I forgot to include the General Plan Update. The two plans taken together make the situation particularly 'special' special for any one living off of or near Bay rd. See below.

Thank you,

Wendy

Greetings 

Ms. Carlton, Ms. Chow, Ms. Nagaya, Mr. Perata, , MP City Council, MP Transportation and Development departments, MP Transportation and Developments Commissions, Town of Atherton (All involved in developing the FB EIR and the Connect Menlo/General Plan update. 

I'm a resident of the Flood Triangle neighborhood/Almanor Avenue. 
My comments are based on review of  the two EIRs.

General plan update:

The general plan update would affect future land use in the M-2 area, located east of U.S. 101 and roughly bounded by Redwood City, the Bay and East Palo Alto.

Proposed general plan changes would allow up to 4,500 more housing units, 2.3 million more square feet of nonresidential space, and 400 more hotel rooms in the M-2 area. Those changes could increase the number of employees by 5,500.

FB EIR:

"An environmental review says that Facebook's plan to build three 75-foot-tall buildings, adding 962,400 square feet at two proposed office buildings and 174,800 square feet at a 200-room hotel, plus 3,533 parking spots, could have some impacts determined to be "significant and unavoidable."

The new buildings would be constructed at the current 58-acre TE Connectivity location – bounded roughly by Constitution Drive, Chilco Street and Bayfront Expressway – after what's currently there is demolished. Compared with what exists there now, the new development would add 121,300 square feet of space.

The new office buildings, combined, could accommodate about 6,400 employees, the report said. The hotel would likely employ about 150 people. All three buildings are estimated to generate about 6,550 employees.

0. To mitigate traffic impacts, Facebook would set a trip cap and establish a transportation demand management program.

Forgive me for doubting that FB's mitigation will help the residents along Bay and in the Willows. It will not. Whether or not they created the problem, they are at fault for making it far, far worse. What exactly will the trip cap do to improve the situation  - please quantify? What else is FB studying to address this? In what ways will they adjust their project to lessen the impact on residents?

1. In the near term, a cursory count showed the project could have 10 areas of "significant and unavoidable impact," related to traffic, and 19 by 2040.

I grew up on the East Coast in an urban town abutted on three sides  by Boston. There is no such thing as "significant and unavoidable impact." There is significant impact to EPA and EMP, and there is also significant impacts to neighborhoods West of 101 - including the thousands of us who live along Bay Rd and Van Buren. Exactly what makes it unavoidable i these 10, soon to be 19 areas? When we know that, we know what pieces of the FB and Connect Menlo projects need further study and analysis. 

2. No study was done of the Bay Rd / Ringwood intersection - five feeder roads and stop signs.

This EIR can't be considered complete unless it includes a study of this dangerous intersection during peek traffic hours when school is back in session.

In the morning this intersection is clogged by rush-hour work traffic, school drop off traffic, kids and adults biking and walking to the high school and the two elementary schools. The only way to get to Hillview or the high school from Bay is to go through Lindenwood Ringwood entrance.  If you try to get through on any of the other public streets, you're trapped (Bay, Ringwood, Middlefield, Ravenswood.).

3. "No thru Traffic" signs in Menlo and the Lindenwood neighborhood, and 'reduced speed' signs in Lindenwood from 25 to 15. This is no way to treat your neighbors. We are not non-local thru traffic we are neighborhood traffic trying to make the best of a bad situation - which is about to get considerably worse. All the local residents need mitigation from problems that will be greatly worsened by more kids at our schools  - due to new employees moving in (not just into EPA and EMP - but all of the area cities.) and lack of proper east west routes for those who must drive across the city for school pick up and drop off.

3a. Different, but related, how will you manage further spillover when Marsh is reopened?

4. Net. Net. Although the the various projects hit different parts of Bay rd and nearby streets - they do not look at the area wholistically using scope to as the reason. the overall effect is to make Bay road all but impassible at peek travel time in the morning , afternoon, evening. Eacch of these projects needsto play well with the others. How will you make that happen?

We need you to talk to each other and look at our area as a whole. How will you address the traffic flow along Bay Rd all the way from Willow to Marsh? The EIR's cannot be considered complete until this is studies and plans for mitigation are in place.

5. What are the plans regarding water and air issues that will certainly result from this development. WHere is this fully anticipated in these documents?

I will attend the meeting this evening and also post these questions and concerns to NextDoor so that we are all on the same page.  It willl also go to city council, and commissionas.

There are many things requiring further study before the plans will be ready for prime time. We appreciate all of your efforts so far and look forward to your further consideration.

Thank you,

Wendy Shindler

1009 Almanor Ave

Menlo Park