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Every year as part of its annual update, the city lays out its plans for the future while also reflecting on its major accomplishments. This year was no different, as city leaders presented a number of projects in the pipeline for the “Mountain View of Tomorrow,” although funding all of them was a concern.
Housing and environmental sustainability took center stage at the Hyatt Centric on March 22, while other quality of life issues, like improved roadways and the revitalization of the downtown area, also featured as key priorities.
Co-hosted by the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce, the event functioned in part as a homecoming for local dignitaries and community members who hobnobbed over breakfast during the presentation. But with the lighthearted fare, city officials also served up a dose of reality.
Not all of the projects are fully funded, said City Manager Kimbra McCarthy. To address this shortfall, the city is considering a revenue measure to put on the ballot for the November election. “This is not something that Mountain View does often, but it’s definitely necessary so that we can fulfill this vision for the Mountain View of tomorrow,” McCarthy said.
Mayor Pat Showalter also drew attention to the importance of planning ahead to ensure the city’s continued prosperity. “What we do today guides what happens tomorrow, just like what was done in the past, guided what’s happening now,” she said.
A city of distinction
For a mid-sized city, Mountain View has touted an outsized presence in the region. This past year, it earned two coveted distinctions: a “prohousing” designation by the state and an “A” score for its sustainability and climate resiliency by the Carbon Disclosure Project, an international nonprofit.
Mountain View’s ramped-up affordable housing production was a major factor in its prohousing designation, McCarthy said. Last year, it was one of the first cities in the county to have its housing element approved by the state, with a plan to create more than 11,000 new housing units over the next eight years.
The city is making headway with these goals, with 12 affordable housing projects and about 1,300 units in the pipeline, McCarthy said. Still, it is a sizable investment for the city, as each unit costs about $1 million, irrespective of whether it is market-rate or affordable housing. “We have a lot of work to do to identify funding to help really supplement this pipeline of tall projects,” McCarthy said.
Since the last annual update, the city also has approved the largest mixed-use development in its history, Google’s North Bayshore Master Plan. The megaproject will add 7,000 housing units, 3 million square feet of office space and 26 acres of open space and parks over the next 30 years. McCarthy did not mention how Google’s parting with its main real estate developer, Lendlease, could impact these plans, however.
McCarthy also described the city’s role as a safety net service provider for some of the city’s most vulnerable residents. For years, Mountain View was the Bay Area’s largest provider of safe lot parking spaces for vehicle dwellers. And even now with about 120 spaces, the city still provides the greatest share of safe parking spots in the county, McCarthy said.
The city’s basic income pilot program, Elevate MV, which provides $500 payments to low-income residents, also recently celebrated its one-year anniversary, McCarthy said, adding that it was another example of the city stepping up to help vulnerable community members.
“Mountain View truly is a community for all,” Showalter said, before delving into the city’s environmental sustainability and climate resiliency projects. Like many cities, Mountain View has committed to reach a carbon neutrality goal by 2045. But it also is trying to speed up the process by about 10 years, aiming to reach this benchmark by 2035, Showalter said.
The city has invested $7.5 million in a sustainability action plan, with projects focusing on electrification and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The city’s participation in Silicon Valley Clean Energy has been its greatest contribution to decarbonization efforts, according to Showalter. “It means that every resident in Mountain View is using electricity from fossil-free resources,” she said.
Other projects that are happening right now include the city’s sea level protection plan, coastal restoration work and biodiversity plan, which has a strong urban forestry focus. “Almost on every list, under every subject, is always ‘plant trees.’ And that’s why this urban forestry is very important because we need to plant a lot more trees, and they need to be the right trees that will be happy here as the climate changes,” Showalter said.
The city also is adding a lot more parks, with its 45th one opening last October, no small feat given that the city is only 12 square miles, Showalter said, with seven more parks opening in the next few years. Though some of the city’s open space is expansive, many are also small mini-parks less than one acre in size.
A lack of funding, downtown woes
But while celebrating the city’s achievements, Showalter and McCarthy noted that it still had a lot to accomplish with a limited budget.
McCarthy described the need for two major infrastructural upgrades to the city’s roadways: the Caltrain grade separation projects, one at Castro Street, by the transit center, and the other at the intersection of Rengstorff Avenue and Central Expressway. Following a hefty spike in the price tag, the city now only has funding to cover one project at a time, and picked Rengstorff grade separation to go first, McCarthy said.
McCarthy saved some of her bluntest comments for the city’s downtown district. “I want to say that we know that downtown does not look like the way that we want it to yet,” she said, adding that this was partly a result of the wet winter that has heavily curbed outdoor dining.
But McCarthy also acknowledged the high vacancy rates that have left the downtown looking rather bleak. “We have a 20% vacancy rate in Mountain View,” she said, noting that this was consistent with neighboring cities and the post-COVID landscape of fewer people working less regularly from offices.
To turn this trend around, the city is ramping up its marketing and branding efforts downtown and investing more resources into its pedestrian mall, with new outdoor dining terraces, planters, artistic street treatments, wayfinding and signage, McCarthy said. The city also is working with a retail strategy firm and is providing support for small businesses in the city; this includes grants of $2,500 to improve storefront windows and up to $15,000 to improve commercial building facades.
The city also recently launched a new website and its first edition of a “Downtown Digest,” that will provide monthly updates of everything that is happening downtown, McCarthy said, adding that it was important for the entire community to be involved in these developments.
“The city cannot do this alone. And I think this is kind of a hallmark of what you’re hearing, what makes Mountain View so exceptional and so special and such a leader is because of all of you. And because we believe that collaboration and partnership really is the way to go,” McCarthy said.
A recording of the Annual Update will soon be available on the city’s YouTube channel, @MountainView.gov.
Lane closures planned this weekend for El Camino Real overpass in Mountain ViewJanuary 23, 2026 1:32 pm
Hi, How is the Rengstorff grade separation project going? Will construction start in 2026? Is there a link to the plans? I know funding is probably an issue too. Thanks for any updates.