Following the third phase of the presentation of the development for El Camino Real, the Menlo Park’s city council has approved an office development plan to be situated in an area formerly housing the Cadillac dealership. It is a “110,000-square-foot, 40-foot-high retail and office development on 3.5 acres” at El Camino, according to Almanac news.
The catch is, the council did not approve the inclusion of housing units. However, they “left the door open” for the eventual inclusion of housing units in the revised plan for which is expected to be released soon.
Apparently, reactions have been building up since the downtown planning process commenced. This was recently expressed through websites and during the workshops, but now we have an intriguing challenge at hand – a letter from a group called “Concerned Citizens of Menlo Park” which found its way to the City Hall, as if on cue, before the council meeting started.
The letter detailed concerns such as “ozone damage, greenhouse emissions, traffic concerns, and land use issues,” according to reports. The good thing is that citizens are continuously expressing their take on the matter, but the way this particular attempt at expression was done poses questions and creates an awkward situation. While the community workshops are ongoing, one may ask why a group of people would opt to send an essentially anonymous letter (hundreds of pages long) to air their concerns. This casts a shadow on the workshops which rely on open communication. If face to face communication cannot be successfully carried out through such venues, we could only wonder what this group’s next attempt at communication might be, and through what medium might it be delivered.
The city council is now facing pressure both from the citizens and the developer, who some think will not modify the plan to include housing. An area which could have been dedicated for multi-family housing is now going to be utilized for commercial purposes. Perhaps the council envisions a more vigorous economy pad where the housing project would be launched, but as of now, City Manager Glen Rojas has stated there are no current requirements for housing included in the project.
With any process of change, especially in cases such as these which involves massive transformations, there will always be resistance. The challenge now is maintaining transparency and fostering trust among the participants of change so that all parties may move in one direction. Through transparency, good communication is facilitated which tends to prevent the most recent attempt by a group to communicate via mystery or sensationalism.
The focus now should be only El Camino Real and the development plan being proposed, not special interest groups claiming issues with ozone depletion and greenhouse gasses. We can’t let groups like this steal the spotlight from the project and cloud the issues. Community-based workshops should continue maintaining a healthy exchange of opinion and insights and continue to serve their roll as data gathering venues. There may be lots of doubts and accusations right now about the recent developments, but the benefits of having a good housing project plan underway should be not be forgotten or compromised.
The recent meetings involving stakeholders of the El Camino Real/Downtown Specific Plan drew mixed reactions and many challenges from residents. In this planning and consultation stage both sides are struggling for balance and credibility. It’s a good thing these intensive consultative meetings are community-based – it serves as a rich source of inputs and factors to consider. These results can help build the foundation of a flourishing plan for the downtown Menlo area. If done correctly, no one will complain of being left out since everyone was involved from the very beginning.
However, we cannot expect universal acceptance of the plan. Take for example the doubts and fears of residents expressed in preserveMPdowntown.org. They are looking at the consequences of high-density development, zeroing in on factors such as the loss of open space parking by the installation of multi-storied parking garages, congestion, and “over-development.” These factors, they say, will replace the “character of the downtown” with a big city feel, not to mention potentially slow down local businesses.
Perhaps this is an assumption, as development does not necessarily mean dampening the ambience or economy of a town. Enhancing the town’s potentials and highlighting its best features may be the best way to preserve its atmosphere while upgrading its facilities. Having community workshops at the heart of planning helps in shaping a customized plan which can accommodate various concerns of those involved. Instead of a careless, profit-centered development plan, El Camino Real and Menlo Park will enjoy a kind of development that would invite profit for the town and ultimately benefit its residents.
The emerging plan also stands up to the community’s worries. Congestion woes may be answered by the expanded public spaces and even wider sidewalks envisioned for the area. The loss of open space may not necessarily be a result of elevated parking lots; this may even facilitate the preservation of open spaces which may now be utilized for other functions instead of mere parking. The concept of “over-development” is hardest to qualify. In a span of 30 years, a town will surely move towards development. Planning for the town’s future development right now actually prevents unwanted or unexpected changes which the community may someday resent.
