Dear council members,
As a Kavanaugh East Palo Alto neighbor resident, I support the Willow Village development mixed used project which has been refined over the last couple of years with community inputs.
However, with the multiple planned/on-going Menlo Park development projects along O’Brien and Adams including the connections with Willow Village, I urge the Menlo Park city council to request/put on the city agenda a study session/staff report at an upcoming relevant commission or council meeting to review and discuss the comprehensive detailed plan and execution timeline for the OBrien/Adams/Kavanaugh/Willow/University area mitigations and improvements (ref. down below with a detailed list of several improvements and suggestions).
I look forward to the City of Menlo Park and the City of East Palo Alto to closely working together with the residents and starting as soon as possible on traffic/parking improvements and traffic calming measures to discourage Kavanaugh cut through traffic and speeding and improve walkability and bicycling. I hope that this project will also help transform the O’Brien business park area in a more lively and pedestrian/bicycle friendly community district integrated in its surrounding neighborhoods and ultimately benefits everyone.
Overall, we are very excited about this mixed used project with public access and amenities. Thank you very much in advance for your support of this exciting live/work/play development east of US101.
Romain Taniere
East Palo Alto, Kavanaugh neighborhood resident.
_______________________________
Nearby Kavanaugh East Palo Alto residents will benefit but also be affected by the new Willow Village/Meta Campus and we thank you for the opportunity to provide some feedback on the latest development proposal.
1. East Palo Alto neighborhoods (Kavanaugh, Gloria, University, etc…) must be considered in the community amenities proposal and studies and some of the impact fees should go towards the city of East Palo Alto for safety and traffic mitigation measures (see items A, B, C down below).
2. Meta should include the integration/planning of a Multi-Modal Transit Hub by the SamTrans corridor and keep pushing for the Dumbarton Rail Corridor to be reactivated. The plan should allow options to include and connect a future Dumbarton transit/commuting center to the Willow Village Campus.
3. The redevelopment of Hetch Hetchy right of way should be included in the project to increase greenery and connect the proposed south park crescent between Ivy/Willow and O’Brien/dog parks. The developer of this project should work with relevant parties such as the city, nearby other landowners, and the SFPUC, to increase park/playground options on Hetch Hetchy such as secured children/toddlers areas and tennis/basketball/football/soccer/bocce courts, etc... This would create an additional south paseo between the Ivy/Willow public park and the dog park (now removed from proposal but hopefully will be constructed) to increase community park amenities serving both future employees and local residents.
4. Re-including the initial proposal for a Community Center on ground level near the Ivy/Willow public park would be greatly beneficial. The Ivy/Willow park/open space should not be limited as a sport’s/multi use field which will be only used by 1 or 2 leagues but should be planned as a full amenity community park such as the “awesome spot playground” (Modesto) or the “magical bridge playground” (Palo Alto). Hopefully the elevated park by the SamTrans corridor can also incorporate many great designs/features from the High Line New York city public park.
A. East Palo Alto safety and traffic mitigation measures in advance of Willow Village/META proposed Menlo Park project:
1. To implement 2 new stop signs on Kavanaugh Drive at Gloria Way and Clarence Court.
2. To install digital drivers speed limit radar displays on Kavanaugh Drive and Gloria Way on both side of the street.
3. To perform an asphalt street resurfacing/reconstruction on Kavanaugh Drive and Gloria Way with larger concrete sidewalks and rebuilt ADA compliant crosswalks/curbs/ramps, bury all overhead utility lines and install more lamp posts on all the electrical poles on Kavanaugh Drive, Gloria Way and all adjacent streets and courts to increase safety (Kirkwood, Clarence, Gertrude, Hazelwood, Farrington, Emmett, Ursula, Grace).
4. To conduct an engineering evaluation and implement the most appropriate and effective street traffic/speed calming devices (e.g. speed bumps, traffic circles at intersections, etc…) on Kavanaugh Drive (between OBrien Dr and University Ave) and on Gloria Way (between Bay Rd and Kavanaugh Dr).
5. To include Notre Dame Ave / Kavanaugh Dr as a bike lane in the Bicycle Transportation Master Plan which would be a bicycle improvement/alternative to the busy Bay Rd / Newbridge St bike route to Willow Road.
