An ordinance that would require a citywide vote before Menlo Park repurposes its downtown parking lots will likely be headed to an election as the San Mateo County Election’s Office verified that enough signatures were submitted.
Since the citizen’s initiative has qualified, the Menlo Park City Council can either adopt the ordinance entirely, call a special election or place it on the November 2026 ballot. The City Council is scheduled to discuss the initiative at its Nov. 4 meeting.
It is unlikely that the City Council would adopt the ordinance since a majority of councilmembers have reaffirmed their support for the downtown parking lot project several times since the initiative launched in May.
The initiative was started by Save Downtown Menlo, a group of citizens and businesses, to block the city’s plan to develop several city-owned parking lots in downtown Menlo Park into affordable housing. City leaders eyed affordable housing on the parking lots in order to meet state mandates. Some downtown businesses say that the loss of parking, coupled with an influx of new residents who themselves wouldn’t have adequate additional parking, would be detrimental to many Menlo Park businesses.
The city’s requested developers provide replacement parking for most of the spots that are lost but not an additional parking space for every new unit.
If approved, the “Downtown Parking Plazas Ordinance” would require a citywide vote before any action that restricts the availability of downtown parking, with exceptions for temporary uses and maintenance.
“Our ordinance is simple: it does not prohibit development, but ensures that any proposal to repurpose the downtown parking plazas would first be decided by a public vote,” Alex Beltramo, a proponent of the initiative, said in a press release.
“We hope this milestone opens the door to an inclusive process in which Menlo Park residents are fully engaged in meeting the city’s need for affordable housing — in ways that make sense for the whole community,” he added.
Menlo Park aims to use the parking lots to help meet its state housing mandate, which requires the city to plan for 2,946 new housing units, including 1,662 affordable units, by 2031. The city’s plan calls for at least 345 affordable units across three downtown parking lots.
The city sent a request for proposals to several developers in September and responses are due in December. The city likely won’t be able to give the go ahead to start construction until after the election. The city originally hoped to complete the development by 2027.