While fears of aggressive big businesses defeating small town enterprises have surfaced, we should also consider the fact that more business attracts investments, which would in turn stir the economy. This would create a draft carrying small and medium businesses into a more visible arena. If anything, this may result in a complementary boosting of small and large, local and non-local, and old and new enterprises.
Now that the third community workshop is finished, we must wait for the refining of the plan. It is an exciting thing to wait for its unfolding, and along with it, the future of Menlo Park and El Camino Real. Development goes hand in hand with envisioning the future, and at this stage there is certainly no need for worries as the workshops continue to accept comments and seek alternatives. After all, the challenge is creating a point of agreement between the community and the stakeholders.
Mark your calendars! Menlo-Atherton High School’s performing arts center is making its debut this October.
Performing arts enthusiasts and residents of Menlo-Atherton community now have something new to be proud of and look forward to as Menlo-Atherton High School’s performing arts center is a few short months away from its debut.
Standing proudly at the corner of Ravenswood Avenue & Middlefield Road, the 490-seater theater is slated for opening in the second week of October. Landscaping has begun and furniture will be fitted inside soon after. The Center already has three events lined up to celebrate the theater’s debut, including a public concert by the local chamber music ensemble Music@Menlo on October 11.
Not only is the school excited for the opening of the $32 million-theater. The Menlo-Atherton community is enthusiastic it as well! Finally, local artists and performers will have a home to turn to. With the opening of the new arts center, we are expecting an outpour of artistic outputs that will hopefully place Menlo-Atherton in the art map.
What makes the unveiling even more exciting is the theater’s top-of-the-line acoustics, whose mastermind is the top acoustical design professional Paul Scarbrough, head designer of Cleveland Orchestra’s Severance Hall, Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall and Broadway’s New Amsterdam and New Victory theatres among many others.
Aside from 490-seater space, the new performing arts center has a multi-purpose hall that can sit up to 250 persons, rehearsal rooms and storage area for musical instruments.
Experts say that cultural development serves as a catalyst in community development, and Menlo-Atherton is no exception. Equipped with advanced lighting and audio equipment, the new performing arts center can now host the community’s and possibly the state’s biggest events — may it be drama, music and dance performances, meetings, conventions or social affairs — which will later help boost economy in Menlo-Atherton. It won’t be far until Menlo-Atherton experiences a surge in the arts and business as more people pour in to participate in conventions and attend performance, thus making Menlo-Atherton an even more ideal community to live in.
So mark your calendars, because this October, Menlo-Atherton High School’s new performing arts center will open and don’t you miss it.
Here are some pre-construction renderings as well as an up to date photo of the actually construction status.
While the rest of the city council is eager to see Menlo Park’s new gymnasium erected, Councilman Andy Cohen stands firm that the council’s decision overlooked key concerns and chose the gym over library users.
In Menlo Park, the only person that stands between the new Burgess Park Gymnasium and the residents’ better well-being is Councilman Andy Cohen.
During a July 21 meeting, Mr. Cohen abstained to vote for the construction of the 50-foot-tall, 25,700-square-foot new gym. But instead of explaining his stand, he chose to give a closing statement, turned off his microphone and kept mum during the rest of the meeting.
The $18-million new gym will have two basketball and volleyball courts, five office areas, a meeting room, lockers and a storage area. Planning and approval of the project alone has taken two years, beginning in March 2007, based on a council report. In April 2009, billionaire John Arrillaga volunteered to shoulder the rest of the gym’s construction costs beyond the city’s $6 million contribution .And recently, the city council has voted for the project’s approval amidst concerns about the resulting traffic and congestion problems. The gym is proposed to stand on the library’s parking area along Alma Street.
