2024 was not a slow news year for Menlo Park. With an election, development throughout the city, police activity and numerous community events, there was much to cover in Menlo Park. 

As in many previous years, development dominated the headlines for Menlo Park this year. 

After a multi-year housing element update process that involved dozens of community outreach events and city council meetings, the state certified Menlo Park’s housing element on March 21. The housing element lays out plans for nearly 3,000 new units of housing to be built throughout the city at different levels of affordability between now and 2031. The city has been working to implement the housing development programs laid out in the plans. Several large developments are working their way through the city’s approval process. 

At the time that its housing plans were certified, Menlo Park was over a year past the deadline for housing element certification, which opened the city up to “builder’s remedy” applications for the time that it was out of compliance. The city received several builder’s remedy applications, but the project that has been causing a stir in 2024 is the proposed Willow Park project at the site of the former Sunset Magazine headquarters. 

A new community group, Menlo Forward, formed in opposition to the Willow Park project. Leaders of the group say they have seen “widespread opposition” to the developer’s plans for three large towers in the heart of Menlo Park, the tallest of which would stand at approximately 430 feet, which would make it the tallest building in the Bay Area outside of San Francisco if constructed. 

Menlo Park deemed the applications for the controversial development incomplete several times over the summer, but finally deemed the application complete on Nov. 14. The project is now undergoing review for compliance with state environmental regulations and all other applicable state and local building regulations. 

A housing element program to build affordable housing on city-owned parking lots downtown has also stirred up much controversy near the end of the year. At a November council meeting, many residents and business owners told the council that they had not been informed about the changes that could come to downtown, and the council elected to hold off on voting on the matter until Jan. 14, 2025 when more outreach could be done. A group called Save Downtown Menlo has formed in opposition to this program. 

The teacher housing development at the site of the former Flood School at 320 Sheridan Drive has moved forward. The project, which was the catalyst for the controversial Measure V in 2022, also received $1 million in city below-market-rate housing funds from the council in November in a split vote. 

The council, commissions and residents explored plans for the Parkline development on the site of the SRI headquarters throughout the year. In May, the developers introduced a plan for the site that would add 250 more units of housing than they originally planned. Throughout the process of approving the Parkline development, residents have expressed concern over the traffic impacts and noise that the new office park and housing at the SRI site could bring to the city’s downtown. 

The nearby site of the former USGS headquarters was vacated in April as the agency shifted its home base to Moffett Field in Mountain View. Questions remain over what will become of the site, but the city’s housing element specifies at least two acres of affordable housing at the 17-acre site. 

The city also saw a lot of non-housing development this year, with many new restaurants opening throughout the city. Sandhill Sundeck opened in July. Cafe Vivant, a restaurant that will specialize in California heritage breed chicken and wine, is in the final stages of construction in the space that used to house Le Boulanger and will open in early 2025. Loretta, a new bar that is the brainchild of Bistro Vida owner Ali El Safy, will be opening soon in the spot formerly occupied by Magoo’s Pizza, of Grateful Dead fame. Il Mercato di Che Fico, which sells handmade pasta, gelato, focaccia sandwiches, gourmet groceries and more, opened in the Springline development. Middle Eastern bakery LeVant Dessert, which sells the viral Dubai chocolate, opened on Santa Cruz Avenue.

In January, several Menlo Park community members were honored by the Menlo Park Fire Protection District for saving a young girl’s life in February. 

Construction of the new Belle Haven Community Campus was completed in March. Hundreds of residents attended the grand opening in May and it’s been used for community events throughout the year.

Menlo Park also provided help to other communities, as the Menlo Park Fire Protection District sent mutual aid to the Park Fire in northern California, and to Hurricane Milton in Florida and Georgia. 

After changing its City Council District boundaries in early 2024, Menlo Park’s election season was pretty quiet. Council members Maria Doerr (District 5) and Jen Wolosin (District 3) announced that they would not seek reelection. Jennifer Wise, a former library commissioner, was elected to the District 5 seat after winning over competitor Greg Conlon. Jeff Schmidt ran unopposed for the District 3 seat. Wise and Schmidt were sworn onto the council on Dec. 10. 

Menlo Park voters also overwhelmingly opted to increase the city’s Transient Occupancy Tax from 12% to 15.5%. This is a tax levied on out of town visitors making short-term stays within city limits. The City Council voted to place it on the ballot in order to plug an approximately $800,000 deficit in the city’s budget, and to give the city more locally controlled funds to work with. Some representatives of hotels in the city opposed the measure as they said it would negatively impact their businesses. 

The city continued to pursue its environmental goals in 2024. The city created and approved its very first environmental justice element, which focuses on protecting underserved communities from potential environmental health risks. 

The city also partnered with Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge to open a new trail, the Flyway Trail, as part of an ongoing marsh restoration project in October. 

Menlo Park moved forward with a state grant to launch a program to electrify homes in the Belle Haven neighborhood. The very first electric retrofits in the neighborhood were completed in November.

In October, community organization Canopy organized a mass tree-planting event near All Five preschool in Belle Haven. 

The year kicked off in Menlo Park with a spate of home burglaries in the Sharon Heights neighborhood. Fourteen burglaries took place between Jan. 4 and Feb. 12 in the neighborhood. 

After a well-attended community meeting, the city opted to explore employing automatic license plate readers throughout the city, despite the council having rejected the technology in 2023. The council voted 3-2 in May to install 25-35 plate readers throughout the city, but with additional privacy guardrails. The council opted to further expand the agreement with ALPR provider Flock in October.

In February, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted to approve funding to have crisis response clinicians from StarVista join Menlo Park police officers on calls where they are needed. 

In August, the police department opted not to continue with their Tesla patrol vehicle pilot, after encountering issues with the way that the Teslas operated in the line of duty. The police department will explore other possible zero-emissions patrol vehicles such as the Chevrolet Blazer electric vehicle.