffic for the entire development — plus the inevitable addition of cut-though traffic due to the Ravenswood, Laurel and Middlefield gridlocks.
It’s important to note that many Burgess Classics residents work from home and there are many families that have young children at home during the weekdays, so the demolition and constuction sounds and airborne debris for so many years will have a major impact. Many of us will have nowhere to go to escape the loud demolition and construction noise and dust.
With the dismaying news about SRI considering the ADDITIONAL development of Buildings P, S and T, the safeguards promised by SRI and ParkLine are even more essential to preserve some measure of livability for Burgess Classics families. Please address these new building sites as a separate project, rather than rushing without important studies and public input.
We urgently need your help to get the following protections agreed upon by Lane Partners and SRI listed in the Development Agreement in the FEIR:
1. Parking Garage 3 (closest to homes along the shared wall):
- The new parking structure is not to exceed the height and footprint of the existing Building R.
- Construct the parking garage with a solid wall facing the homes in Burgess Classics to protect the privacy of the bedrooms and living spaces of the residents along the shared property line with SRI.
- Limit parking garage use to OFFICE workers only. The new garage and traffic will be noisy and generate significant exhaust fumes. Limiting it to office use only will prevent 24 x 7 engine noise, air pollution and fumes from so many car engines starting up, headlights shining into our bedrooms, and traffic and people noises during nights and weekends from apartment residents and visitors. NOTE: With the intentional limits on parking spaces for the apartment buildings, residents will inevitably use the office parking building right behind us for 24 x 7 parking instead.
- Provide security by gated entrance/exits with keycard access to ensure office use only, and to protect from unsupervised nighttime activity and non-worker uses.
- Preserve the heritage oak tree at the southwest corner of the existing building for privacy screening from the higher office buildings close by.
2. Hazard Mitigation for Residents
- Provide a tall construction dust, debris and sound screen along the shared walls to protect residents and their children from the biohazard materials, toxins and demolition debris (asphalt, old building materials, lab contents, etc.).
- Prohibit construction trucks/vehicles from using the street immediately behind the homes. NOTE: McCandless Properties has already expressed concerns about disruptions to their office park tenants. We have even less protection since we need to be able to open windows because most homes do not have A/C.
3. Security and Privacy
- Build a PERMANENT privacy and security fence to protect the residents sharing property lines with SRI/ParkLine. The current cement wall is only 55 inches tall with a thin wooden lattice above it.
- Keep the greenspace buffer zone next to the back fences of Burgess Classics homes as a quiet/privacy space next to the existing homes. No community, office or residential use can be permitted.
4. Bike Path onto Burgess Drive
- Keep the commitment to limit access to ONLY bikes and pedestrians at the end of Burgess Drive where there has been a locked gate since 2001.
- It has been promised, during the entire time this project has been proposed, that the bike and pedestrian path will not be open to vehicles (except emergency vehicles).
- If it is opened to cars, it will increase the dangerous levels of traffic on Laurel Street from the new apartment buildings. This will significantly increase the negative impact on bike and pedestrian safety for children using Laurel to bike or walk to school. Laurel Street is designated as a Safe Streets Bike Route, and opening the end of Burgess will attract huge traffic as people use it as a cut through to avoid the gridlocks on Laurel, Ravenswood and Middlefield.
- None of the traffic studies have reviewed opening the bike path. This needs to be studied as a separate project with public comment.
5. Ingress Only for Laurel Street Driveway to Apartments
- Since the intersection of Laurel Street and Ravenswood is already dangerous and gridlocked, permit vehicles to enter only — and prohibit exiting from the new Laurel Street driveway to the aparments.
Thank you, Councilmembers, for all you’ve been doing balance the need for housing and allowing reasonable office development, while also advocating for the existing residents and families
Warmly,
Sue
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