Menlo Park takes a fourth swing at its housing element

The Menlo Park City Council approved the fourth iteration of the housing element, hoping to finally get state approval, at a lengthy Oct. 10 meeting.

“I feel like I get a lot of questions and feedback from residents (saying) ‘What is wrong with our housing element? Why can’t you guys get over the finish line?’” Mayor Jen Wolosin said. “So I think our priority is really to get this thing done.”

The housing element update is a state-mandated process that occurs once every eight years — and this time, the state is strongly enforcing the regulations. Menlo Park’s deadline for getting approval from the California Department of Housing and Community Development was Jan. 31, and its failure to do so has left the city open to so-called builder’s remedy projects — like the high-rise proposal at the old Sunset Magazine headquarters on Willow Road — that can bypass the city’s development rules.

Menlo Park first submitted its housing element to the HCD over a year ago, in July 2022, but state housing officials sent it back, asking for revisions. A second attempt was shot down by the state in April. The third and most recent iteration of the housing element was submitted in June and rejected in August.

The state identified several problems with the latest housing element, including a lack of analysis of housing development sites and programs, inadequate displacement protections for residents and unequal housing opportunities on the east and west sides of the city.

California requires cities to plan for future development with an eye toward balancing jobs and housing. Menlo Park’s housing target, also known as the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), says the city must plan for close to 3,800 net new housing units by 2031, and show how it will accomplish it in its a housing element.

Rezoning parts of the city to allow for denser housing development has been an ongoing source of contention in the city. This time, Council members Cecilia Taylor and Betsy Nash sought to rezone areas of District 1, which includes the Belle Haven neighborhood and the Bayfront area. Taylor said that the district will have over 2,000 apartments, with many ready to occupy at the end of this year and early next year, without adequate services nearby like transit options, retail and grocery stores.

Taylor suggested looking at changing zoning to improve new residents’ quality of life, including rezoning some of the sites identified for future housing to retail uses. Under no-net-loss laws, the council would then have to increase housing density at other sites to make up for it.

“We are going to have 3,000 apartments in an area that has zero services, and we have the opportunity to change it and we’re not willing to,” Taylor said.

The council majority did not support changing the zoning of Belle Haven while on a tight deadline. Since Menlo Park’s housing element was not approved by the Jan. 31 deadline earlier this year, the city needs to pass zoning modifications by Jan. 31, 2024 in order to not face penalties from the state. The zoning changes still need to go through the Planning Commission before returning to the City Council.

“It’s something that I will continue to ask for, whether it’s downzoning, rezoning, spot zoning,” Taylor said. “Some kind of changes so that we enhance that area for folks who are going to be living there sometime in the new year.”

The council directed staff to make other modifications to the housing element, including the mid-cycle review, which the city is required to perform in order to prove it isn’t unnecessarily restricting housing development.

Council member Maria Doerr suggested that the council not only have a productive mid-cycle review, but also conduct annual progress reports to make sure that the city is encouraging housing.

Wolosin suggested that the city keep an eye on any restrictions that cause several developers to ask the city for waivers or concessions, as those could be considered a governmental constraint.

Menlo Park’s fourth version of its housing element will enter a seven-day public viewing period after city staff makes the requested changes. Following that, it will be sent to the state in hopes of approval once again.