People in Menlo Park are fighting to block 345+ low income homes from being built on what is currently a parking lot.
People in Menlo Park are fighting to block 345+ low income homes from being built on what is currently a parking lot.
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Was curious what their objection was: https://www.savedowntownmenlo.org/
The city is required by the state to build certain amount of high-density, low-income housing near transit (in this case, Caltrain). The city is proposing using land already owned by them -- three parking lots next to a congested downtown strip.
FWIW, looks like the main objection might be losing those three parking lots than straight up NIMBY.
Helpful context. Was wondering why a local business group would be opposed to 700+ new customers - that’s where a lot of the current customers probably park.
At the same time, this is NIMBYism. The Bay desperately needs housing near transit at scale and it’s brutal to see every single project face this kind of resistance.
I grew up in SJ, lived in SF for 10 years, and moved to Detroit last year. My mom is “concerned” about the larger apartment buildings building up near Meridian and Fruitdale because “people won’t be able to see the mountains behind the big buildings”.
Well congrats mom. You got your spot but I and the other people making under 120k/year won’t be there to enjoy them.
NIMBY always has an excuse. They need to convince fence-sitters they're reasonable. It's still NIMBY.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/emilyhoeven/article/menlo-park-affordable-housing-20390001.php
"“Hoping to squeeze large apartment buildings into narrow, heavily used downtown parking lots … is not a path to success,” Save Downtown Menlo organizer Alex Beltramo told me in an email. When I pointed out that the Menlo Park City Council has pledged to replace most, if not all, of the 556 parking spaces that would be impacted, Beltramo argued it wouldn’t be sufficient for residents and shoppers and replacing surface lots with parking garages would be “more difficult to navigate and far less convenient.”"
Build on two lots instead and add a multistory parking garage on the third?
Build on all three, but put 2 levels of parking at each? This seems eminently solvable.
The plan is probably already to include parking levels, but for the new residents.