How Stanford's El Camino complex will change Menlo Park

Forever to be known now as 'ANYWHERE USA'. Sad.

All Congratulations to the City Council for finally brining this sorely needed project to reality. This will greatly improve El Camino Real and Menlo Park. At long last, the blight that we have had to endure at the hands of the "no progress/no growth" lobby for nearly 20 years will be replaced with a beautiful, useful, community enriching new development.

Be sure the contracts and terms with Stanford are ironclad. They have a way of altering promises at the last minute particularly when it comes to bike and pedestrian rights of way.

Agree with jackrabbit---Menlo Park has become Palo Alto

PV res:

then stay in Portola Valley. Your "downtown" is lovely. Isn't it?


[Editor's note: This thread has gotten off topic]

Vacant lots have defined our stretch of El Camino for 10+ years. I'm ready for a different "definition". Not saying this is perfect, but it is going to be an improvement.

As I understand it Harvard Ave. will continue to have parking restrictions for non residents and parking passes will be required to be displayed visibly in the car. This restriction may also be on Cambridge and other Allied Arts streets.

Hopefully this hasn't changed w/ the approval of this development.

Reading the rapturous praise offered by “Happy Resident” leaves me shaking my head, wondering how on earth El Camino Real in Menlo Park (to say nothing of our nascent safe routes to schools) will be “greatly improved” with the addition of 6,400 daily vehicle trips during commute hours. I support redevelopment of the Stanford and Greenheart properties but no reasonable traffic mitigation has been proposed for these projects, in part or in sum. We’re going to build and see how bad things get, and this abject failure to address basic traffic concerns is but one facet of the disconnect between the large projects before us and the first four Phase 1 Vision Goals from the DSP [Web Link

1. Vision Plan Area Character: Maintain a village character unique to Menlo Park.
2. East‐West Connectivity: Provide greater east‐west, town‐wide connectivity.
3. El Camino Real Circulation: Improve circulation and streetscape conditions on El Camino Real.
4. Neighborhood Context: Ensure that El Camino Real development is sensitive to and compatible
with adjacent neighborhoods.

Neither Stanford nor Greenheart are to blame for this disconnect, of course, and most here know the fate of the recent effort to amend the DSP (I supported Measure M, even with its flaws). A few personal concerns based on statements in this article (I don’t expect anyone to share these — just humbly offering what one resident is thinking):

-- “The three- to five-story buildings will range in height from 38 to 60 feet, with the tallest ones closest to the Caltrain tracks." -- Effectively erecting a huge sound wall which will greatly increase train noise in my own neighborhood, Linfield Oaks.

-- “John Donohoe, Stanford director of planning and entitlements, responded to the former request by explaining that 'people are cheap' and would most likely just park in nearby neighborhoods rather than pay. To the latter request, Ms. McCown said, the employers should be able to decide how best to cut car trips for their employees." -- Yet more confirmation that the parking and traffic problems created by these projects truly aren't Stanford's concern, while inviting another impact into my neighborhood once the pedestrian/bicycle tunnel is complete: some significant number of people employed in the Stanford office or retail space will park in Linfield Oaks along Alma Street (already happening with downtown Palo Alto workers) or near Burgess Park and walk the final few hundred yards via the tunnel to work, thus avoiding the ever-worsening traffic clusterfreude which snarls El Camino Real and Ravenswood each weekday morning and afternoon/evening. One can easily imagine a restricted or permit parking scenario developing in Linfield Oaks, much the way it has in Allied Arts or in downtown Palo Alto (and that would be unfortunate).

-- My neighborhood will likely bear the brunt of those 6,400 additional daily car trips, being a natural cut-through to/from points east and south. I’ve already seen traffic back up on Willow Road to East Creek Drive waiting for the light at Middlefield Road — it will surely back up west of Laurel Street once the Stanford and Greenheart offices are fully occupied.