Once in a blue moon, the city works at redefining itself by revising its General Plan, which means its blueprint for land use, open space, housing, public safety, retail, office space, parks and even public art could be altered significantly.

The long process begins in earnest Saturday morning in the first of several public hearings to be held at the Center for the Performing Arts downtown. Input already has been taken by some community members, and results from these ad hoc outreach groups also will be presented.

When the General Plan was last updated in 1992, Silicon Graphics, not Google, was the big local company. And issues like environmental sustainability were not on the agenda.

"It's critical that residents show up on Saturday to do this visioning," said council member Ronit Bryant. That process will begin with residents being asked how, in broad terms, they want their city to look in the next 10 or 20 years.

For many, no doubt, the top issue will be housing.

"Something needs to be done to create more affordable housing so we don't become one social economic group that can afford to live in Mountain View," said Oscar Garcia, of local nonprofit Mesa de la Comunidad, a group that has participated in early outreach discussions.

As a major employment center in Silicon Valley, Mountain View has more jobs than homes to house its workers. This has caused the price of homes to go up, many argue, resulting in more out-of-town workers and an increase in freeway traffic and pollution.

"Everybody agrees that we need more housing," said Elna Tymes, who led the Monta Loma Neighborhood Association in opposing the neighboring high density Mayfield housing project in 2006-07. "We have clogged freeways and more bad air days then we used to.

"But my personal preference is for slower growth; previous city councils had a reputation for approving everything that came their way. We also have to consider the quality of life for people who have been here for 30 to 40 years."

The council considered a moratorium on housing development in early 2007 so that the city could step back and update its general plan before doing anymore "piecemeal" development.

"We want really good projects," Bryant said. "If we want higher density, where do we want higher density? What services need to accompany that?"

There are other subjects to be addressed Saturday. Council member Margaret Abe-Koga mentioned increasing the density allowed at Bayshore area office buildings for companies like Google. Some are critical of such moves, however, saying that increasing space for jobs while the city lacks sufficient housing is a bad idea.

Rengstorff Park may also be another popular topic, as different groups seem to have different ideas about how a new community center proposed for the site should look. Garcia said his group has been talking about a "generational center," where groups young and old can engage in activities. But Peninsula Interfaith Action, another predominantly Latino group, wants to see a dedicated teen center.

The environmental planning commission has the several-year task of distilling the results into an updated General Plan to be approved by the council.

Those interested in following the process can get updates or view the city's current General Plan at www.mountainview2030.com.

INFORMATION:
The meeting is Saturday, June 7, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, SecondStage, located at 500 Castro St. across from City Hall.

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