Mayor Kamei, Vice Mayor Ramos, and members of the Mountain View City Council,
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on Item 8.2 “Reconsideration of Density Increases in R3 Zoning District Update Change Areas”. This matter came before council at a regularly scheduled city council meeting, Tuesday, April 22, 2025 after the opportunity for public notice and comment. Now, almost three months after the decision for the density of designated change areas was made by council, council may change its decision, without any new information or change of development conditions in our city to justify such a change.
We are asking that the council NOT change its initial decision on this question. Making a different decision now undermines the public’s trust that council decisions, once made, can be relied on by all stakeholders, including the residents and voters of Mountain View.
Livable Mountain View wrote this letter to council for the March 25, 2025 public hearing where the densities of the R3 Zoning District Change Areas were initially considered:
Our position on the density of these change areas is the same today. It mirrors the recommendation of the EPC. Here is the relevant part from that letter:
Question 2: For change areas selected, which density option should the city study as the R3 zoning district update is carried out?
We support the approach recommended by the Environmental Planning Commission: Option 2A (R3-D1 Base), an intensity of 4 stories base, which with the state density bonus is a maximum of 8 stories, except for the Del Medio South for which we support Option 1 (R3-D2 Base) to avoid downzoning the area.
Rationale: As stated above developers are primarily looking to build up to 7 stories. By zoning for 4 stories base and 8 stories max with the state density bonus, developers who want to build higher buildings will need to provide the affordable housing to get the higher densities. Most of the new units we are seeing approved by council now are either state density bonus or builder’s remedy, so we should expect the state density bonus to be used.
Thank you for considering our views on this important item.
Robert Cox, Louise Katz, Peter Spitzer, Muriel Sivyer-Lee, Li Zhang, Maureen Blando, Leslie Friedman, Hala Alshahwany, Jerry Steach, Toni Rath, Nancy Stuhr, Natalie Solomon, Chuck Muir and Julie Muir
For the Steering Committee of Livable Mountain View
