The proposal calls for rezoning a 457-acre area in the east side of Menlo Park bordered by Marsh Road, University Avenue, U.S. Highway 101 and the Bayfront Expressway. The district is currently zoned for "light industrial,'' allowing for different types of businesses. The city's Planning Commission has recommended adoption of the zoning ordinance that would designate the area for industrial and manufacturing use, and in turn limit the types of businesses able to move and expand there.

At a council meeting earlier this week, the lame duck City Council canceled a special session on the zoning proposal scheduled for Friday night and decided not to hear the issue until the three new members are sworn in, according to the Belle Haven Alliance, a citizen's group that opposes the plan. In the Nov. 5 election Menlo Park's three contested City Council seats were won by a trio of candidates, Nicholas Jellins, Lee Duboc and Mickie Winkler, who ran together on an anti-rezoning platform.

Community members and business owners had banded together to protest what they considered high-handed behavior by the City Council, alleging that the Council was trying to railroad the plan into passage without taking public input. Voter turnout in the Belle Haven and Lorelei Manor neighborhoods, which abuts the M-2 District, was especially high this election, ensuring that the Council would not have the votes to pass the rezoning proposal, according to the Belle Haven Alliance.