I hope this newsletter finds you well. While we were all hoping for a fresh start in 2022, with the prevalence of Omicron, it is once again an anxious time. Please be good to yourselves and to each other. I do believe that bright days will come.
This year brings many changes to City Hall. At the last regular City Council meeting of 2021, Betsy Nash (District 4) was selected to serve as Mayor for 2022, and I was chosen to be Vice Mayor. In addition, it was announced on Friday, January 7th that City Manager Starla Jerome-Robinson will be leaving the City and that Deputy City Manager, Justin Murphy, will be serving as Interim City Manager, pending formal appointment at Tuesday's City Council meeting (Agenda Item H1). Following his official appointment, Mr. Murphy will serve until the City Council appoints someone permanent for the role (the recruitment is well-underway). I wish Ms. Jerome-Robinson well, and I look forward to the leadership that both Mayor Nash and Interim City Manager Murphy will bring into the new year.
As always, I am available to answer any questions you have (or refer you to someone who can help) and I look forward to continuing to serve in the year ahead.
At the request of Board of Supervisor President, Don Horsley, the County of San Mateo will be studying a potential redesign of Coleman and Ringwood Avenues - two multijurisdictional streets that greatly impact residents of District 3 in Menlo Park. The County has requested coordination and partial cost sharing with the City of Menlo Park, and an extension of the study to cover the portion of Coleman Avenue within the City's jurisdiction.
The study has a primary goal to determine the preferred conceptual designs for Ringwood and Coleman Avenues through a robust community engagement process, including gathering and analyzing data, developing and applying evaluation criteria, and identifying improvements to active transportation, safety and mobility. If approved, I will be closely following this study and updating you as it proceeds.
The MPCC clean energy infrastructure project would install a solar plus battery storage microgrid, solar thermal pool heating to reduce energy loads, and 27 on-site electric vehicle charging spaces in a neighborhood where tenants living in multifamily units are unlikely to have adequate access to at-home EV charging. This state-of-the-art investment in clean energy infrastructure not only pays for itself in the long run, but will provide ongoing savings to the City. Details can be found in the Staff Report.
H2. Adopt a resolution approving and authorizing the Mayor to the joint powers agreement of the Peninsula Traffic Congestion Relief Alliance (aka Commute.org) and appoint a representative to the board of directors.
Joining Commute.org as a member would give the City an official vote on the board of directors, while continuing the existing, strong working relationship the City has with the organization. Working with or promoting Commute.org supports all three objectives of a recently completed city Transportation Management Association feasibility study: endorsing regional Transportation Demand Management (TDM) efforts, serving as an example of an employer with a robust TDM program, and ensuring TDM support is available to all businesses. Joining Commute.org as a member is a key action to achieve the first of these objectives – endorsing regional TDM efforts. There is no fee to the city for membership.
The proposed concept design for the Middle Avenue pedestrian and bicycle crossing (see image on the left above) requires an acquisition of approximately 17,000 square feet of the 700-800 El Camino Real property (part of the parking lot of the Big 5 retail strip, see yellow part of the image on the right above). This agenda item is to authorize the purchase of this strip of land, and two temporary easements to be used during construction, for a price of $3,894,500. The current estimated cost of the entire project is $20 million (subject to change). Page H-4.3 of the staff report outlines the status of the sources of revenue (already at hand, and needed) to complete the project. Once completed, this project will provide a much-needed east-west connectivity route for bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.
Below are some additional items that may be of interest.
SRI/Parkline Project Page Live on City Website
For those of you eagerly waiting for more information about the SRI/Parkline project, please note that there is now a City webpage dedicated to the proposed development. You are encouraged to visit the site which includes 34 pages of project plans. You can sign up to receive emails when new information is added to the site by scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking "Subscribe to this page."
Willow Village
Proposed Mixed-Use Master Plan Development Project
Presentation at the Planning Commission on Monday, January 10th
At Monday (1/10/22) night's Planning Commission meeting, there will be a presentation on the proposed Willow Village project. A short staff report is part of Agenda Item G1. Willow Village is a 59-acre mixed-use development in District 1 that would demolish on-site buildings and landscaping and construct new buildings within a town square district, a residential/shopping district, and a campus (office) district. The proposed project would result in a net increase of approximately 800,000 square feet of nonresidential uses (office space and non-office commercial/retail,) for a total of approximately 1.8 million square feet of nonresidential uses at the project site. In addition, the proposed project would include 1, 730 multifamily housing units, a hotel and publicly accessible open space (i.e. elevated linear park, town square, dog park, and 3.5 acre publicly accessible park).
The presentation at the Planning Commission on Monday seeks to reintroduce the proposed project to the community. The City is in the process of completing the environmental analysis and anticipates releasing the draft environmental impact report (DEIR) in the first quarter of 2022. The release of the DEIR begins a minimum 45-day comment period and during that period the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the DEIR. That meeting is anticipated for the spring of 2022 and this presentation provides an update on the project to the community in advance of the DEIR release. The public hearing for the DEIR would be paired with a study session on the proposed project to allow the Planning Commission and community members to comment on other topics of community interest (e.g. architectural design, project phasing, community amenities, etc.). In addition, the City is reviewing the community amenity proposal associated with the project. It is likely that the proposal would be reviewed by the City Council in February 2022.
Information about how to virtually attend Monday's meeting can be found on the agenda here.
Climate Change Discussion
Code Red: What Municipalities Can Do
Friday January 14th from 12:00 to 1:30pm
For 90 minutes on January 14th some of the nation’s leading experts on climate change and local policy will be on hand, talking directly with Bay Area elected officials about the implications of August’s “Code Red” warning from the IPCC and how cities are emerging as our strongest hope for action.
Learn what the facts are, what technology solutions are available today, and how to pass good climate policy designed to achieve the goals set by cities and the state.
This is a must attend event for local elected officials, municipal staff and the interested public who haven’t had time to read the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report Summary for Policymakers, but need to know what it says and how to respond. Register here.
