Menlo Park, one of the most affluent communities in the nation, is on the hook for nearly 3,000 units of housing by 2031, according to a state mandate. But how to get there is causing debate among residents of the city.

The city is pushing forward with a plan to turn three city-owned parking lots downtown into developments with hundreds of units of affordable housing. It has been a part of the discussion of the city's housing element for a while, per housing advocates.

To Margarita Mendez, a teacher and longtime resident of Menlo Park, this is a good plan that is long overdue.

"People that work here should be able to live here," she said. "I would qualify for that affordable housing, and I have 33 years of experience teaching. But I'm lucky because I already own a home."

Mendez says more housing is desperately needed in Menlo Park.

"Pretty much everyone needs affordable housing because it is so expensive to live in Menlo Park," she said. "People need homes. People want to live in the communities where they work. I think we can make that happen."

To Alex Beltramo, another longtime resident and leader of the group "Save Downtown Menlo," the proposed location is anything but ideal.

"It's not opposing housing," he said. "We all recognize that we need it, we need affordable housing. It would be great to have it near downtown, there are a lot of places that make sense. But the last place, the worst place, would be the downtown parking lots."

His reasoning comes in part from conversations with downtown business owners. 115 of them signed onto a plea to the city council, posted on the group's website.

"Without that convenient parking, these businesses, most of them, they won't survive. They'll need to leave," Beltramo said. "If you lose businesses, it can take decades to get them back. You can't take away the buildings and say this was a bad idea – it's irreversible."

Residents opposed to the idea have since sued the city, and are beginning to collect signatures for a proposed ballot initiative that, if approved, would prohibit the city from converting the parking lots without voter approval. It would need to garner just over 2,100 signatures, or 10% of registered voters, to make it onto the ballot.

"This is such an important decision that it should not be made by a three-person majority of whatever city council happens to be in office. This decision needs to be made by the people of Menlo Park," Beltramo said. "We want to help the city find other sites to put the housing that we need."

"Yeah, I've heard that every single time someone tries to build housing. It's the same line," Mendez said.

Housing advocates in Menlo Park say the majority of the affordable housing that does exist is primarily concentrated in a historically red-lined part of the city, across 101. Mendez argues that housing cannot only go there and is needed throughout the entirety of the city.

"We absolutely need more housing in Menlo Park, and we need housing at all different affordability levels and all over town," she said.

From a fiscal and geographic standpoint, she believes the downtown parking lots make the most sense.

"There's a lot of land here that the city owns," she said. "The people from these homes could shop in these stores."

• Menlo Park