Willow Park Development Update is on Menlo Park City Council agenda on May 13
The City of Menlo Park continues to process the Willow Park development proposal at 80 Willow Rd. The City received six scopes of work and budget proposals from environmental consultant firms in response to the City’s Jan. 24 Request for Proposals (RFP) to perform environmental review for the project in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
At the May 13 City Council meeting, the City Council will consider approving a professional services contract for a qualified CEQA consultant to perform the environmental analysis. This agenda item is focused on the consultant selection and not the components or merits of the proposed project. Click here to view the May 13 staff report.
For more information about the environmental review process, other commonly asked questions and to stay informed of upcoming project milestones, please visit the project webpage.
N. Goodman May 13, 2025 at 10:19 am
Thank you, InMenlo for covering this City Council action! Reviewing the Staff Report, I have several concerns about the LSA proposal:
None of the past projects cited by LSA are of the size and height of the 80 Willow Road project. Familiarity to Menlo Park doesn’t should not outweigh technical expertise.
The geotechnical study will be conducted not by LSA but by the developer. This study will be a key data point to determine whether it sill be safe to build 400-foot towers in a liquefaction zone and adjacent to an environmentally sensitive creek.
LSA presupposes the outcomes of several of the analyses required in the EIR, for example:
” It is anticipated that impacts related to geology and soils would either be less than significant with regulatory compliance or with the implementation of standard construction period conditions and mitigations.”
I question whether City staff have taken these points into consideration in selecting a consultant.