Anti-Housing Ballot Measure in Menlo Park Becomes New NIMBY Playbook

Jeremy Levine

A petition to block affordable housing on three city-owned parking lots in Menlo Park qualified for the ballot on October 21. Menlo Park planned for housing on these sites in its housing element, committing to build at least 345 affordable homes. 

This petition threatens affordable housing throughout California, with the potential to create a new playbook for blocking affordable homes across the state with a unique twist weaponizing local resistance to housing in an attempt to overturn state laws in the courts. 

 If passed, the measure would: 

  • Require a ballot measure to approve ANY change of the use of the parking lots. Any efforts to designate the plazas as “surplus land” or “exempt surplus land” under the Surplus Lands Act (a first step toward building affordable housing on publicly owned land in most cases) would also be subject to the ballot.
  • Retroactively disapprove any action taken by the city to dispose of the lots for any purpose besides parking after May 15, 2025. Even if the city approved a project and sold the land before the next election, this measure would theoretically invalidate that proposal. 
  • Gives the ordinance proponents the ability to legally defend the measure without any input or discretion from the city council, city attorney, or city manager with the city responsible for the entire financial burden. Given that the measure is in clear violation of at least two state laws, this measure will be very expensive for the City of Menlo Park.

The measure further disallows any actions “which would diminish the availability, access or convenience of public parking for Downtown customers, workers and visitors.” Even an affordable housing project that provided 100% replacement parking in a structure could risk lawsuits if a “proponent” deemed that change to impact the “access” or “convenience” of parking. Such vague language essentially means any change in use to the lots or even basic maintenance could be subject to a lawsuit, paid for by the city whether or not they win or lose. 

Forcing affordable homes to undergo public votes is a death sentence. Forcing cities to pay for lawsuits against themselves creates a strong incentive for inaction on housing to avoid legal risk. If passed, this measure will likely become a new strategy for anti-housing groups across the state to block affordable homes. 

Furthermore, this measure risks derailing Menlo Park’s housing element, which commits to build housing on the downtown parking lots. The measure would add new constraints to housing on those sites and derail the timeline for commitments made by the city to build homes. 

By undermining the city’s housing element planning efforts, the city would likely lose housing element approval by the state and become subject to associated penalties, such as the Builder’s Remedy–which has already led to a 36-story proposal in Menlo Park and will likely cost the city millions in legal fees.