June 26, 2023 - Planning Commission public hearing

The Planning Commission will hold a public meeting on these items in a hybrid format via Zoom and at the City Council Chambers located at 751 Laurel St., on June 26, 2023, beginning at 7 p.m. or as near as possible thereafter, at which time and place interested persons may appear and be heard thereon. The Zoom link will be available with publication of the Planning Commission agenda, on the city website at menlopark.gov/agendas, not less than 72 hours in advance of the meeting. If you challenge these items in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the City of Menlo Park at, or before, the public hearing. Written correspondence is typically considered a public record and may be attached to staff reports, which are posted on the city website.

Visit the city website for the Planning Commission agenda, public hearing and staff report information.

Public Hearing items

Use Permit/John Ray/248 San Mateo Dr.:

Request for a use permit to demolish an existing single-story, single-family residence and construct a new two-story single-family residence with a basement on a substandard lot with regard to minimum lot width in the R-1-S (Single-Family Suburban Residential) zoning district. The proposal includes a detached accessory dwelling unit (ADU) which is a permitted use and not subject to discretionary review.

Architectural Control  Use Permits/Peninsula Innovation Partners, LLC/1350-1390 Willow Rd., 925-1098 Hamilton Ave., and 1005-1275 Hamilton Ct.:

Consider and adopt resolutions to approve architectural control review for buildings and site improvements associated with the approved Willow Village masterplan development project. The masterplan, including the general plan amendment, rezoning and zoning map amendment, vesting tentative maps, conditional development permit, development agreement, and below market rate (BMR) housing agreements were approved by the City Council on December 6 and 13, 2022 and authorize up to 1.6 million square feet of office and accessory uses (with a maximum of 1.25 million square feet for office uses and the balance for accessory uses), up to 1,730 dwelling units (including 312 BMR units), up to 200,000 square feet of retail and restaurant uses, and an up to 193 room hotel. The architectural control reviews by the Planning Commission for conformance with the approved masterplan, conditional development permit, development agreement, mitigation monitoring and reporting program from the certified environmental impact report, the R-MU (residential mixed use) and O (Office) zoning districts, and other applicable requirements from the masterplan governing documents is the next phase in the implementation of the Willow Village masterplan project. The requested actions are consistent with the environmental impact report prepared for the proposed project and certified by the City Council on December 6, 2022.

At this public hearing, the Planning Commission is scheduled to review four separate architectural control packages and use permit requests for the office campus, meeting and collaboration space, town square project components (all located on Parcel 1), and the mixed-use residential building on Parcel 2. The office campus and meeting and collaboration space would include approximately eight buildings, the elevated park, and two parking structures with up to 1.6 million square feet (with a maximum of 1.25 million square feet for office uses and the balance for accessory uses). The town square includes approximately 33,600 square feet of retail and restaurant use and an approximately 1.5 acre publicly accessible open space that would be predominately hardscape with landscape planting features. The residential mixed-use building on Parcel 2 would include up to approximately 328 dwelling units with a ground floor grocery store. Additional architectural control packages will be considered at future meetings. The proposals include associated use permit requests for modifications to design standards not included in the conditional development permit. The use permit requests are generally summarized below:

Office Campus:

• Modify the required setback of building SP-1;
• Decrease the required setback of the South Garage and modify modulation requirements for both garages;
• Modify modulation requirements of the TS3 building along the town square frontage;
• Increase the width of the garage entrances along East Loop Road; and
• Modify stepback requirements on office buildings.

Town Square:

• Modify frontage landscaping, build-to-area, and modulation requirements for the pavilion.

Meeting and Collaboration Space:

• Modify modulation requirements.

Parcel 2:

• Modify building modulation and projections requirements;
• Modify roofline modulation requirements;
• Modify base height; and
• Modify building entrance spacing.