Community Corner
Menlo Park Planning Commission Approves 105-Unit Housing Project
The building would be eight stories tall and the ground floor would include a fitness area, lounge and leasing office.
By Astrid Casimire, Bay City News Foundation
MENLO PARK, CA — Menlo Park's Planning Commission voted to approve a 105-unit multi-family housing project on Monday night.
The project involves a plan to redevelop a 0.9-acre site at 111 Independence Drive into 105 housing units, a 746-square-foot cafe and a multi-story parking garage. The building would be eight stories tall and the ground floor would include a fitness area, lounge and leasing office. The 15,000-square-foot office building that currently occupies the project space will be demolished.
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The project includes 14 housing units at below market rates.
To accommodate increased height, density and floor space above the zoning standards for residential mixed-used development, the project needed to provide community amenities, such as the cafe.
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Planning Commission Chair Henry Riggs said that while two planning commissioners disagreed about whether the project's small cafe could count as a neighborhood asset, after some discussion the commission agreed to approve the project.
The planning commission is the final decision-making body on the project unless it is appealed or the City Council calls it for review.
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