Menlo Park: Council starts downtown plan review

The City will still be talking about this issue 10 years from now -- having study sessions, hiring a consultant, neighborhood meetings, and so on.

Meanwhile the traffic will continue to gets worse.

Menlo Park like other cities on the peninsula will talk/meet/plan/spend on consulting but little will happen for 10 or more years. Look at Redwood CIty which has completely transformed itself from sleepy low rise buildings to vibrant livable downtown with walkable food/entertainment and outdoor space. Wake up Menlo Park

retail rents are too high, that's why we can't have anything nice. We have good plan in place, passed in 2012. Why no try that! Traffic isn't the issue in MP it's the cost to rent a store front, little foot traffic due to little vibrancy, mediocre restaurants (several that aren't open for dinner) and many businesses that don't generate return trips (furniture and rug/flooring stores). Also the west end of SC is completely taken over by a sprawling church complex. How about a bar? For the pearl clutching set, how about a wine bar.

Menloresident- how about those that like Menlo as it is? Not every city has to be "vibrant". Leave Menlo alone and let office and massive housing developments go to other cities. Leave Menlo with the few remaining shreds of charm it has.

I have two suggestions for the Council's consideration:

1 - The DSP needs a better definition of what might constitute a Public Benefit in order to qualify for a higher FAR.

In my opinion a Public Benefit is a physical improvement that is accessible to and benefits the general public.
Paying otherwise required taxes or building underground tenant use only garages, for examples, do not benefit
the general public. It also makes no sense to grant a developer millions of dollars worth of additional development
rights in exchange for a very small one time cash payment to the city.

2 - In the ECR NE - Low Density zone development limits should be revised to completely eliminate the Public Benefit
bonus since the current Public Benefit bonus FAR is inconsistent with the designation of Low Density. This zone
is primarily residential and a Public Benefit bonus FAR of 1.25 far exceeds what is appropriate for a residential
area.

Please tell me your kidding -- that the City thinks its a good idea to take active steps to increase population!?! MP is choking on congestion everywhere. We are overcrowded and it is near insufferable. If anything, MP should consider making it exceptionally painful for new growth to occur and stick to our agreed upon caps. WE SET LIMITS on growth. Limits are limits.

If you want to do anything, we should institute caps CITY WIDE.

Big, ugly banks take up entire blocks of Santa Cruz Ave. Replacing those with shops and restaurants would be a good start.

Don't complain about population growth if you're not happy to be child-less and tell you grandkids to scram out of town. If you want no-growth, move to Indiana. This is one of the most expensive and successful regions on the planet and thinking that lil' ole Menlo Park can be immunized is short sighted, and means we'll lose any shred of control over our future we think we have. Keep pushing on!

Menlo Park urgently needs Much, Much More Housing (affordable and otherwise) so that those who work in and near Menlo Park can live in Menlo Park whether you are an investment banker, a start-up CEO, a waiter, or teacher, or policeman, or plumber ...there is lots and lots of space for a wide variety of high density housing...

menlo as is:
How about the city starts by allowing more permits in existing buildings for restaurants? Allowing 2 or 3 story mixed use buildings clearly you prefer 3 or 4 ? Empty rug stores, I lost count.. when did you last step foot in to any of the rug stores? Have you seen the prices? 3? large banks (one is closed for now) , 2 real estate firms, 2 bathroom/kitchen showrooms, 2 furniture showrooms. When did you step in to any of these places?
Ok, so don’t want Menlo Park to look like Redwood City, Palo Alto and Mountain View ...You can have still have nice things and keep the charm with some common sense planning and permitting allowances.
Do you know that Menlo Park will not allow you to convert retail space in to restaurant space or other use space? So we will forever be stuck with rug stores l.
I live blocks from downtown and my kids prefer a car ride to Redwood City foe town
You to can have nice things Menlo As Is and if you don’t want nice things let others have them