February 2025

Mayor Kamei, Vice Mayor Ramos, and Members of the Mountain View City Council, 

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on Item 7.2 “Council Strategic Priorities and Fiscal Years 2025-26 and 2026-27 Council Work Plan Project Identification”. 

We appreciate each council member’s efforts at suggesting new policy items that could improve our city. Unfortunately, it is difficult for us to provide meaningful comment on some of these items because no complete description of what is envisioned is provided in the staff report. So, we are listing some projects that we support, and others that are worth considering, but for which we have some key questions. The answers to these questions would inform us on whether we would support these projects. We suggest that council members ask these questions to guide an informed discussion of the merits of the projects.

Projects we would support:

  #1: Complete funding agreements and begin engineering for the Stevens Creek Trail Extension
  #4: Develop a plan for ending natural gas use by 2045
  #6:  Expand access to broadband citywide
  #12: Develop a downtown vacant storefront window display and pop-up program 

Projects that could be worthy of support, but we would need to know more: 

  #2: Develop a strategy to facilitate low- and middle- income home ownership

Traditionally, the city has provided opportunities for BMR housing through its mandate for BMR housing in new developments. We have been discouraged that state laws have at times undercut the city’s ability to enforce those local mandates. We would like to know what can be done, short of raising new taxes to pay for more affordable housing or direct payments,  and how this would be communicated to the public. Does this project envision one or more study sessions, public meetings to inform proposed new policies or is there something more specific we can advocate before even beginning this project? 

  #7: Implement smart water meters

What would be the end product to residents, and who would pay for it? Are we talking about a cell phone notification when someone has a serious water leak of many gallons per minute? Or just periodic reports that someone’s home is using more water than “similar” homes? Who would pay for this program? 

 #11: Pilot an autonomous vehicle (AV) shuttle: 

Does this project proposal envision that the city pay for this or would it require some AV company provide the technology and equipment for free? 

#15: Create a framework to support volunteer organizations working with the city

It is not clear what is meant by ‘support’ and ‘working with the city’. Are volunteer organizations simply groups of residents and could any group be able to nominate itself?  Would anyone be denied such access to staff and the ‘support’ envisioned? Who would decide? Would this be limited solely to residents and would there be a limit as to how many volunteer organizations staff would support? This proposal raises numerous issues not only as to staff time but also use of city resources, funds and transparency.

#17: Remove barriers to condo development

Frequently, developers have put forward condo-mapped projects, but condo-mapping a project does not mean that condos will ever be sold to the public. In the past, we have asked developers if they intend to purchase the units themselves or through a consortium and then simply rent them out and the answer has been that they can do whatever they want with their property. We would urge council to acknowledge this issue and focus on how to assure that any concessions by the city would yield condos that would actually be available for entry level home owners.   

Thank you for considering our input to this important item. 

Robert Cox, Louise Katz, Maureen Blando, Peter Spitzer, Muriel Sivyer-Lee, Hala Alshahwany, Jerry Steach, Leslie Friedman, and Nancy Stuhr   

For the Steering Committee of Livable Mountain View 

(Wednesday, February 19, 2025)

Chair Gutierrez, Vice Chair Nunez, and Members of the Environmental Planning Commission,  

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on item 5.1, R3 zoning district update: Increased densities. 

While the Steering Committee of Livable Mountain View did not initially endorse the R3 zoning district project, we welcome the opportunity comment on the questions posed by staff to the EPC. We also thank staff for providing an honest assessment of how the state density bonus law is likely to be applied by those who seek to redevelop R3 parcels in our city. In particular, we appreciate the recognition that redeveloped R3 parcels are likely to take advantage of the 100% density bonus, with its corresponding allowance for zoning concessions and unlimited zoning waivers. Thus, areas zoned R3-D1 are likely to be developed at up to eight stories and those zoned at R3-D2 are likely to be zoned at up to twelve stories after the state density bonus is applied. 

Question No. 1: Do the identified areas reflect Council’s goals and criteria? Should any areas be reconsidered based on the criteria? 

We support recommending precisely the 14 areas identified by staff for high intensity areas (no more and no fewer). While it would be desirable to only have high density areas that are never immediately adjacent to existing ownership housing, and agree that the eight criteria selected by council are good criteria, we understand staff’s comment: “A strict adherence to utilization of all the above criteria would have eliminated every site in the R3 Zoning District.” In particular, the districts selected do support the aggregation of developable sites, hence development feasibility, with less impact on adjacent ownership housing.  

Question No. 2: For the Change Areas selected, what density option should the city study as the R3 Zoning District Update is carried out? 

We support Option 2 (R3-D1 Base), with the exception of the Del Medio South Area, for which we recommend Option 1 (R3-D2 Base). This would allow for up to eight stories when the state density bonus is applied in most areas. We support Option1 (R3-D2 Base) for the Del Medio South Area, as the staff report states applying R3-D1 would be a downsizing for the Del Medio South area and “pursuant to SB 330, an equivalent upzoning elsewhere may need to occur if Council selects this option”.  

As the staff report notes, “This (staff and consultant) analysis shows and ownership projects at six to seven stories (roughly 75 to 135 dwelling units per acre, depending on unit size) are economically feasible.” There is no point in upzoning to allow higher developments that are not economically feasible due to the increased construction cost for materials and construction methodologies needed for such high-density developments.  We also agree with staff that attempting to construct a local R3 zoning which will be preferable to the state density bonus is not worthwhile. The concessions and waivers imbedded in the state density bonus make it the obvious choice for developers seeking high densities. 

Question No. 3: Does the EPC support or recommend modifications to the proposed criteria and density for upzoning R2 properties?

We support modifications in the areas selected by staff provided that the upzoning is not immediately adjacent to single family homes. 

Thank you for considering our views on this important project.

Robert Cox, Louise Katz, Peter Spitzer, Muriel Sivyer-Lee, Li Zhang, Maureen Blando, Leslie Friedman, Hala Alshahwany, Jerry Steach, and Toni Rath

For the Steering Committee of Livable Mountain View 

Mountain View Whisman School Board Trustees,

It has been brought to our attention that you may be discussing budget items at your upcoming school board meeting on Thursday, February 13.

The steering committee of Livable Mountain View would like to express our full support for continuing to allocate school funds for planting trees on school grounds and in school parks, constructing outdoor classrooms, providing genuine natural green areas on school property, and constructing playgrounds with minimal or no use of plastics and other materials derived from fossil fuels.

A key purpose of passing Measure T was to ensure that the programs mentioned above would proceed. Please ensure that these programs will continue to succeed.

Hala Alshahwany, Robert Cox, Leslie Friedman, Louise Katz, Maureen Blando, Muriel Sivyer-Lee, Jerry Steach, and Mike Finley

For the Steering Committee of Livable Mountain View