You're hearing from me so soon again because this week there is an extra City Council meeting (see below).
I hope the official first day of Summer (Wednesday, June 21st) is the start to a wonderful season for us all.
Warmly,
Special Joint Council and Planning Commission Meeting on the
Environmental Justice and Safety Elements Tuesday, June 20th at 5pm Closed Session will begin at 5pm, Open Session will Directly Follow
The meeting will start at 5pm with one City Council Closed Session item:
C1. Closed session conference with labor negotiators pursuant to Government Code §54957.6 regarding labor negotiations with the Service Employees International Union Local 521 (SEIU), American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 829 (AFSCME), and Confidential employees.
There is one Open Session item to be considered by both the City Council and the Planning Commission (to commence directly after Closed Session):
Chances are, if you've been reading my newsletters over the past few years, you are more or less familiar with the Housing Element process. It's a state-mandated update that occurs every eight years to the "Housing" chapter of each jurisdiction's General Plan. As I've previously covered, the Housing Element must identify a sufficient number of housing opportunity sites to satisfy each jurisdiction's Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) and outline programmatic and policy commitments that enable housing to occur on those sites. The City of Menlo Park adopted its Housing Element on January 31st of this year, and is currently addressing comments received from the State Housing and Community Development (HCD) department. These proposed modifications to the Housing Element are anticipated to be discussed by the City Council at the June 27th meeting.
In addition to the "Housing" chapter of the General Plan, the City has also been working on two additional chapters; the Safety Element and the Environmental Justice Element. Because this work has been taking place around the same time as the Housing Element update, and the same staff and consultants are on the project, the efforts for all three chapters, those for "Housing," "Safety," and "Environmental Justice" are all being referred to using the umbrella term of the "Housing Element Update" project. The purpose of Tuesday's (6/20) joint Study Session with the Council and the Planning Commission are to review and provide feedback to the second and third chapters mentioned (Safety and Environmental Justice).
The Safety Element is an update to an existing General Plan chapter. The purpose of the Safety Element is to identify and appraise risks in the community and provide high-level strategies for mitigating risks and ensuring the wellness of the community, city services and infrastructure. The current Menlo Park Safety Element was adopted on May 21, 2013, and since then, State law requires safety elements to include climate change adaptation and resiliency and increased attention to wildfire and evacuation routes.
The update to the Safety Element includes new and modified policies and programs under one overarching goal: Goal S1: Assure a Safe Community:
Under a relatively new State law (SB 1000 from 2016), Menlo Park must develop a new chapter of its General Plan. Local governments are now required to analyze whether or not they have "Disadvantaged Communities" and if so, they must develop an Environmental Justice Element. "Disadvantaged Communities", a defined term, are areas that suffer from a combination of economic, health and environmental burdens, including poverty, pollution, and social and health indicators of risk and stress. In accordance with State guidelines, Belle Haven and the Bayfront, generally the portion of Menlo Park located north of Hwy 101 and in District 1, have been identified as such.
The draft Environmental Justice Element has seven overarching goals and associated policies and programs to foster the wellbeing of Menlo Park residents living in underserved and disadvantaged communities:
Study Session on Tuesday (6/20)
Tuesday night's meeting is the first of two joint study sessions with the City Council and Planning Commission on these two elements (Safety and Environmental Justice). Staff will take feedback from Tuesday's meeting to further refine the documents and to help make recommendations on actionable policies and programs, with prioritization considerations related to budget, urgency of implementation and anticipated impact to the community. Stay tuned!
Lane Partners Seeking Feedback on Parkline (SRI Project)
Survey Open to Community Members
Lane Partners, the developer of the Parkline project (SRI campus redevelopment), is hosting a community survey on their Parkline development website here. Note that this is not a City-sponsored survey. For information about Parkline on the City's website, click here.
Pet Preparedness for Disasters Seminar at
MPC Ready Community Meeting
Saturday, June 24th at 9am
Did you know that June is national pet preparedness month? Pets are family members too! Even if you do not have a pet, your neighbors probably do. On Saturday, June 24th at 9am, Buffy Martin-Tarbox, Communications Manager for the Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA, will discuss how to include pets, assistance, and service animals in preparedness plans. Participants will receive guidance on how to consider the needs of their pets when preparing an emergency/disaster plan, building an emergency/disaster kit, and carrying out other preparedness actions. Participants without pets will learn how to help neighbors with pets during disaster situations.
Location: Trinity Hall, Trinity Church. 330 Ravenswood Avenue, Menlo Park. Free and open to all members of the public. Refreshments and Raffle Drawing.
Meeting sponsor: MPC Ready, a neighborhood level disaster preparedness organization. https://www.mpcready.org . Questions? Please contact Lynne@mpcready.org or 650-380-3028.
Intro to E-Bikes Online Workshops
Thursday, June 29th at 11am and Wednesday, July 19th at 12pm
Most of you know that I'm an avid e-biker and I love to go on and on about my e-bikes (yes, I have two). If you've ever been tempted to try an e-bike, it's time to discover what all the excitement is about. Imagine effortlessly cruising through city streets or embarking on exhilarating outdoor adventures. Are you ready to embrace the revolutionary world of e-bikes, but not sure which one is right for you? Or perhaps you already own an e-bike and want to gain more confidence in riding it? Check out these upcoming Intro to E-Bikes workshops being held on Thursday, June 29th at 11am and Wednesday, July 19th at 12pm. For more information about these workshops, and to learn about Peninsula Clean Energy's E-Bikes for Everyone campaign (major rebates available for income qualifying residents - first come, first serve), click here. And if you ever want to chat about all things e-bike related, reach out!
I also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge some of the concerning e-bike riding behavior by teenagers that many of us are witnessing on city streets. If you have a teenager with an e-bike, or who has a friend with an e-bike, please talk to them about safe riding behavior. And for those of you who want to get more involved with helping to educate our youth on proper and safe e-biking etiquette, the National Safe Routes to School Partnership is hosting a web session on e-biking and safety on Wednesday, July 12th at 12pm. For information, please click here.
