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Strong message from menlo park CITY council
City Attorney Doherty reports on closed session.
After extensive deliberations, the City Council has carefully considered the Attorney General's july 29, 2026 notice regarding the 80 Willow Road project.
The Attorney General has concluded that the project is consistent with the requirements of AB 2011, the Affordable Housing and High Roads Job Act of 2022, and is currently proposed satisfies the definition of a builder's remedy project. This would mean that the city would be required to approve the project as proposed without any environmental review. The attorney general has further reached reached conclusions regarding the city's application processing fees, though without any factual basis to support them.
The city council respectfully disagrees with the attorney general's analysis. It believes the attorney general's conclusions are incorrectly reasoned and contrary to law. Prior to and since receiving the attorney general's notice, the city, with the assistance of legal counsel, has carefully and exhaustively analyzed all of the issues set forth in the attorney general's letter. The city has taken thorough, good faith positions on each of the issues raised by the attorney general.
Further, each of the city's positions is amply supported by applicable law. For that reason, the council simply does not agree that state law requires approval of the 80 Willow Road project under the terms set forth in the AG's letter. The council recognizes that the financial penalties the attorney general and applicant have threatened could impose severe consequences on the city.
standing their ground
All text on this page is directly from the transcript of 9/29/2026 meeting
The city council considers the threat of those penalties as deeply unfair and extremely punitive. Even so, the council maintains that the attorney general's position is inconsistent with the legislature's intent, and that the attorney general is wielding the threat of those extraordinary penalties to coerce the city into action, action that the city, in utmost good faith, believes the law does not require.
MORE:
MURRIETA resolution PRESENTATION
AT THE league of CITIES ASSEMBLY 9/24
JULIE TESTA’s statement IN SUPPORT
Many thanks to Julie Testa (at left, in photo) for providing this concise statement made at the podium in the CalCities Resolution Committee on September 24, 2026, and for her long term advocacy as an elected official and with California Alliance for Local Electeds (CALE):
I’m Pleasanton City Councilmember Julie Testa, and I am a six year member of the CalCities Housing and Economic Development policy committee.
Local self-governance, Home Rule, is the bedrock of strong, safe California communities.
Local control is CalCities Mission Statement!
Over the past decade, state mandates have stripped away local authority while piling unfunded fiscal burdens onto our cities. Sacramento continuously demands inflated housing numbers, yet provides little to no funding or assistance which is needed to address the affordable housing subsidies, infrastructure and service demands.
These failed, unfunded mandates do not make housing affordable. Instead, by ignoring local fiscal realities and forcing cities to absorb the costs of critical infrastructure, water, and emergency services, state mandates have become a major obstacle to true housing affordability while creating risks to our communities.
Local elected leaders are directly accountable to our residents and best positioned to balance growth with fiscal sustainability. This Resolution does not turn its back on statewide housing goals. It establishes a statewide working group to evaluate long-term legal, policy, and constitutional strategies to restore local control and address these budget constraints head-on.
Ten years of debate and inactivity have cost our cities and have not and will not lead to housing affordability. We need a unified voice to restore balance, protect our communities, and foster genuine affordability. I strongly urge your Support vote on this Resolution.
Interesting programs
INNOVATIVE PROGRAM
Incentivizes homeowners with grants to rent ADU or convert room in house for local workers.
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