Let's see if I get this right. The developer spends months (years?) designing the project, the MP staff spends months reviewing it. An EIR takes months to complete and at the end of this the public gets to sit in room and hear it presented and then has 336 hours to ponder it?

Get real!

Indeed it points to the acceptance that the planning and politicos give the general population of Menlo Park "lip service" at its most limited. Is this a service to the populace who elects them?
People are waking up. And we're not happy.

Aren't EIR response times set by law? Beth and Frugal, have either of you requested extensions to respond to the EIR that weren't granted? Seems unfair to blame the City if extension requests weren't made to extend the statutory deadline. How can people be angry at the City? The only body to review the project to date has been the Planning Commission, and their review isn't even completed yet.

there is a required minimum time period for gathering feedback but not a maximum

It's clear that some people would like to slow things down for more review, but to be fair, we're talking about a process leading up to this project that has been underway for over 10 years! The main potential environmental impacts were determined, reviewed, debated, and even brought to the ballot box MANY times over the past 10 years as the car dealers left, multiple different councils were elected, a Specific Area Plan was created, and this project was brought forward. The Specific Area Plan drives most of the environmental impacts and took over 6 years and nearly 100 public meetings. THIS specific project has been under development, with a lot of public review opportunity for years. It's disingenuous to make it sound like we've only had 336 hours to review everything. Yes, there will be some impact ... both good and bad. But there's been plenty of time and opportunity for the public to note their concerns. The results may not go (or have gone) the way some people would have liked, but that's certainly NOT due to lack of opportunity or sincere consideration by the City. The process has been thorough, and has taken TOO long, if anything already.

If you think the congestion in front of Encinal School is bad now, just wait until this project adds a few hundred car-trips. People are already passing over the double yellow lines and in the bike lane while parents queue to pick up their kids. Atherton should demand funding from the developers to create a fix for this problem ...

@ observer While it does appear the request came late in the process, you are quite mistaken about the environmental review process. This project's EIR is required because it was expected to cause MORE negative impacts than were ever studied before.
This site was not even assumed to be an "opportunity site" in the Specific Plan because other projects were in the works.
So the current environmental study does matter. And the characteristics of the project do matter.
There should be more attention placed on why, after all the review by the MP staff the project the developer says they intend to build is not the same project in the EIR or public benefit financial analysis. How could that happen? Why?

"Atherton should demand funding from the developers to create a fix for this problem ..."

This problem was created by the way in which the school designed its drop off/pick up areas, not by the Town or by developers.

Local jurisdictions have no control over how poorly a school may design its vehicular access.