Council Approves Amended Facebook Project

The Menlo Park City Council unanimously approved five of city staff's recommendations Tuesday night, bringing the Facebook project one meeting closer to completion. 

Councilmember Kelly Fergusson initiated the vote to accept updated versions of the Facebook project documents; she was seconded by Peter Ohtaki. 

City staff have been negotiating the land use rules that will allow Facebook to build out both of the campuses in East Menlo Park. The city's employee project team presented the following five recommendations to Council: 

1) Certify the for both the East and West Campus

2) Adopt the Statement of Overriding Considerations and for the East Campus

3) Approve the Development Agreement for the East Campus

4) Approve the Amended and Restated for the East Campus 

5) Approve Heritage Tree Removal Permits to fell eight trees. 

The Planning Commission approved the terms on May 8. The final decision belonged to the City Council, as it is the legislative body responsible for creating public policy in town. 

The council heard testimony from about a dozen speakers from the community. Some Belle Haven residents said they were upset that they had not been included in the public benefit determination process. Others said that Facebook was being a very good neighbor. 

City Council agreed. All of the councilmembers expressed positive sentiment about Facebook's place within the Menlo Park Community.

A second reading of Facebook's conditional development agreement will be heard on June 5. 

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