Facebook hopes the city's general plan update will give the company the opportunity to build "a significant amount of housing, including affordable and mixed-income housing, in the near future," a Facebook executive said in a recent email to the Menlo Park Housing Commission.

The email from Fergus O'Shea, Facebook's director of campus facilities, followed a commission hearing June 29 where concerns were expressed about the threat of Menlo Park residents being priced out of their homes due to rising rents, a large influx of new workers and rapid development, including Facebook's expansion plans in the city.

"We share those concerns," Mr. O'Shea said in the email. "It appears the most important thing we could do is build housing."

Menlo Park currently does not have zoning that allows housing to be built in the city's M-2 area, the traditionally industrial zone east of U.S. 101, he said.

Proposed changes to the city's general plan would permit the building of 4,500 housing units in that area, including 3,500 on Facebook property.