Tuesday (1/25) night's City Council meeting includes a proclamation condemning antisemitism (Agenda Item D1). The proclamation states that "the City of Menlo Park has a duty to speak out against all forms of discrimination and hate, and draws its strength from its diverse population, of which many self-identify as Jewish." Many Jewish Americans, including myself, are still processing the hostage situation that took place at a synagogue in Texas last weekend. Sadly, this recent event is only one of thousands of anti-Jewish acts of vandalism, harassment, and assault that take place in the U.S. each year.
I am proud to live in a community that shines a light on darkness. As the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who would have been 93 years old on January 15th, the day of the Texas hostage situation, once said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." May we all continue to shine light, and be good to one another.
Agenda items include (Please note that only a handful of the many agenda items are featured below. For all items, please refer to the agenda.):
F2. Adopt a resolution approving the City Council Community Funding Subcommittee's recommendations for 2021-2022 community funding allocations.
In 1996 the City of Menlo Park adopted a formal policy guiding allocation of general fund dollars to community organizations. The policy states that the availability of basic human service programs is a key determining factor in the overall quality of life of Menlo Park residents and that the most cost-effective and efficient manner to ensure that these services are available to local residents is through the development of agreements with existing nonprofit agencies.
The policy goes on to stipulate up to what percentage of the City's general fund property tax revenue can be allocated in this program (1.7%), and what criteria the nonprofit agencies must meet to quality to receive funds. This year the Council Community Funding Subcommittee is recommending allocating $297,000 (the allowable amount per the policy is approximately $508,000). Due to great community need, this is $17,000 more than previously budgeted for this year and it will require a budget amendment.
A list of organizations selected to receive funds, and the amounts requested and recommended to be allocated are in the staff report on page F-2.2.
This project aims to improve pedestrian safety and comfort on Middle Avenue in front of and near Nealon Park. It includes the installation of lighted crosswalk signs (rectangular rapid flashing beacons, aka RRFBs) at Blake and San Mateo Drive, and changes the parking spots to "back in angle parking" in front of the park. This type of parking is known to reduce conflicts between people parking and people using the travel lanes.
This project is one of several involving Middle Avenue, the others being the Middle Avenue Complete Streets Study (from El Camino Real to Olive Street), for which public outreach is being planned for this Spring, and the Middle Bike/Ped Caltrain Undercrossing, for which the last City Council meeting agenda on January 11th included an update (accessible here).
Several Menlo Park neighborhoods (shown on the map above) have series street light circuits with parallel circuitry. These existing circuits are more than 40-years old and consist of direct buried and overhead wires that are unreliable and prone to damage. Whenever one part of the circuit is damaged, or one of the street lights goes out, all lights on the circuit go out as well.
The series circuit and street light replacement in the Suburban Park and Flood Triangle neighborhood project will be the first of three series circuit and street light replacement projects, all of which are identified in the City’s capital improvement plan. These projects will install modern and more reliable infrastructure that will reduce the occurrence of widespread street light outages through rewiring the existing circuits, eliminating the need for PG&E involvement in routine street light maintenance or repairs, and improving energy efficiency by replacing existing high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps with light emitting diode (LED) lamps.
While the current phase of the project addresses Suburban Park and Flood Triangle (up to $933,300), the overall capital improvement project includes an additional $1.2 million and $1.3 million planned for the series circuit and street light replacements in fiscal year 2022-23 and fiscal year 2023-24, respectively. District 3, Linfield Oaks residents, please note that an upgrade is planned for the next few years.
In downtown Menlo Park, the current outdoor dining status is a program that closes the 600 block of Santa Cruz Avenue (where Bistro Vida is located) and a portion of Ryan’s Lane to vehicles, suspends certain zoning requirements, waives processing fees for temporary outdoor use permits, and utilizes funding from the downtown streetscape capital improvement plan (CIP) fund to acquire materials for the street closure and assistance with barricades for businesses. This agenda item is for the City Council to either continue the program, or consider whether modifications to the program and street closures are warranted.
If the Council votes to continue the current program, the proposed urgency ordinance allows its continuation during the existing emergency under the State Health and Safety Code with no specific expiration date. If conditions change, specifically if the State of Emergency ends, because of state laws, the City Council will need to consider taking action under the authority provided by the State Vehicle Code.
For future consideration, the City Council has the authority for a longer-term closure of portions of Santa Cruz Avenue. If the City Council wishes to consider such a policy action, pursuant to the Vehicle Code, the City has the authority to permanently close streets if it finds the street is “no longer needed for vehicular traffic." The City Council may adopt a resolution to permanently close one lane of traffic on a portion of Santa Cruz Avenue, for example. The action to adopt such a resolution would be subject to environmental review consistent with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA.) Staff intends to return to City Council in six to 12 months with options for the City Council’s consideration.
