Research lab opposes new Menlo Park high school

Isn't there some legalese about coming to the nuisance.

Also what does the MP Fire District think of the idea? Peter?

While I am supportive of the school district locating property where they can, Exponent is raising a legitimate concern. It's not a matter of a hazard to the public. Exponent appears to do a lot of forensic analysis following industrial or other accidents, and they do that (I'm kind of guessing here) by carting what remains to their site for inspection and analysis; that's how you figure these things out, and it's important for future safety and legal claims. That means leaving big failed piping, engines or wiring sitting around, as close as possible to the state it was in at the time of the accident. There's probably a lot of equipment, or test set-ups, around that's too large or complicated to move inside or take apart every day. Their business was sited in an area which all assumed was appropriate to this kind of work: low foot traffic, and well isolated from lots of ordinary residents and office workers. Their concern is clearly that, no matter how well they protect their facility, having some several hundred high school students right next door is simply not prudent. It's not that students generally can't be well-behaved or are looking for trouble. It's that just a single such student might really harm themselves by somehow getting on the grounds -- on a dare, out of real curiosity and interest, to win a bet, whatever. With hundreds of students around every day, for years, it's hard not to see Exponent's risk-based concern: the 'law of large numbers' will eventually prevail and the outcome could be nasty, perhaps even fatal. This is not a little R&D lab like so many that exist all over the M-2 area. Can the school district in designing the school mitigate that risk? It's up to them to put forward that design, with a clear expression of the hazard involved, and how it can be reduced, for all to see before they decide on going forward.

proposed site is far closer to the highway (~500 feet) than the state guidelines (1,500 -2,500 feet)
Web Link

Looks like (if the context is correct in this article that Commission Chair Ben Eiref thinks very highly of himself and a singular approach at addressing the needs of the all: "If (Exponent executives) think that that's a health hazard to the community, they should take care of that themselves," I have not seen enough information yet, but I would think bloviating is the least desirable way to have others join your cause.