To: The Atherton Town Council, Vice Mayor and Bill Widmer
Halt the MPALL Stadium in Holbrook Palmer
The Petition points out the lack of transparency, which has attended the process of approval of this out-sized structure and requests that an environmental study must be done now before any construction.
Why is this important?
The undersigned Petitioners request the Atherton Town Council:
To halt any further development plans or any construction of bleachers at Holbrook Palmer Park for the Menlo Park Atherton Little League (MPALL), until a full environmental impact has been completed and reviewed. The Petition is based on the following facts:
1. The Atherton Council implemented Measure M beyond the plain language in the Measure. A large majority of those voting for Measure M expected the Town’s Planning Commission to carefully weigh the need, the costs to the community and any injury to other uses and users in the Park. The Town Council ignored the Planning Commission’s recommendation that the MPALL proposed plans for the site be downsized. The Council put the Project in the City Manager’s hands and has failed to allow review of the current status of the plans and Agreement as to its use. There has been no transparency to the Town’s actions.
2. The Town’s residents have been deceived. The negotiation and planning for the bleachers have lacked transparency all along and have involved only Little League principals and the pro-bleacher City Manager. When one of the Councilpersons recognized that there was merit in the plans meeting an ”historical character standard”, such a Proviso was included in the action approved. The council then did not allow any residents to be a part of the evaluating group. The two Councilpersons appointed have a conflict of interest as they have been in favor of the Bleachers from the beginning. Interested residents have been told that since those two have not reported back to the Council, the Proviso must have been met. There has been no opportunity for any independent evaluation of the “historical character standard”.
3. Ten months ago plans and draft drawings of the bleachers could be viewed on the Town’s Website. Recently, as information surfaced that the drawings and plans were being modified, one of the Council members initially in favor of the Project stated that going to the Town’s Website to review the plans satisfied any need for transparency. However, there are no drawings and even the original ones have been removed from the website. The initial three-dimensional drawings have been removed. The Little League is insisting on a solid concrete structure; if built, this will handicap its easy removal, when it is realized the project is a detriment to the Park. Burgess Park in Menlo Park has a smaller and removable set of bleachers. Little or no thought has been given to the likelihood that the new facilities, considerably larger than those in Burgess Park in Menlo Park, will crowd out most other uses of Holbrook Palmer Park on weekends and add to traffic and noise in that sector of the Town. Additionally, a significant minority of the players actually live in Atherton.
The undersigned restate the initial request that the bleacher/stadium project be reviewed under CEQA guidelines.
Name Address Tel. # E-mail
_______________ _________________ ___________ _____________________
_______________ _________________ ___________ _____________________
To halt any further development plans or any construction of bleachers at Holbrook Palmer Park for the Menlo Park Atherton Little League (MPALL), until a full environmental impact has been completed and reviewed. The Petition is based on the following facts:
1. The Atherton Council implemented Measure M beyond the plain language in the Measure. A large majority of those voting for Measure M expected the Town’s Planning Commission to carefully weigh the need, the costs to the community and any injury to other uses and users in the Park. The Town Council ignored the Planning Commission’s recommendation that the MPALL proposed plans for the site be downsized. The Council put the Project in the City Manager’s hands and has failed to allow review of the current status of the plans and Agreement as to its use. There has been no transparency to the Town’s actions.
2. The Town’s residents have been deceived. The negotiation and planning for the bleachers have lacked transparency all along and have involved only Little League principals and the pro-bleacher City Manager. When one of the Councilpersons recognized that there was merit in the plans meeting an ”historical character standard”, such a Proviso was included in the action approved. The council then did not allow any residents to be a part of the evaluating group. The two Councilpersons appointed have a conflict of interest as they have been in favor of the Bleachers from the beginning. Interested residents have been told that since those two have not reported back to the Council, the Proviso must have been met. There has been no opportunity for any independent evaluation of the “historical character standard”.
3. Ten months ago plans and draft drawings of the bleachers could be viewed on the Town’s Website. Recently, as information surfaced that the drawings and plans were being modified, one of the Council members initially in favor of the Project stated that going to the Town’s Website to review the plans satisfied any need for transparency. However, there are no drawings and even the original ones have been removed from the website. The initial three-dimensional drawings have been removed. The Little League is insisting on a solid concrete structure; if built, this will handicap its easy removal, when it is realized the project is a detriment to the Park. Burgess Park in Menlo Park has a smaller and removable set of bleachers. Little or no thought has been given to the likelihood that the new facilities, considerably larger than those in Burgess Park in Menlo Park, will crowd out most other uses of Holbrook Palmer Park on weekends and add to traffic and noise in that sector of the Town. Additionally, a significant minority of the players actually live in Atherton.
The undersigned restate the initial request that the bleacher/stadium project be reviewed under CEQA guidelines.
Name Address Tel. # E-mail
_______________ _________________ ___________ _____________________
_______________ _________________ ___________ _____________________