First, we would like to thank the Mountain View Voice for drawing attention to Senate Bill 79 (SB79), which if passed, could have profound consequences to our city’s downtown historical retail district and residential Mountain View neighborhoods.
The language of the bill is complex. Information received in answers to questions about its impacts from Senator’s Weiner’s office have not been entirely consistent. To understand the bill’s impact, it is imperative to consult the text of the bill itself. If it is passed into law, the text of the bill will be standard guiding its implementation.
SB79 is a threat to Mountain View’s Historic Retail District
In response to Livable Mountain View’s concerns that the bill could lead to the replacement of Mountain View’s downtown historic retail district (the 100-300 blocks of Castro Street), the Voice cites SB79’s provision for a local alternative plan. It is important to note that there are limitations set in the text of SB79 to what can be proposed in such an alternative plan. In particular, section 65912.161 (a)(2) reads:
The plan shall not reduce the maximum allowed density for any individual site on which the plan allows residential use by more than 50 percent below that permitted under this chapter.
Mountain View’s downtown historical retail district would be classified at Tier1 area under SB79:
“Tier 1 transit-oriented development stop” means a transit-oriented development stop within an urban transit county served by heavy rail transit or very high frequency commuter rail.
The SB79 text states that:
For a transit-oriented housing development project within one-quarter mile of a Tier 1 transit-oriented development stop, , … a local government shall not impose any height limit less than 75 feet.
For a transit-oriented housing development project further than one-quarter mile but within one-half mile of a Tier 1 transit-oriented development stop, … a local government shall not impose any height limit less than 65 feet.
Applying the rule that under a local alternate plan that the maximum allowed density will not less than 50% of what is permitted, means that heights permitted in the local alternative plan may not be less than 32.5 feet within ½ mile of the Caltrain station and not less than 37.5 feet within ¼ mile of the Caltrain station. These height limits imply a minimum allowance of 3-4 story residential buildings (6-8 stories with the state density bonus), where 1-2 story historical buildings exist now. This puts Mountain View’s entire downtown historic retail district at risk.
SB79 Local Alternative Plans Explicitly Permit Impact Zones to be declared around Bus Stops
The Voice article states that SB79 “would not apply to bus lines in the city”. However, the SB79 Section 65912.161 (e) states:
A local transit-oriented development alternative plan may designate any other major transit stop or stop along a high-quality transit corridor that is not already identified as a transit-oriented development stop as a Tier 3 transit-oriented development stop.
The California Public Resources Code, Section 21155, defines a high-quality transit corridor as “a corridor with fixed route bus service with service intervals no longer than 15 minutes during peak commute hours.” The Castro and Showers bus stops along El Camino have service intervals during morning and evening peak times of less than 15 minutes, and so could be included in an SB79 local alternative plan which seeks to add density to compensate for density lessened in other areas.
SB79 and Mountain View’s Historic Preservation and Register Update Do Not Contain Explicit Protections for the Historic Retail District
The Voice article quotes Vice Mayor Ramos, saying: “If it’s specific properties that have truly historic context then I don’t doubt that we can find ways to make that protected.” However, SB79 specifically (and purposely) contains no language stating that historic buildings will have any special consideration. Much of the debate around amendments to SB79 involves whether language protecting historic buildings will be added.
Mountain View is currently updating its Historic Preservation and Register Update. There is already a draft list of buildings being circulated for comment. But there is no city effort to provide special historic status to the entire historic retail district which encompasses the 100-300 blocks of Castro Street and the area between Bryant and Hope Streets. This means that even if a few buildings in the historic retail district are eventually qualified as historic before developers tear them down, others adjacent to them could be demolished and replaced with buildings which are a minimum of 3-4 stories and up to 14 stories, towering over the few remaining historical buildings leaving us with a sad reminder of who we once were and what we once had.