Critics also question the gym’s two basketball court-design, when the extra space can be used for parking by library users. Based on the plan six parking lots will be available for gym and library users once the gym opens. The city reports exploring the use of SRI International Inc.’s parking lot to accommodate parking overflow during nights and weekends.
Beyond the use of space debate, the new gym must push through because the community has been waiting for years for a decent and well-equipped facility, and there shouldn’t be another reason to make us wait any longer. To see a councilman who cannot overlook traffic problems for the various benefits a new gym offers is disappointing. More so is his lack of ability to rationalize his position.
Mr. Cohen’s courage to stand by his belief despite an overwhelming opposition deserves to be applauded, but choosing to keep silent takes away what leaves to be admired in his action. Wouldn’t those whom he represents opted to let their reasons be heard rather than sulk during the meeting? He wasted the opportunity to enlighten the council of his position.
But he did try to make up for the lost opportunity by explaining to the media in an interview that though he was grateful for Arrillaga’s donation, he felt the council overlooked the people’s welfare after being “blinded” by the million-dollar donation, thereby ignoring the project’s resulting problems. Mr. Cohen also believed that the council’s stand on the proposed gym chooses athletes over library users, a view that echoes the outcry of library patrons.
However, Mr. Cohen also fails to see the multitude of benefits that comes with a new and topnotch gym. Residents will have better facilities and better options to stay fit and healthy. More kids can engage in sports. Overall, a new gym gives Menlo Park residents a chance to improve their wellbeing, while an open parking space gives us just that — open space for vehicles — when there are other nearby available parking space.
Despite Mr. Cohen’s hyped solo opposition, at the end of the day the council approved the proposal to build the new gym. What a relief this is because Menlo Park residents deserve a well-equipped gymnasium and no one man should stand in the way destiny.
Here are links some links of interest:
propertyIt’s all about the status. In our local MLS system we have 8 different statuses for properties ranging from a new listing to a withdrawn listing. When you receive my daily email summaries, they will have a small icon at the top left corner of each property page telling you what the status is for that property. Each listing will also contain a map and links to more info.
When you receive this additional information you are able to follow a listing through its full life cycle including any price changes as well as the final sale price. Also, seeing which listings expire unsold or get withdrawn from the market provides valuable insight into your particular market.
These searches can be set up to be as broad as an entire county or as narrow as a particular street. You choose what you see and don’t see. Additionally, search results can be configured to come to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly which is much more convenient than receiving one email for every new listing or listing change.
To receive all statuses of listings the search must be configured on the admin side of my web site. Unfortunately, no other web sites and neither of my data providers are set up to allow users to set up and receive all listing statuses.
Below is a list of all MLS statuses and a short description.
- Active Listing. This can indicate three possible scenarios 1) A brand new listing. 2) The list price was changed. 3) There is a prior listing agreement in place but the property was withdrawn from the MLS for a period of time and just now brought back to an active status.
- Pending Sale Continue to Show. This property is in escrow but the contingencies have not been removed so agents should continue to show the property to their clients.
- Pending Sale, Contingencies Released. This property is in escrow and the buyer has released all contingencies. The agent is not stating whether or not other agents should show the property.
- Pending Sale No Show. This property is in escrow, contingencies may or may not be released but the listing agent is requesting that the property not be shown to clients.
- Sold Listing. This home just closed escrow.
- Expired listing. The contractual agreement between the seller and the listing agent has expired.
- Cancelled Listing. The contractual agreement between the seller and the listing agent has been terminated. Unfortunately it is also often incorrectly used to temporarily withdraw listings from the market.
- Withdrawn Listing. This can mean only one thing: there is a valid listing agreement in place but for some reason the seller has decided to withdraw the property from the market.
If you would like to have me set up free MLS searches and receive all of the various statuses simply send me an email with the city(s) and price range you would like to receive and I will take it from there. You can reach me at todd@menloathertonrealty.com.
This information was created by Todd Beardsley. He is a real estate agent in the Palo Alto, Menlo Park area.
