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A decision, but little clarity on future of El Camino parcel â– Proposal to develop site of defunct Cadillac dealership could move ahead without housing. Or not. By Sean Howell Almanac Staff Writer
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n 11th-hour letter and shifting political winds marked the latest — though perhaps not final — chapter in the history of a real estate development proposal that has seen its share of theatrics as it navigated the treacherous waters of Menlo Park’s political scene. Initially proposed at twice its current size, with 134 apartment units and 80,000 feet of commercial space, the plan for a retail/office building at the site of the defunct Cadillac dealership on El Camino Real cleared the City Council in a 4-1 vote on Oct. 6. The parcel sits at 1300 El Camino Real, between Glenwood and Oak Grove avenues. Council members could have required the developer to build 36 condominium units. Instead, they elected to approve the project with no housing included, but hold out hope that the developer will return with a new proposal to build housing on the site. If the four-year struggle to plan for one of the four abandoned auto dealerships along El Camino Real Visit us in
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didn’t feature quite as many twists and turns as a Raymond Chandler novel, it had at least as much confusion. What do community members want? Where do council members stand? What is the developer willing to build? Those questions have dogged the project from the start, and the latest council meeting on the project didn’t do much to answer any of them. It did, however, raise a batch of new questions. Does the developer intend to build the project the council approved, or merely use the approval to secure retail tenants? Will the council’s vote mean shutters for Draeger’s market? (The owners of the market said they might close if the project is approved as is.) And who sent the 29-page letter (plus hundreds of pages of other documents) that arrived at City Hall two hours before the council meeting began, urging the council to postpone a vote because the city’s environmental review of the project had underestimated its potential effect on the ozone and climate change? New proposal
At the council’s Oct. 6 meeting, Jeff Warmoth of Sand Hill Property Co., which owns the site, offered to return to the council with a third proposal to develop the property — after previously telling The Almanac he would refuse any offer to make a new proposal, even if it
meant a bigger building. City staff members said it would “That’s your own demise, in my be a struggle to get the plans comopinion,� Councilman Rich Cline pleted within a year, unless it shifts told Mr. Warmoth. “I wouldn’t do attention away from other major it.� Earlier in the meeting, Mr. Cline projects. Without asking Mr. Warhad called Mr. Warmoth a victim moth if the new time frame would in the city’s process. “You’ve been work, or offering guidance on the ping-ponged around a little bit,� he type of project they would be willsaid. ing to accept, council members Sand Hill Property Co. pulled invited him to return with a new its original proposal in the fall of plan. 2006 when residents led a successful In an interview, Mr. Warmoth referendum drive to repeal council said he intends to begin discusapproval of the adjoining Derry sions with the city “in the next project, which would have changed few weeks� on coming up with an density allowances for the Cadillac expedited review process for a new site as well. application. When Sand Hill returned to “Now we have an opportuthe council in nity for a winearly 2007, the N AN ALYSIS win project,� Mr. city was in the Warmoth said. early stages of “Hopefully we’ll developing new zoning rules for come out with a project that gets parcels along El Camino Real. The the community more of what they council, wanting to keep the com- want.� munity together, indicated that it “I’d hate to give expectations we wasn’t willing to consider allowing can’t live by,� said City Manager anything beyond what the current Glen Rojas. general plan called for. At last week’s council meeting, Council discussion Councilman John Boyle, who however, council members suggested that they might be willing dissented in the council’s 4-1 vote to consider a new proposal more approving the project without in line with the guidelines of the housing, said he believed Mr. Rob“emerging plan� for El Camino inson and Councilwoman Kelly Real and the downtown area, Fergusson were only paying “lip scheduled to be completed in service� to the prospect of the counOctober 2010. Mayor Heyward cil hashing out a new deal with Mr. Robinson repeated an offer he had Warmoth. “I can’t see that happenmade to Mr. Warmoth in private, ing,� he said, though he noted that asking if he would return with a he would support a plan for greater new proposal that would include density at the site, if it included housing. high-density housing. When it came to the project proHappily, Mr. Warmoth said — if the city could process his plans posal on the table, Mr. Boyle and in time for a council vote in six Ms. Fergusson seemed to switch positions, based on earlier commonths.
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ments they had made. After saying she would be reluctant to approve a project for the site that didn’t include housing, Ms. Fergusson voted for a proposal that included no housing. After saying that it wouldn’t be fair to force the developer to add housing to the project while staying within the general plan, Mr. Boyle proposed that the council do just that. “I think you caught me after I had talked to Warmoth, and I was feeling especially sympathetic for him,� he told this reporter. “But as I continued to think about it and talk to more people, I think I came around to the conclusion that fundamentally, this is a location that begs for transit-oriented development. That’s the real bottom line.� Ms. Fergusson said she was confident that housing will be part of the plans when the dust finally settles. “I don’t think we had to condition that, it’s simply a matter of market forces,� she said. She was under the impression that Mr. Warmoth had been studying a dense housing proposal all along, she said, though that was not the case. At the meeting, council members did not seriously weigh the possibility of approving the project with housing included. Asked why he didn’t support requiring Mr. Warmoth to build housing, Mr. Robinson said, noting that the proposal fits within the general plan: “I’m not comfortable telling a private property owner what to build. ... It doesn’t make any sense to me� to approve a project the developer has
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