Affordable housing on downtown parking lots

The City of Menlo Park is exploring the development of affordable housing on City-owned downtown parking lots. This initiative stems from the City's 2023-2031 Housing Element, which identified eight downtown parking lots as potential sites to help meet Menlo Park's regional housing needs allocation. Specifically, Housing Element program H4.G outlines a plan to develop at least 345 affordable housing units on a combination of downtown parking lot sites. The program aims to integrate affordable housing options in high-resource areas of the community while adhering to procedures consistent with the Surplus Land Act.

Current Status

The City is currently in the initial planning stages for this project. A feasibility study examining the physical attributes, easements, and potential land use issues of the eight downtown parking lots is under development and will be released in late summer 2024. This study will inform the next steps in the development process.