The City intends to release a Request for Proposals (RFP) to hire a qualified consultant to develop an implementation plan to establish a quiet zone along the Caltrain corridor in Menlo Park. The focus of this project will be on the four at-grade crossings within the City boundary of Menlo Park, but may be expanded to consider the Palo Alto Avenue crossing due to the impact on Menlo Park residents and businesses from train horns at this crossing if budget allows.
Staff is requesting feedback from the City Council on the scope of work and selection criteria for the RFP. Depending on the type of feedback, staff anticipates releasing the RFP within two weeks of this Council meeting.
Other Items of Interest
Below are some additional items that may be of interest.
Housing Element News Public Hearing for the Environmental Impact Report Scoping Session for the Housing Element, Safety Element and Environmental Justice Element
Planning Commission Meeting on Monday, January 24th
The City of Menlo Park is currently updating three sections of its General Plan: The Housing Element, The Safety Element and the Environmental Justice Element (a new requirement for the General Plan). The three elements or chapters, are collectively referred to as the Housing Element or Housing Element Update Project. Because of the coming changes to the General Plan, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires the City to prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to study and analyze potential environmental impacts of these updates.
In order to prepare an EIR, the City must issue a Notice of Preparation to all relevant stakeholders, On December 23, 2021, the City released the Housing Element NOP, which began a review and comment period so that interested parties and members of the public could weigh in on the scope and content that should be studied in the EIR. The official comment period will end on January 31, 2022.
Monday night's Planning Commission meeting falls within the established comment period and the Public Hearing on the Housing Element at the meeting will serve as a scoping session for the EIR. Comments can be made on the scope, content and focus of the analysis needed and examples of topics for consideration can be suggested mitigation measures, alternatives, cumulative impacts and more.
Willow Village
Proposed Mixed-Use Master Plan Development Project
Presentation at the Planning Commission on Monday, January 24th *Rescheduled from January 10th*
At Monday (1/24/22) night's Planning Commission meeting, there will be a presentation on the proposed Willow Village project. The presentation was originally scheduled to take place on January 10th. A short staff report is part of Agenda Item F1. 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.
Independent Redistricting Commission Public Hearing
January 27th at 6:30pm
Menlo Park's Independent Redistricting Commission is holding its first public hearing on January 27th at 6:30pm to identify the neighborhoods, communities of interest, and other local factors that should be considered or used as building blocks when the drawing of draft maps begins. It is important to note that while public input concerning the composition of the city's districts will be considered by the Commission, there are federal and state requirements that must be met (the Staff Report outlines what these are).
Additional public hearings concerning the proposed City District boundaries will be held on February 10, March 10, and April 7, 2022. Adoption of a resolution approving the final map will occur on at the April 14, 2022 meeting.
To access Thursday's Independent District Commission agenda, including the staff report for the public hearing (Agenda Item F1) and login information, click here.
Springline (Formerly Greenheart, Station 1300)
Announces Restaurants Coming Soon!
In a previous life (pre marriage, pre children...), I lived in the Richmond District of San Francisco. One of my favorite restaurants on Clement Street was Burma Superstar. The restaurant introduced me to Tea Leaf Salad, Samusa Soup and so many other delicious food dishes. To the good fortune of Menlo Park, it was just announced that the owners of Burma Superstar are opening a sister restaurant, Burma Love, at the new Springline Development that is getting close to finishing construction. And that's not all! It was also announced that a handful of other unique and well-loved dining opportunities are also coming to District 3 at Springline. Those include:
I can't wait to ride my e-bike and walk to this centrally located food haven. For more information about what's to come at Springline visit https://springline.com/. You can also sign up on the Springline webpage to get alerts when more new restaurants and stores are announced.
Realize Flood Park Community Meeting
Wednesday, February 2nd from 5:30 to 7 pm
San Mateo County will be holding a community meeting on Wednesday, February 2, from 5:30 to 7pm, to discuss the Flood Park project (from "Reimagine" to "Realize").At the meeting San Mateo County Park staff and members of the CMG Landscape Architecture team will briefly review community priorities identified in 2015 and the approved 2020 Landscape Plan. A review of the design phase timeline will be followed by breakout sessions during which attendees will be invited to discuss features of the 2020 Landscape plan and provide feedback. For more information about the virtual meeting, including the zoom link to attend, visit https://parks.smcgov.org/press-release/realize-flood-park-community-meeting. Please note that this is a County project, not a City project.
Please Consider Donating Blood
Many Appointments Available
The Stanford Blood Center has a critical and immediate need for all blood types. If you are able to, please consider donating blood. The Stanford Blood Center even has a location in the heart of D3, across from Burgess Park. To make an appointment, click here.
