Menlo Park Community Development
Agency
The Community Development Agency
of the City of Menlo Park was created in 1981 under the California
Community Redevelopment Law. This law enables a local government
to form a community development agency when a determination is
made that economic, physical or social blight or blighting influences
exist within a community or designated area.
Deteriorating or blighted areas have
serious adverse social, economic, and physical conditions which
constitute a danger to the health, safety, and general welfare
of the people of the community. These conditions also act
as a barrier to new investment by private enterprise. Some
examples of deterioration or blight in a community include: deteriorating,
unsafe, and poorly maintained buildings and structures; inadequate
and obsolete infrastructure, such as street lighting and inefficient
street systems; high business vacancies; and unsafe and substandard
housing conditions, including overcrowding.
The Menlo Park Community Development
Agency (the “Community Development Agency” or the “Agency”) works
to eliminate or reduce blight and reverse deteriorating trends
within the boundaries of the Las Pulgas Community Development
Project Area (the “Project Area”). The Agency uses tax increment
financing in order to fund projects and programs. Common
projects include property rehabilitation/repair, development of
quality affordable housing, economic development/job creation,
and capital improvements such as improved traffic circulation
and neighborhood beautification.
Frequently Asked Questions About Community Development
Q: What is Community Development?
A: Community development is a process
created to assist local government in eliminating blight from
a designated area (the “project area”) and to achieve desired
development, reconstruction and rehabilitation including (but
not limited to) residential, commercial, industrial and retail.
Through this process, the project area receives focused attention
and financial investment to reverse deteriorating physical, social,
and economic trends; enhance the overall living environment; and
encourage private sector investment together with the provision
of improved/additional public amenities.
The process
of community development involves:
- Comprehensive planning for revitalization
- Citizen and property owner participation
- Public and private enterprise
partnerships
- Improved public facilities
Q: Where is the Project Area in
Menlo Park?
A: The City of Menlo Park has
one community development project area, the Las
Pulgas Community Development Project Area, which was established
in 1981. It is generally located in the northeastern part
of the city, primarily to the north of Highway 101. The
Project Area covers approximately 857 acres and is bounded generally
on the north and northeast by the San Francisco Bay, on the northwest
by Redwood City, and on the southeast by the City of East Palo
Alto. It consists of the following five sub-areas:
(1) The
Belle Haven Neighborhood
This mostly residential neighborhood is the “anchor” of the Project
Area. It is located in a triangular area bounded by Highway
101, the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board railroad line,
and Willow Road. The neighborhood offers several amenities
and services including a community center, swimming pool, library,
childcare center, schools, a senior center, and a police substation.
(2) The Willow Road/O’Brien Drive Industrial Area
This area includes Willow Park, Menlo
Business Park and O’Brien Drive to the southeast of Belle Haven
and the Sun Microsystems site to the north of Belle Haven.
(3) The Willow Road corridor between Highway 101 and
Middlefield Road
Over 95 percent developed, this narrow
area south of Highway 101 has a mixture of residential and commercial
development and includes the Veterans Hospital of Menlo Park.
(4) A small area that includes Flood Park
This area is located to the south of
Highway 101 and to the north of Bay Road and includes San Mateo
County’s Flood Park.
(5) The Haven Industrial Area off of Marsh Road
This area does not adjoin the other
areas and is located to the northwest, between Highway 101 and
the Bay.
Overall, the Project Area consists of
approximately 1,050 single-family housing units and 680 multi-family
housing units. The area’s non-residential development consists
primarily of light manufacturing and research and development,
and also includes office and retail use. The central roadway
in the area is Willow Road, which is one of the primary access
points to the city via the Dumbarton Bridge.
Q: How Does Community Development
Work?
A: The Community Development Agency
of the City of Menlo Park is the legal entity that undertakes
improvement activity in the Las Pulgas Community Development Project
Area. City of Menlo Park Council members make up the governing
board of the Community Development Agency, however the City Council
and the Agency are two separate, distinct legal entities.
Agency and City Staff carry out the day-to-day operations of the
Agency’s improvement plans.
In addition to the Community Development
Agency Board, there is also an Advisory Committee. The Las
Pulgas Committee was created in 1981, the same year that the
Agency was established. The Committee serves in an advisory
capacity to the Agency and is made up of Project Area residents,
property and business owners.
Improvement activities are undertaken
following an adopted Community Development Project Area Plan and
are financed by tax increment funds.
Q: What are Tax Increment Funds?
A: State law establishes a method of obtaining funds for
community development agencies called “tax increment financing.”
On the date a community development agency adopts its Community
Development Project Area Plan, the property within the project
area has a certain total property tax valuation. Improvements
to property result in higher assessed value for those properties
and a portion of the taxes that are derived from the increase
goes to the agency. These funds are called “tax increments.”
Tax increment revenue can only be used in the project area (which
generates that revenue), except in the case of residential projects
that benefit low-and-moderate income households.
In order to accomplish significant projects, a community development
agency can issue bonds that are then paid off by using the tax
increments over time.