6. To install lighting on University Avenue between Kavanaugh Drive and Bay Road either on the street side that has the existing sidewalk or on the median, lighting both side of the road like on the rest of University Avenue to increase safety (currently the side of the road that has lighting on this street portion is the one where there is no sidewalk).
7. To implement an all-red traffic light interval at the University/Kavanaugh/Notre Dame traffic light intersections.
8. To red paint "no parking tow away zones" at the 4 new 81 SamTrans bus stop locations on Kavanaugh Drive.
9. To add trash cans along Kavanaugh / Gloria (e.g. bus stops, intersections, etc.).
10. To level in-between sidewalk sections that are uneven due to tree roots raising concrete
11. To add a red/no-parking zone painted on both side of Kavanaugh Drive/Way and on both city sides at the curve junction between EPA and MP (from the Polytec driveway to the East Palo Alto city sign and from the 1395 Kavanaugh driveway where there is a bus stop sign to the Menlo Park city sign). With cars at high speed/low visibility, this curve is very dangerous when two cars are coming heads on as people almost drive on the middle of the road to avoid cars parked on the sides and at high speed most of the time. See example here: https://vimeo.com/704367839 (if you just examine the section on foot when there are no car driving you do not see what the problem may be).
It would also be great to add some botts dots and/or rumble strips on the double divider lines to provide tactile and auditory feedback to alert drivers starting from the Polytec driveway to the 1396 driveway.
12. To strengthen control and enforcement of speed/traffic/parking regulations.
13. To relook/reactivate the EPA mobility survey/studies and proposed recommendations for the Kavanaugh/Gloria area that were conducted a few years ago.
B. To limit vehicle traffic, the Willow/O’Brien/University area should be redeveloped with pedestrian/bicycle traffic in mind. As such, sidewalks with ADA compliant crosswalks/curbs/ramps, which at present are mostly nonexistent, should be constructed on both sides all along O’Brien Drive (as a continuation and similarly to what has been done at 1035 OBrien Drive for example when it was rebuilt) and Kavanaugh Way in Menlo Park to connect with existing sidewalks on Kavanaugh Drive and University Avenue in East Palo Alto. Better lighting should be installed and bicycle lanes should be also developed on O’Brien Drive.
C. To mitigate traffic issues on the Menlo Park/East Palo Alto Willow Road/O’Brien Drive corridor, please also find down below some additional feedback/improvements (#1 to #11) that should be implemented as soon as possible in coordination with the appropriate agencies (Caltrans, AC Transit, EPA, etc…) in advance of the Willow Village/Meta campus:
1. No parking request in front of 965-985 OBrien Drive, Menlo Park to ease the flow of vehicles to Willow Road. This would allow vehicles on OBrien to be in 2 lines, up to the traffic light (right now the 2 lines, no parking zone is not even barely from 965 OBrien to the light but just a few feet from the corner Willow/OBrien intersection). Vehicles that are parked on the street around 965-985 OBrien make the congestion even worse and the 2hr parking zone is not even enforced in this area. This should be very easy and fast to implement (just relocating the existing "no parking here to curb" further down the street and extending the painting strip to divide the lane further).
2. Installation of a new sign on the far right of the large overhang Newbridge traffic light mast arm coming from US101 towards OBrien Drive with "lane ends - through traffic merge left" would ease the traffic for locals who make a right on Willow Road to Alberni Street and OBrien Drive. At present, through traffic on Willow Road stay on the very right lane from US101 overpass to OBrien Drive, blocking the lane for local traffic turning right. Having a "warning" early posted sign ahead of time will help vehicles merge ahead of time instead of seeing the signs too late and blocking the lanes where local residents need to exit/enter.
3. The Willow Road and side street traffic light synchronization needs to account and take place also East of US101 right away, not just West of US101. Vehicle counts and traffic patterns on OBrien/Ivy/Hamilton should be done/included on the on-going synchronization (also on side streets such as Kavanaugh Way (Menlo Park) and Kavanaugh Drive (East Palo Alto) in anticipation of the FaceBook Willow Campus).
