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Menlo Park can now finally move full-speed ahead on putting its state-mandated, long-range housing plan into actual action.
On Tuesday, Jan. 23, the City Council voted 3-1 to adopt Menlo Park’s 2023-31 housing element document as conditionally approved by the state. Vice Mayor Drew Combs dissented, and Councilmember Maria Doerr was absent.
The city now sends the plan to the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) ahead of the Jan. 31 deadline for final certification.
The anticipated stamp of approval ends a process of nearly three years during which the city went through numerous public discussions and debates toward crafting the plan and sent four drafts to the state before being granted the conditional OK in a Dec. 20 letter from HCD.
The city will “be able to move forward with focusing more toward implementing more of the housing element programs, knowing that we are working from a fully-certified housing element,” Menlo Park Principal Planner Tom Smith said during the council meeting.
He noted that the city has initiated some of those programs already.
Eight of 69 programs involving zoning-related amendments that the council approved late last year are underway, he said.
“In the coming years, staff will be focusing on programs that have featured prominently in council discussions and through community feedback,” he said. Those include a strategy against the displacement of residents, analyzing and preparing downtown parking lots for affordable units, and revising the city’s below-market-rate housing guidelines.
“In addition,” Smith said, “we are continuing work on the environmental-justice and safety elements and anticipate returning to council tentatively during the spring months of this year for more information on that.”
After his council colleagues passed the housing element, Combs briefly spoke on his no vote.
“I just wanted to clarify: I had no specific objection to those amendments and very much understood the necessity of them,” he said. “I have preexisting objections to the housing element.”
‘I just wanted to clarify: I had no specific objection to those amendments and very much understood the necessity of them. I have preexisting objections to the housing element.’
Menlo Park Vice Mayor Drew Combs
Every eight years, local governments throughout California need to update their plan according to the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) requirements.
For the current eight-year span, RHNA required Menlo Park to accommodate the development of close to 3,000 new dwellings at different income levels — up from the 655 in the last cycle.
The plan also includes goals and policies “to encourage housing production, improve equity and reduce disparities in housing throughout the community,” Smith said. It covers “a range of actions from supporting affordable-housing development to encouraging housing for special-needs populations and promoting sustainable and resilient housing.”
Jeremy Levine, policy manager for the nonprofit organization Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County, applauded Menlo Park for its work on the plan and reaching this juncture.
“This housing element has a lot of really good policies,” Levine said, addressing the council. “We are excited for you to approve it and get to work implementing the vision that you have laid out and your staff have laid out. We really appreciated the opportunity to work together with the city on developing this plan, and we’re excited to continue working together with the city to implement it.”
So far out of the 21 jurisdictions in San Mateo County, only Redwood City, South San Francisco and Brisbane have fully state-certified housing elements.