Q: I live in the Project Area.
How Does the Community Development Agency Benefit Me?
A: The Agency provides tools to improve social, physical,
environmental and/or economic conditions in the Project Area.
Through the Agency, the Project Area receives focused attention
and financial investment to develop new community facilities,
provide new retail services and job training, rehabilitate and
add to the housing stock, and gain active citizen participation
and investment which would not otherwise occur.
More About Redevelopment in Menlo Park…
Community
Development Project Area Plan
The Community Development Project Area
Plan establishes the basic goals of the Menlo Park Community Development
Agency and identifies the range of activities that may be undertaken
by the Agency in order to improve the Project Area over time.
The Community Development Agency’s first
Project Area Plan was adopted when the Agency was established
in 1981. In 1991 the Plan was updated, producing the Amended
and Restated Las Pulgas Community Development Project Area Plan.
This updated plan includes a comprehensive and coordinated set
of project activities related to the following areas:
- Planning and code enforcement
- Real estate development and improvements,
including significant activities to continue to improve, increase,
and preserve the community’s supply of affordable low and moderate-income
housing
- Public infrastructure and facilities
improvements
- Community facilities
- Other support projects
The Plan also identifies specific Project
Area goals. General goals for the Project Area include:
- To enhance
the overall living environment of the Project Area.
- To promote
home ownership and home improvement opportunities throughout
the Project Area.
- To encourage
private sector investment together with the provision of additional
public amenities.
- To increase
local employment opportunities and the expansion of existing
commercial enterprises within the Project Area.
- To promote
commercial and industrial rehabilitation and infill construction
in conformance with the Comprehensive Plan and Goals of this
Plan.
- To promote
the development of affordable rental and ownership housing.
- To remedy
present overcrowded housing conditions and seek to prevent them
in the future.
- To accomplish
these goals with a minimum displacement of any residential homeowner,
tenant, or business.
Redevelopment
Implementation Plan
The Community Redevelopment Reform Act
of 1993, as amended by SB 732 in 1994, requires community development
agencies in California to also prepare a Redevelopment Implementation
Plan for all their project areas every five years and to conduct
a Mid-Term Review of this five-year plan in the form of a public
hearing between two and three years after the initial adoption
of the plan. The five-year Redevelopment Implementation
Plan expands on the Community Development Project Area Plan (above)
and includes specific goals and objectives of the Agency for the
Project Area, including specific programs and potential projects.
The Redevelopment Implementation Plan also documents the Agency’s
efforts to ensure that a specific percentage of the housing developed
in the project area is made available to low-and moderate-income
households.
The first Implementation Plan for the
Las Pulgas Community Development Project Area was adopted in 1994.
The required Mid-Term Review of this plan was conducted at a public
hearing in 1997.
In keeping with the legislation, the
Implementation Plan was updated in 1999. The Redevelopment
Implementation Plan (for years 1999-2004) is based on information
presented in the first Implementation Plan and Mid-Term Review,
annual budgets for the preceding five years, City staff input
regarding the status of projects and housing construction, and
past and present rehabilitation activity. A Mid-Term Review
for the Redevelopment Implementation Plan (1999-2004) will be
conducted in 2002, and will include a public hearing.
Current
Projects for the Community Development Project Area
There are several projects and activities
now active in the Community Development Project Area. Projects
are presented for community review and input at regular Belle
Haven Neighborhood Meetings, which are held three or more times
a year. Community members are also updated on project activity
through the Belle Haven Community Newsletter (see below).
Neighborhood
Involvement in the Project Area
The community development process requires
comprehensive planning among residents, business and property
owners in the Las Pulgas Project Area, as well as Agency Board
Members, City Council, Agency and City Staff and other City residents.
Neighborhood input from residents and property owners is vital
to the success of redevelopment in a project area. Menlo
Park’s Community Development Agency encourages community members
to be involved in the redevelopment process and invites community
input.
- Belle Haven Neighborhood Meetings are
held three or more times a year. As the “anchor” of the
Project Area, this mostly residential neighborhood has been
active in the community development process. For more
information, please call the Housing and Redevelopment Department
at 650 330-6706.
- The Las
Pulgas Committee serves in an advisory capacity to the Community
Development Agency and is made up of Project Area residents,
property, and business owners.
- The Belle Haven Homeowners Association
meets on the first Wednesday of every month from 6:30-7:30 p.m.
in the Onetta Harris Community Center, located at 100 Terminal
Avenue. For additional information, please call the Housing
and Redevelopment Department at 650 330-6706 or write to: Belle
Haven Homeowners Association, P.O. Box 2630, Menlo Park, CA
94026-2630. Note: this is not a City-based organization
Project
Area Bulletin Board
- The Belle Haven
Community News is delivered by mail to all residents in
the Belle Haven neighborhood six times per year. To request
additional copies or to receive the current issue, please call
650 330-6706.
To learn
more about the Menlo Park Community Development Agency please
call Arlinda Heineck, Community Development Director, at 650 330-6706.