4. As a complement to #2, going East on CA 114 towards the Dumbarton bridge, the sign next to the sidewalk indicating that Willow through traffic must merge left near the intersection of Willow Road and OBrien Drive is too close to the intersection/traffic light. It does not give cars enough distance to move to the left if going straight. This gives the impression that there are 3 lanes instead of 2 and at peak commute hour creates a bottle neck for people who want to turn right on O’Brien Drive. The “Through traffic must merge left” sign should be moved before Alberni Street EPA to give enough time for drivers to get off the right lane and not block it. Again, having a "warning" early posted sign ahead of time will help vehicles merge ahead of time instead of seeing the signs too late and blocking the lanes where local residents need to exit/enter. Some additional “Right arrows” should also be painted just after Alberni Street EPA on the right lane to reinforce the message.
5. Similarly to #2, a new sign can be installed on the far right of the horizontal large overhang Newbridge traffic light mast arm coming from OBrien Drive towards US101 "Right lane must turn right - US101 North SF only".
6. As a complement to #5, going West on CA 114 towards US 101, the new Willow configuration at/after Newbridge is a very nice improvement (except for the Dumbarton express bus stop footprint/location, see #7). However, the signs on the right side indicating that through traffic must merge left and that the right lane is for San Francisco US 101 are not really well placed and from a driver perspective cannot be seen very well (maybe OK if you see them from a pedestrian’s perspective or inspect the intersection on foot, but they are partially hidden by traffic light/trees if you see them from a driver’s perspective on the right or middle lane before the traffic light). May be the placement of the various sidewalk signs between Newbridge and US 101 can be revisited and also some “Right arrows” can be painted just before or after the “SF North” white road marking on the right lane.
7. Going West on CA 114 towards US 101, the Dumbarton Express bus stop on Willow Road, right at the corner of Newbridge MP is badly posted and very dangerous. Unlike the bus stop on the other Willow/Newbridge EPA side going East, and despite the new large sidewalk just been redone, no footprint/easement was accommodated for the bus to pull out of the "turn right 101 North Only" lane. Therefore, drivers following the bus on Willow and who are unaware of the bus stop corner location, get stuck in the middle of the Willow/Newbridge intersection until the bus moves out. Some drivers will then try to get out by partially moving in the middle lane by sharing lanes with cars currently on the middle lane and get into near accidents. At the same time there are also vehicles trying to make a right turn (on red) on Willow from Newbridge MP which makes the situation worse. The bus stop sign should be relocated in a more visible location and a pull out space should be accommodated on the large sidewalk to make a real bus stop aside from trough traffic. Relocating it before the Willow/Newbridge traffic light on the side of Mi Tierra Linda would be best. There is more space and it would be almost at the same location of the other bus stop on the opposite direction/side of the street. This is not simply a problem of responsible drivers but really a poor location of the current bus stop location.
8. In addition to the already difficult situation described on #7, and to avoid people coming from Newbridge MP from blocking Pierce Road and also creating accident situations with drivers coming from Newbridge EPA or Willow Road, there should be a “do not turn right on red” for the light at Newbridge MP. Cars should be forced to stop before Pierce Road and wait for the green light to turn right on Willow Road West.
9. Maintenance wise, several light bulbs are burned off at the OBrien/Ivy traffic lights and many round shape light covers are missing at several location which makes some lights hard to see depending on the sun exposure. The "Do not block the intersection" sign facing OBrien Drive at Willow Road fell of the middle traffic light and is now missing. Also the island traffic light to make a left on OBrien from Willow has been missing and not replaced for several months.
10. Implementation of an all-red interval for vehicle clearance and traffic safety at all the Willow intersections traffic lights between US101 and Bayfront expressway (Newbridge, OBrien, Ivy, Hamilton) to increase safety and prevent such dangerous/accident prone situations that happened previously on Kavanaugh/University and Willow/OBrien (see examples here:
https://vimeo.com/231583589
https://vimeo.com/231583590
https://vimeo.com/231583682 )
11. Repainting of all missing/faded directional doted lines at all the Willow intersections between US101 and Bayfront expressway (Newbridge, OBrien, Ivy, Hamilton) to guide the vehicles turning.
12. Look into safety improvement for the US101 Willow entrances/exits (e,g, minimize traffic lights confusion, traffic lane dividers on Willow, etc,)
