Alternatives
The question is not whether to build more affordable housing in Menlo Park. (The State requires it. We do not have a choice.) The question is where.
Many have suggested using the Civic Center parking lots instead of the downtown parking lots. That would be better, but it’s not our only choice. Not by a long shot.
In the adjacent image, the red area indicates Parking Plazas 1, 2 and 3. The 6 yellow areas indicate viable alternatives which our 2023-2031 Housing Element does not adequately account for.
Rather than piling 345+ units of low income housing onto our already-crowded downtown parking lots, we could spread that housing into mixed-income developments throughout the City.
To meet our housing needs, we need not sacrifice our downtown, nor need we rely on our Civic Center.
We have other options. Let’s look at them …
3750 Haven Ave.
(4.5 acres)
3750 Haven Ave. (currently a FedEx distribution center) is located in an area of District 1 that has undergone gentrification. According to our Housing Element and 2025 HCD data, District 1 is facing displacement risk due to increasing rents. And there is no affordable housing in the pipeline.
David Bohannon, the owner of 3750 Haven Ave., has expressed “serious interest to develop the Property into much-needed, high-density housing … to help the City achieve substantial compliance with the State Housing Element Law.”
But the City has yet to take him up on it.
Is it in the Housing Element? NO
1283 Willow Road
(.66 acres)
Weighing in at .66 acres, 1283 Willow Rd. is not big. But it’s bigger than Downtown Parking Lot 2 (.56 acres). And it’s city-owned. And it’s vacant.
And adding affordable housing here, even a little, would help with Belle Haven’s current displacement risk.
Included in Housing Element:
NO
Bohannon Industrial / Office Park
(Eastern portion - 25 acres)
The owners of the 25 acre north-eastern portion of Bohannon Park have repeatedly told the City that they WANT to redevelop the site for housing. They have sent multiple letters to the City expressing that desire. From this Dec. 6, 2022 letter:
From page 1:
Moreover, we also request that the City include the contiguous parcels located in Bohannon Park (as shown on the attached map) that DDBO controls and which could be assembled and developed into a viable, multi-family village if the City creates the necessary densities, such as those established for the ConnectMenlo General Plan (“ConnectMenlo”).
From page 2:
In the June 6, 2022 Staff Report, staff recommended to the City Council that, not only should you keep these sites on the Site Inventory, but you also should increase the densities. However, the City Council ignored this recommendation and removed the sites in the face of clear demonstration of our willingness to redevelop the sites at more viable densities.
This site could be a game changer. Why are not taking this opportunity.
Included in Housing Element:
NO
SRI / Parkline
(63 acres)
SRI is finishing up its move to a new location and has been negotiating with the City to use their 63 acre campus to create the Parkline mixed-use development.
The latest proposal includes 800 housing units, of which 251 would be affordable. That’s 251 affordable units that our Housing Element did not account for.
Furthermore, the proposal includes 5 office buildings, totalling 1.1 million square feet. Rather than the City giving away our vital downtown parking lots, could we incentivize SRI to put more housing and less offices?
Included in Housing Element:
NO
South of Downtown
(31 acres)
The 31 acres just south of downtown are filled with old apartment buildings that are reaching the end of their lifespans.
And yet, within this area, there are only two sites listed in our Housing Element: one is .52 acres and one is .63 acres - each too small on their own to do anything meaningful.
Why not put all this land into the Housing Element, upzone it, and incentivize high-density, mixed-income housing?
NOTE: This area (like SRI) is close to the train station. But we should not overly emphasize proximity to CalTrain. We want our affordable housing to be for people who work in Menlo Park - and thus would not be using the train to commute.
Included in Housing Element:
LESS THAN 4% OF IT
2400 Branner Dr.
(2.9 acres)
And now, 124 acres later, we finally get to an actual park. We love our parks. But this one, Stanford Hills Park, is barely used. And the area is already surrounded by open space.
It’s city-owned, so if the City is wanting to use our land for housing, this would not be a bad choice. It would be an ideal spot for people working at Stanford.