Placemaking In Downtown Menlo Park

Castro Pedestrian Mall – Mountain View, CA.

Downtown Specific Plan

  • The multi-year preparation of the Downtown/El Camino Specific Plan – approved in 2012 – cost the City of Menlo Park about $1.7M => about $2.4M in 2025 dollars.
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  • All the public spaces proposed by the community were totally ignored by subsequent city councils.
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  • The proposed plan to use three public parking lots for affordable housing will forever eliminate possible alternative the future use of any of the 4.8 acres of land for public places.

Vision (2008)

In July 2008 the Menlo Park City Council unanimously accepted the El Camino Real / Downtown Vision Plan. “It includes a strategy for implementation of public space improvements, such as wider sidewalks and plazas, and other infrastructure improvements. The overall intent of the El Camino Real/Downtown Specific Plan is to preserve and enhance community life, character and vitality through public space improvements, mixed use infill projects sensitive to the small-town character of Menlo Park and improved connectivity. The Specific Plan reflects the outcome of an extensive community outreach and engagement process.

Community Proposals For Downtown Public Placemaking

In the Downtown Specific Plan residents proposed three integrated pedestrian-friendly, public spaces.

  • A paseo (promenade) on Chestnut (South) between Menlo Avenue and Santa Cruz Avenue
  • A central plaza on Santa Cruz between Chestnut (North) and Crane (North)
  • Two pocket parks (Crane North and Chestnut North)

The Santa Cruz Avenue Central Plaza provides a public space where the street remains open to traffic but on street parking is removed, the street surface is raised flush with wider sidewalks, and a unified pavement runs seamlessly from building to building. This section of street can be closed for special events.
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The Chestnut (South) promenade provides space for temporary vendors, benches, additional landscaping, and events.

Resources