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COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT

El Camino Real/Downtown
Specific Plan
Specific Plan Community Workshop #1
Specific Plan Community Workshop #1, 04/16/2009

Navigation

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

- Answers to common questions about the Specific Plan process.

Environmental Impact Report (EIR)

- Full details on the environmental analyses associated with the plan.

Final Plan Analysis and Plan Revision Memos

- Preliminary analysis and findings/recommendations for the Final Specific Plan.

Community Workshops

- Full information about the events at the core of the Specific Plan process.

Specific Plan Archive

- Older staff reports and meeting information.

Vision Plan

- Information on the general visioning process that preceded the detailed Specific Plan process.

Contact Person

Thomas Rogers, Associate Planner
E-mail: throgers@menlopark.org
650-330-6722

Vision Plan Walking Tour
Vision Plan Walking Tour, 02/09/2008

Staff Reports and Related Links

For previous staff reports and related links, please see the Specific Plan archive page

Vision Plan Planning Commission Workshop
Vision Plan Planning Commission Workshop, 05/19/2008

Vision Plan

The Vision Plan serves as the foundation for the Specific Plan through its 12 goals. More information about this initial visioning process is available on the Vision Plan sub-page.


Specific Plan Community Workshop #2
Specific Plan Community Workshop #2, 06/18/2009

Newsletters and Postcards

Mailings go to all Menlo Park postal customers (both residential and non-residential addresses), as well as to all Menlo Park property owners that reside out of town. This list does not include 2010-2011 inserts about the Specific Plan, included as part of the Activity Guide mailouts, which also served to inform/educate about the project.


Vision Plan Mobile Tour
Vision Plan Mobile Tour, 02/06/2008

Council Subcommittee

The City Council has designated Council Members Rich Cline and Kirsten Keith as the current project Subcommittee (formerly comprised of John Boyle and Rich Cline). The Subcommittee helped lead the initial efforts to refine the project's scope and have provided ongoing input during the process.  Individual contact information for all Council Members is available on the City Council page.

Block Party promotions
Downtown Block Party, 08/12/2009

Required Review

The Vision Plan was a planning study and as such was not a project requiring environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).  The Specific Plan process includes the preparation of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Please see the EIR sub-page for more information about the Notice of Preparation (NOP) and pending Draft EIR.

Specific Plan Community Workshop #1
Specific Plan Community Workshop #1, 04/16/2009

Current Status/Schedule

(UPDATED 4/11/13) The Council approvals of the Specific Plan and related actions took place in June 2012, and became effective in mid-July. The final Specific Plan is available below, and the Final EIR is available on the EIR sub-page. New development proposals in the Plan area are now required to adhere to the Specific Plan regulations (note: a few projects submitted prior to the Specific Plan effective date are still being reviewed under the pre-existing regulations). In addition, the City is considering implementation of public space improvements on an ongoing basis through the 5-Year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) process.

As individual development proposals are submitted, the City will make web pages for larger projects. Currently, the following projects have their own project page:

All pending applications can be monitored via Planning Commission agendas.

Specific Plan

The Specific Plan became effective as of July 12, 2012. The version provided below has incorporated all changes/corrections made by the City Council in June 2012.

conceptual diagram

Planning Commission and City Council Review of Final Specific Plan

In Spring 2012, the Planning Commission and City Council reviewed and recommended/approved the Specific Plan, as described in more detail below.

Planning Commission Review/Recommendation - April 30, 2012

The Planning Commission held a special meeting on Monday, April 30 to review and provide a recommendation on the Final Specific Plan, EIR, and associated actions. After receiving public input, the Planning Commission deliberated and recommended that the City Council approve the Specific Plan and related actions, with some recommendations for edits. For more information about this meeting, please see the following:

City Council Review/Action - June 5 and 12, 2012

The City Council reviewed the Planning Commission's recommendation in a public hearing on Tuesday, June 5. At this meeting, Council approved the El Camino Real/Downtown Specific Plan and associated Final EIR, General Plan Amendments, Zoning Ordinance Amendments, and Rezonings, and also amended the City's Master Fee Schedule to Add a Specific Plan Preparation Fee. On, Tuesday, June 12 the City Council conducted second readings of ordinances, as required by law. For more information about these meetings, please see the following:

Planning Commission and City Council Review of Draft Specific Plan

In Summer/Fall 2011, the Planning Commission and City Council provided detailed recommendations and direction to improve and refine the Draft Specific Plan. The City Council direction has been comprehensively reviewed by staff, and is being used by staff and the consultant to prepare the Final Specific Plan, to be released in Winter/Spring 2012. The consolidated City Council direction is available for review in a summary list and an annotated matrix, the latter of which includes preliminary staff analysis/discussion. Key elements of the Council/Commission direction included:

  • Downtown Parking
    In response to concerns from some downtown stakeholders, the Council directed that mixed-use buildings not be permitted on parking plazas, in order to preserve more surface parking. The Council also directed that Parking Plaza 2 be included as a potential parking garage site and that parking garage height be consistent with other buildings and preserve the village character of downtown.
  • Phasing of Downtown Public Space Elements
    In order to ensure that the proposed Santa Cruz Avenue sidewalk extensions and Chestnut paseo and market place are successful and do not negatively impact existing businesses or the Farmer's Market, the Council directed they be implemented in a phased approach, with future temporary installations used to evaluate whether they should be permanent.
  • Building Height/Bulk
    The Council directed that changes in the height and massing requirements be made in some areas in order to limit the perception of building size at the street edge.
  • Bicycle Improvements
    Building on recommendations from the Bicycle Commission, the Council directed that bicycle routes (shared auto-bike) be upgraded to dedicated bicycle lanes wherever feasible.
City Council
Date Topic Documents
October 4, 2011 El Camino Real (other than ECR SE) review; review and wrap-up
September 20, 2011 Non-geographic topics (public benefit, FIA, bicycle/pedestrian network)
September 13, 2011 Downtown and El Camino Real (other than ECR SE zoning district) review
August 30, 2011 Introduction/overview; Council review process; Station Area and ECR SE review

Note: City Council email correspondence is available publicly via the City Council Email Log

Planning Commission
Date Topic Documents
August 22, 2011 Review/Wrap-up
August 4, 2011 El Camino Real
July 28, 2011 Downtown
July 21, 2011 Station Area
July 11, 2011 Overview/Background and Public Input

Draft Specific Plan

The Draft Specific Plan was released for public review in early April 2010. The draft plan builds on the extensive community outreach conducted in 2009.

conceptual diagram

Environmental Impact Report (EIR)

Please see the EIR sub-page for more information about the Draft and Final EIRs and the earlier Notice of Preparation (NOP).

Fiscal Impact Analysis (FIA)

The project FIAs were originally released on August 16, 2011 and have informed the Planning Commission and City Council's review. The FIAs supplement fiscal analysis conducted throughout the planning process.

Community Workshops

The Community Workshops represent the core of the Specific Plan process. The workshops were aimed at facilitating useful community and stakeholder input, refining previous findings, shaping specific alternatives, and helping disparate community elements and stakeholders arrive at points of common agreement. The Specific Plan workshops built on the four workshops conducted during the 2008 Vision Plan (Phase I) process.

For more information, please see the Community Workshops sub-page.

community workshop photo community workshop photo
community workshop photo

Oversight and Outreach Committee

Phase II has been aided by a task force, the Specific Plan Oversight and Outreach Committee ("the Committee"), which was charged with the following primary tasks:

  1. Provide advisory input and recommendations to the consultant and staff regarding the outreach process and concept plans (i.e. alternatives) and programs; and
  2. Reach out to other community members and help bring them into the broader planning process through participation in the Community Workshops and other planning activities.
For information about Committee meetings, please see the Specific Plan archive page

Committee Members and their affiliations are listed below.

  • Bicycle Commission: Bud Kohn (formerly John Fox)
  • Environmental Quality Commission: Douglas Scott
  • Housing Commission: Patty Boyle (formerly Elizabeth Lazensky)
  • Parks and Recreation Commission: Kristi Breisch
  • Planning Commission: Henry Riggs
  • Transportation Commission: Charlie Bourne (formerly Reginald Rice)
  • El Camino Real/Downtown Area Resident: Elizabeth Weiss
  • El Camino Real/Downtown Area Resident: Vacant (formerly Todd Temple)
  • El Camino Real/Downtown Area Resident: Vacant (formerly Tom Hilligoss)
  • At-Large: Vincent Bressler
  • At-Large: Charles Catalano
  • At-Large: Ben Eiref
  • At-Large: J. Michael Gullard
  • At-Large: Clark Kepler
  • Chamber of Commerce - Business Owner: Rick Ciardella
  • Chamber of Commerce - Property Owner: Bill Frimel
  • Development Community: Jeff Warmoth
  • Stanford University: Steve Elliott

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