A CITIZEN INITIATIVE introduced in opposition to Menlo Park’s plan to build affordable housing in downtown parking lots will head to voters next year.
The City Council unanimously voted last week to have the Downtown Parking Plazas Ordinance placed on the ballot for the general election on Nov. 3, 2026.
“It’s clear that residents on both sides of the topic want to have a vote,” said Councilmember Jeff Schmidt at Tuesday’s special meeting. “If we really want to fulfill the democratic process and hear what voters have to say, then I’m strongly supporting putting this on the November ballot.”
The Downtown Parking Plazas Ordinance is a ballot initiative drawn up by the group Save Downtown Menlo in response to the city’s efforts to construct several affordable housing sites on city-owned land downtown that is currently used for parking. Save Downtown Menlo is a coalition of local residents and businesses that was established in reaction to the city’s housing development plans downtown.
If passed, it will prevent the city from selling, modifying, or changing the use of eight city-owned parking lots in downtown Menlo Park without voter approval if it would diminish the availability or convenience of parking.
In June, the group began collecting signatures for its initiative. The group submitted the signatures to the city in October, showing that it had surpassed the threshold required to qualify for an election measure.
The council had three options on how to proceed: adopt the citizen-submitted ordinance, place it on the ballot for a special election, or wait until the next general election for voters to decide.
“The question before Menlo Park is not whether to support affordable housing,” said Menlo Park resident Alex Beltramo during public comment at the meeting. “The question is whether the downtown parking plazas are the right place, and that’s a question that should be answered by the people of Menlo Park.”
Proponents of the ballot measure say that the city’s plan to replace several downtown parking lots with housing structures will hurt local businesses.
But those against the ballot measure argued that it will hinder Menlo Park’s ability to follow its Housing Element, a state plan aimed to ensure that the city meets its housing needs by constructing more housing for different levels of income.
“Menlo Park needs housing. We don’t need any more parking,” said Menlo Park resident Caleb Wigham during public comment. “This seems like a delay tactic.”
Mayor Drew Combs suspects that it will be difficult to move forward in the process for building the housing between now and the November 2026 election due to the possibility that the measure passes.
“I think it’s even a challenge to ask staff to commit a significant amount of time and resources to a project whose viability already was not completely certain,” he said.
Regardless, proposals for the downtown housing project are expected to be submitted to the city later this month.