by Eleanor Raab, January 17, 2025
https://www.almanacnews.com/menlo-park/2025/01/16/menlo-park-finds-development-application-at-80-willow-inconsistent-with-standards/
Renderings show what the site at 80 Willow Road might look like. Courtesy city of Menlo Park.
Menlo Park has determined that the application for the controversial “Willow Park” development at 80 Willow Road, the site of the former Sunset Magazine headquarters, is not consistent with city development standards.
As the project was submitted under the ‘builder’s remedy’ provision of state housing law, this determination does not amount to a denial of the project. Consistency review is a required step under state housing law, even if it does not necessarily change the outcome of the project.
The “builder’s remedy” provision prevents municipalities that do not have a state-certified housing element from denying housing projects that meet certain affordability criteria, even if those projects are not consistent with the municipality’s zoning standards or general plan. Menlo Park’s housing element had not been certified at the time that the application for this project was submitted to the city.
The proposed project would consist of three towers that contain 665 housing units, more than 350,000 square feet of office space, a Montessori school, a 130-room hotel and nearly 40,000 square feet of retail space.
As required by state law for buildings submitted under builder’s remedy, 20% of the housing units planned for the project would be affordable to households earning less than 80% of the area median income. This would amount to 133 affordable units for the project.
Now that the city has completed its review for consistency, the next step in the project is California Environmental Quality Act review.
According to Menlo Park’s Community Development Director Deanna Chow, the city plans to issue a request for proposals for a potential CEQA consultant sometime in the week of Jan. 19. The chosen consultant would be tasked with preparing an environmental impact report for the proposed Willow Park project. The environmental review process will include opportunities for public review and comment.
The preparation of an environmental impact report for a large project such as Willow Park can take more than a year.
During the environmental review process, the city will also determine if any special historical statuses apply to the property. The site has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places by the Menlo Park Historical Association. The State Historical Resources Commission will consider the nomination at its May 9 meeting. The meeting was originally set for Feb. 7 but was postponed.