Halfway through the 2017-18 budget year, the Menlo Park Fire Protection District board granted Chief Harold Schapelhouman the authority to spend $2 million that hadn't been budgeted on improvements the chief says are needed to cope with additional traffic and development on the Bay side of U.S. 101.
The board also allocated $500,000 to making improvements on the property the district purchased on Almendral Avenue in Atherton, and announced the district's $6.6 million purchase of an acre of St. Patrick's Seminary property.
The district says the acre of land will be used when the district replaces its station at 300 Middlefield Road in Menlo Park, a project scheduled to begin mid-year. The purchase funds came from the reserve for the station project.